What a weekend, this weekend my cheer team competed on the biggest stage yet for our World’s team. We had an amazing second day. I am so proud of my team!
He said
As if final papers and exams for semester one of university coming to an end wasn’t enough for Emelia, this weekend was also the first big weekend for her Cheer team in Cheer for the Cure. We’ve been to this comp every year of her five years prior, but never at this level. When we’ve gone in the past it has been a one-day event, but as this was the first competition of the season to award World’s Bids and since ValiaNT’s goal is to get a World’s Bid, it became a two-day comp for Emelia and team. And to add, it was a big deal for all of the major contenders on the World’s front! So while finals for semester looms around the corner, the focus for this weekend, was Cheer!
So normally where we’d make the one-day a down-and-back to Oshawa this became a little bit easier on the driving schedule as we’d go down early on Friday and come back later Saturday night. When you add the two and a half hours driving – each way – of driving and add a competition in the middle, it made for a long, tiring day. While adding the cost of the hotel for overnight, I could care less for the ease that it put into our schedule and the one-day driving it reduced. Plus, we were all excited at the prospect of being part of the hullabaloo that is Worlds and the other 52 teams competing.
As for the competition, Emelia and the Vali Girls didn’t got into this with any delusions. They knew the stiff, skilled competition they were up against and they also knew the troubles they were having bringing the routine together. Coming out of the last comp (Fall Classic) and through their subsequent practices, they had been working hard at cleaning up and adding difficulty, but they definitely had not hit the level of polish they were hoping for. And Day 1 while it saw them get more difficult parts right, that they hadn’t yet all season, they miffed on parts that had gone right up until now. Chalk it up to Worlds nerves I guess. But, Day 2 saw them shake it off and throw down their most complete and trouble free version of their routine this season. Almost to the point that it skirted on hitting zero.
We were so proud of the girls—at their tenacity and focus and being able to put it all out there and do their best. While 5th out of 7th may not seem like the best finish, against the completion they were, it certainly was. And because we know they are capable of so much more! They have a bit of time until their next Comp which comes towards the end of January so they can continue to do the work they have and hopefully give themselves and even better finish. Considering most of these girls have vaulted up three, whole levels this season to compete at level six we’re so proud of how they’re pushing their envelope and doing the best they can!
She said
This week is honestly all about Emelia and her Cheer team. For months she and her Cheer team have been training so hard, and against all odds they are proving everyone wrong, including themselves. We have motioned before that this group is a ton of athletes, most who have never competed even close to this level. The majority of Emelia’s team were all level 3 or lower last season. They made the massive leap up to level 6. Not one of these athletes had ever competed at this level, heck our coaches have never coached at this level. So we certainly didnt think they were set up for success. There were days when the girls even wondered if they were ever going to come together, they felt broken but something in them has never given up. The last couple weeks something clicked, they all became determined and almost stubborn to prove that they belonged on the World’s stage and even if it never ment a win they were going to go in as a team and have the best time. Something changed, the girls started to really work together, they joked that they were trauma bonded.
Whatever it was things were finally moving into the right direction. After the minor disaster of their first competition the girls really had something to prove to themselves. Their mindset went positive and this weekend started to really believe in each other and themselves. Day one of Cheer for the Cure was not perfect, they had 10 points in deductions and the pyramid was not fully executed. This impacted their raw score significantly and add in the deductions it was not perfect but they have been solid in their pyramid execution at practice so the girls were not phased going into day two. Again, they came into day two relaxed, with nothing to loose and only the most to gain. They had really no pressure on themselves, they knew going into this big, first bid competition that the big, established teams always get the bids. They knew they would not be one of them, so they went for the experience. They took the floor day two and hands down put down their best performance of the season. At first it was announced that they hit zero but later that was adjusted. The coaches were in tears, the athletes were beyond happy and the crowd was going insane.
We could not be more proud, they landed 5th out of 7 very competitive teams—one of them took second at worlds last year. They moved up in the ranking overall of the worlds teams competing (53 in all). We know that means that their scores on day two were miles stronger than the first day. They know they have a lot of positive momentum to work on. They go into their next competition the weekend before Emelia’s next birthday so there is lots of time to build on difficulty, add skills, clean up formation and get those scores even higher. We could not be more proud of Emelia and her team if we tried. It was an amazing and exhausting weekend!