We qualified for Worlds this weekend! I can’t believe it!!!

He said

This weekend was the big weekend on our Cheer calendar. It was one of the first competitions that the gym had earmarked for their two Worlds hopeful teams (Valiant and Virtue) to get a bid. Feel The Power was at the CAA Centre in Brampton where we were at for Fall Classic and it was a two-day competition, but our first time at one run by Varsity Sport who also happen to run the Cheerleading Worlds that we were trying to qualify for. So it was pretty big deal. CheerStrike had all of their teams that could compete there, there, but there was a big emphasis on this one for their two Worlds Bids hopeful teams: Emelia’s Valiant and Virtue who she has a lot of friends on too.

As we approached the weekend there was a nasty winter storm forecasted and highly likely to wreak havoc on the weekend. In order to build a schedule that was fair and equitable to all teams Emelia’s compete time on Saturday was very early. That meant that the athlete drop-off time was going to be even earlier. Initially we had planned on driving down early Saturday morning, and staying over Saturday night at the hotel for the Sunday day two compete time. When we saw how early the drop off time was Saturday and knowing the oncoming weather may wreak havoc on the weekend, we called an audible and added a night to our hotel reservation and opted to drive down Friday night after both Emelia & I were done work to save on the stress of getting to the competition and having to leave London at an ungodly hour.

In the end, while it added the expense of another night in the hotel, it drastically reduced the time the alarm was set for Saturday morning as well as gave Emelia somewhere to get ready, fifteen minutes from the venue on Saturday morning. We knew she wouldn’t ask for it as Emelia is as practical as her mother and doesn’t revel in extra expense, but she was so thankful when we told her we had done that in other to make the day that much easier on us all—given the potential bad weather and the early start to the day that it would require.

With all the travel and hotel sorted to make life easier, the only thing left was to see how their adjustments and focus since that last competition would come to play in their performance. And let me tell you, to say we were blown away at their day one performance is an understatement. Every stunt went up and came down as it should have. There was no bobbles and wobbles and the pyramid went exactly as it should. Even the coaches after had nothing bad to callout – citing it as their best performance this year!

So it all came down to today. I was a little worried as this year they have had these types of performances but they’re usually on the back half of a day that did not go their way. So I was a little worried that they were going to have a challenge doing the same as they did yesterday or even better. But, from the moment of the start of their routine today, it had an as good if not better feel to it. And, in the end that was just was it was: better. They hit everything again, like they did yesterday but there was more passion and more feel to it—almost like they knew collectively how important this was.

With the bad weather really starting to wreak its havoc they adjusted a lot of the schedule (their compete time was moved up today) and had removed all the awards ceremonies out of the schedule in lieu of virtual ones the athletes could take in on their phones on their way home. So once we were wrapped up and Emelia was able to cheer on Virtue – the one team with a close compete to us – we got in the Jeep and made out way home in the snow globe weather. About half way home we found out that Emelia’s team finished first in their division. While that left Danielle & I hopeful about the Worlds Bid, Emelia was still doubtful about their chances. That was until 1:30pm at home when the Worlds Bids virtually were announced. Emelia, who wanted to be alone I her room for the announcement, came running upstairs to tell us, “We got a Worlds Bid! We were the first ones announced!”

We were so happy for her. This has been a dream of hers from moment one, day one of Cheer 6 years ago and she’s finally realizing that goal today and in April. So… it looks like we’re going back to Florida for the best possible of reasons, and to a place that has a magical connection to our family: Disney. So, I guess we’re going to Worlds!

She said

Well this weekend will be one to remember! For the last few weeks the build up to Feel the Power was causing stress and excitement for the cheer teams. As we got closer to the event and eventually got a schedule we realized the teams we would be against it was becoming more and more real. What was more exciting for the girls is that they realized there was a decent chance that one if not both Cheer Strike teams could get a bid to World’s in Florida. As the week went on Emelia was getting more and more anxious about the weekend. She started having some pretty weird dreams and her sleep was being impacted. To be honest the girls when the season stated would have been happy with a bid at all but as they started getting stronger and stronger the chances were going up that they could really pull this off. The girls and parents started looking at the teams that were competing and which teams were still seeking invites and the girls realized that it was a real possibility.

As John has mentioned the weather this weekend was calling for a massive storm to come through, and when we found out our actual meet time we started doing the math and realize how early we would have to get Emelia up to get ready as well as adding extra travel time due to the weather and realized it was a REALLY early. Knowing how stressed Emelia was coming into this comp John and I chatted and decided that we should take the cost of another night at the hotel to relieve Emelia and our stress levels. So once John and Emelia were both off work we quickly packed the Jeep and got on the road. We arrived at the hotel late, had a quick drink and started to get some sleep.

Saturday morning came early, Emelia was in an amazing mood and ready to take on the day. She was ready and we were off. The whole team came in with incredible energy and a positive outlook. They bonded as a team and were off to put on their best performance. The girls hit the floor and put on an increabule routine, full of energy and they wowed the crowd! We thought originally they hit zero but found out they got a small deduction for a strange call but they were still sitting in first place after day one in their division. First in their division they knew was not going to be enough, they could place first there but that did not mean they could get a bid. They arrived today and put on hands down their best routine of the season, they hit zero and blew the coaches and crowd away. They put it all out there. They were worried at first that they might not have hit zero but found out shortly after that they had a perfect run. Today was worth 75% of their total so if you are going to knock it out of the park—today was the day! But what this also showed the judges when they are picking the bid winners is that you can pull off a strong routine two days in a row.

With the storm coming fast we stayed only to watch the other world’s team from CSR perform and then we headed out. We for the most part were ahead of the worst of the weather but it was still not a great ride home. With the storm the moved the awards and bid invites virtually. The girls were disappointed but understood why. On our way home there was awards number 1. In that awards they found out that Valiant placed fist in their division (open level 6NT). That was the first hurdle. It would be a few hours before we would know any more. Once we got home and dropped Emelia off John and I got some groceries and got home just in time for the World’s Bid announcement. Before we even had a chance to log in Emelia came running upstairs from her room yelling we are going to world’s! We were the first team annoucenced. I asked her what about Virtue (the other gym’s worlds team), she said I stopped listening when I heard our name, she ran back down listened to the rest of the awards and then second later came running up saying they are going too!!! So not at all how we wanted her to find out, it would have been a dream for the families and athletes as well as coaches to be together to find this out. But the weather decided otherwise.

To say today was a dream come true for Emelia would be an understatement. She has trained for 6 seasons to get to this moment, she has dreamed of this moment and thought she would never have this chance, and now we are here. We could not be happier for the girls!!! It is a dream come true.