I had so much fun competing with both my teams this weekend.

He said

The focus this week was of course two very big things. First, Emelia kicked off her last semester of high school to start the week. And, second, Emelia had the Canadian Cheer Ontario Championships this weekend. And this was the first weekend that both teams (Sovereignty & Valour) were competing. And, it was the first two-day competition that we have been in this season. So that meant two performances for each team over Saturday and Sunday. Thankfully with a lot of overlap on the teams the scheduling didn’t provide any significant wrinkles.

The first week of her last week of high school went off without a hitch. She is excited about her three classes this semester and the friends that she has sprinkled through each of her classes. But the best part was the final marks that came back from her last semester with the marks of her final exams now in. And across the board the managed to increase in grades in each of her classes. We’re so proud of how she hunkered down and knocked it out of the park!

With that out of the way, it was onto the week’s main focus the Ontario Championships this weekend in Mississauga. The schedule saw both performances for Emelia’s teams later in the schedule on Saturday and Sunday so it meant we could get up at a relaxed paced Saturday, get down to Mississauga early in the afternoon and get settled in the hotel and relax before we needed to get Emelia over for her performance. The next day gave us the same easy start to the morning, before we got checked out of the hotel and back over to the Comp for day two.

Now as for how the teams did, it was a tale of two different fortunes. First, Valour, while having really gotten their routine dialled and ready and having one Competition under their belts, they had their challenges in the first run through Saturday. Stunts that hadn’t gone down in weeks, did. The silver lining was that first day’s performance was only worth 30% of the total score. But, on day two while being a better overall performance was also not without its kinks. With the two performances down, the team ended with a disappointing 5th place finish.

As for Sov, they started much more solidly. They had one slight bobble that would mean deductions but their performance was very strong and put them in a much better place for day two. In fact, word was they were 2nd overall after day one. Their day two performance today picked up where the first one left off and felt even stronger albeit with some issues. We definitely felt a lot more confident about Sov putting them in strong contention for a great finish. And the girls were not disappointed as they finished 2nd overall and with silver medals!

We’re so proud of how both teams competed so hard and put everything into it and even when things didn’t go perfect, they still persevered and continued on like champions!

She said

This was a very busy week for Emelia as always and an even busier weekend. This week Emelia moved to her last semester of high school. Last year Emelia wrapped up her exams and on Friday she got all her final marks back and we were beyond proud that all her grades went up after her final exam marks. So with that positive results she is going into the second term really determined more than ever to get her grades as high as possible, so far she is loving all her classes and even has some of her close friends in some classes. I think her last class of the day is going to be the most entertaining with stories coming home, she has a good chunk of her close friends in that class and a bunch of the boys off the football team including one of her closest friends so I am sure this class will be a blast for her.

With school back in full swing Emelia was back to balancing school and a heavy training schedule. This last week she had an extra practice for Valour along with her regular other practices. To add a wrinkle to the training a few weeks ago at Winterfest Emelia buggered up her back, we have had her in getting adjustments and massages to deal with the hyperextension of her spine but it isn’t really healing things. She has had to modify her training a fair but but with the supports of her coaches she was able to get a bit of a break from some training. Even through this Emelia felt that her teams were both in good shape to take on Ontarios this past weekend.

Saturday we headed down to Mississauga to go to a new venue for us for Ontarios. It is much bigger of a venue and we are all hoping that more comps can be out of this location. After getting settled in at the venue Emelia met up with her first team of the day, Valour. The girls were nervous and excited. The first day was well, not good. Valour was solid for the first half of the routine and then things went off the rails. They had two stunt falls and the pyramid was a mess. The girls all came off the floor so disappointed knowing that they had so much more in them. But they all brushed it off and realized things could only go better on the second day. Emelia and a few of her teammates from Valour did not have a lot of time to think about their run because they had to take off to the practice gym to warm up with Sov. In less than 45 minutes Emelia was back on the floor and ready to compete with her team. Sov favoured much better, they had a small bobble in one of the stunts but otherwise were clean. They found out before they went on the floor today that after day one they were sitting in second place. As their coach said it is the perfect place to be because you have all to win and nothing to loose.

Now on to day two, the girls all went in with a positive mindset and once again we started with Valour. The girls went out and put it all out there, after a horrible run on day one we were so proud how they did day two, they had one stunt come partly down but otherwise it was an amazing run. This team has such a high level of difficulty that when it does hit it will be hard to beat. So they are all excited to get back to the gym and take on the next competition for this team that won’t be for another month. With a bit more of a break today Emelia was able to take bit of a breather before heading off to compete with Sov. Once again Sov put it all out there, they have an incredible routine that the judges just love, this day they had a partial stunt come down but otherwise another incredible run. At the end the deduction from day two kept them from moving up in the standings but we were all so happy with the silver medal. Emelia was happy how they landed and were more determined than ever to kill it at the next comp, and for Sov that means another competition in just two weeks!!!

The next few weeks will be so busy for all of us but we wouldn’t not have it any other way! Congrats to not only Sov and Valour but the entire Cheer Strike Royals team, they had a Ontarios for the records books with so many medals and two bids for finals for Legacy and Nobility. Next up for the gym is Battle at the Border and Showdown! We cannot wait!