Nationals was a dream come true. I had the best time with the two best teams I have ever been on.
He said
Something I did not think we’d be writing about this week, after we left off last week with still a day of competition to go on Monday: We have a National Champion! Both teams in fact faired a lot better than we anticipated. In the Awards Ceremony, from the absolute last groupings of the weekend Valour’s Open Non Tumble went first. Before the weekend got started Emelia said she would be happiest if Valour didn’t embarrass themselves and would be happy if they got a medal. That meant at best she hoped for a bronze, but she was skeptical after their first day’s performance. So, imagine their surprise when their name had not yet been announced by the team who got fourth. And then imagine their further surprise when the bronze medalists was announced and it was also not them! Valour ended up with the Silver Medal which was an absolute shock to the ladies and we couldn’t have been prouder.
Next up was Sov’s Level 3 U18 division with 9 teams total. Again, the first day’s performance was not their best, so it all came down to the final perforce on Monday and the girls delivered their best when it mattered most and Hit Zero! They knew after day 1 they were in 4th position against some very good teams. But, they also knew that they had the best raw score of all the teams based on their difficulty of their routine. They knew it would be very hard, but that it was possible they could still finish first. Well they did everything they needed to and it was all up to the judges. In the same fashion as with Valour, the ladies were visibly shocked when they made it all the way to the Bronze medal and not hear their name called. However there was a downright avalanche of emotion as Silver was announced and still no, Sov. And with that came their name and the title of National Championship. We couldn’t have been prouder of our ladies and especially Emelia! There may have been some moist eye balls in the crowd.
The next hour was a blur of activity. The champs are whisked away to take photos, to celebrate together on in the Champions Lounge and get their National Champs hoodies. After what seemed like an eternity we finally got to see Sov come down the Champions Skyway (the escalator down down from the Champions Lounge) and then finally we got to see and hug Emelia. We were so happy to see her realize this one dream of hers since basically day of Cheer become a reality. We let the girls have their moments, take the photos and have a little time to soak it all in before it was time to make our way back home. Emelia got to ride back with some of her Cheer besties and we was an absolute joy listening to them chatter the whole way back.
And no sooner had we got back home and the dust hadn’t even settled on the Cheer season, the shift quickly moved to Rugby as Emelia had the first rugby games of her last high school season starting on Wednesday with a tournament played at Western University. The Vikes played 3 games in this tournament on Wednesday and won all 3. Emelia played in all three games and from what we heard pretty much the entirety of all 3 games. She’s excited about this season as she’s now a senior and good portion of the team are pals that have played together for 3 full seasons so their is a lot of comfort on the the field with the experience they bring. And at worst, they’ll have a lot a fun together!
She said
To say last week was a dream would be an understatement. For 5 years Emelia has trained, sacrificed her body and free time to train for the sport she loves. For the last 3 seasons it has been filled with hope but then disappointment how her team placed. This year everything felt different. They had a coach from day one challenged them, believed in their ability and never let them take the easy way out. Rayna worked the girls hard and pushed them to execute a perfect routine. The girls bonded and all believed in themselves even when there were doubts. Every goal they made this year they worked hard for and hit every single one of them. Sov had a dream season, they placed first or second at every single competition they were in (except Finals/Showdown). So after day one when things were not perfect in a very competitive division the girls went out for dinner and refocused. They found out they were sitting in 4th after day one, they were told by one of the owners that it would be a hard road to first place but not impossible. That is all the girls needed. They knew that if they put out their best performance, the most entertaining, cleanest and strongest they did everything they could do themselves to do what seemed like the impossible.
To start the run on day two I have to backtrack a bit. The first team for Emelia was Valour. This was Emelia’s second team and loved just about everything about this. The team was incredible and even through frustration of having a coach that loved to rebuild routines all the time they came together with an incredible routine that pushed them to an elite level skill routine. So what this meant that even with some deductions they were a solid contender to be in the top three. There was one team they were against all season that they knew would take first—they never had delusions they would beat the Kingston team. For Valour it was going to be can they take silver. For them that was their gold medal. After day one we found out later that they were sitting second behind the other team and the point difference between the two routines was the deductions the girls had. It meant that they had a very difficult routine and competitive. After their second run the girls put it all out there, the judges loved their routine and they finished a solid second in a hard 7 team division. The girls were beyond excited!
Back to Sov, once the Valour girls knew they placed second there was a huge energy around the crowd. Emelia’s gym had had a record breaking year and the entire cheer community was there to take notice that Cheer Strike Royals were there to a force to reckoned with. So going into the very last awards of the night in a large 9 team division the girls nervously stood up, they knew by this time they hit zero but had no idea how well they had done. As the teams were being announced you could see the nervous energy with the girls build. Once they knew they made top three they were litterly shaking with excitement. Then they knew it was down to two, and finally they announced second the girls and their families knew they took first the room erupted with screams, tears and pure happiness. Emelia and her team hugged and many ugly tears fell. It is a moment that I honestly will never forget.
The parents left the theatre, all hugging, crying and celebrated together while we waited for the girls. As part of the ceremony the winning team gets champion hoodies, they get to receive their awards and do pictures in the winners lounge before taking the iconic escalator ride down the Champion Skyway. And we are proud as parents to say that Sov and Cheer Strike Royals will be the last ever team to take that ride. And that they gym got to do that ride 8 other times at Nationals. Canadian Nationals has long outgrown this space and with 450 teams from all over Canada bringing 7500 athletes Nationals will move to Toronto next year.
To see your child reach her dream is something every parent wishes for. To see our daughter come into her own, train so hard, overcome so much and to see the happiest tears and smiles with those medals around her neck is something we will never forget.