I’m proud of my team and how hard we worked all season, we put it all out there on day two!

He said

As we continue to wind the clock on what in effect is Emelia’s last season with CheerStrike (I know we said this last year, and yet here we are again), this weekend was the second last even in her Royal career: Canadian Nationals. In a week and a half, it will be IAS Worlds in Florida. She won’t be done Cheer altogether as her dream is make the Western All-Girl Cheer Team and compete with them, but as sure as it happened the last two seasons when we approach the finality of the end, the discussion inevitably turns to maybe one more. And we’ll let you guess what conversation has already surfaced now that we’ve completed Nationals and the finality of it feels very near.

For now, we’ll parking lot that as there is still much t focus on…

This was the first time that Nationals has ever been hosted in Mississauga at The International Centre. For as long as we have been involved with Cheer, and likely long before that too, Nationals was hosted in Niagara Falls. As and already predetermined tourist trap, while there was no shortage of things to do, there was also no shortage of ways to drain your bank account as everything there was double or triple the price. So, having the Nationals in a different location, was a bit attractive to us as the facility had a lot more to offer—most notably space which was always a problem at the Niagara Convention Centre. They’d long outgrown the space and capability for an event of that size.

For Nationals Emelia already knew their team was in tough against some heavy hitters that have consistently done well at every competition they’ve been in. If they could pull off a couple of great performances, they might surprise themselves with a medal, but Emelia by no means felt they would come home National Champions like they did last year. Their routine had been coming along and practices had been going much better so there was some hope leading up. The day one performance yesterday went well, but not perfect. But of all the troubles they have had this season, it could have been a lot worse. It came down to what they could do in their day two performance and while they had what would be their best performance all season, all of the other teams they were up against, did exactly the same. And when it came to the medals, sadly it was disappointment as they did not make it into the top three.

Naturally as with the last three years of Nationals when the season feels final and over, immediately the conversation from Emelia turns to what if I do just one more season? and before we poo-poo it and remind her of some of the disappointment and the commitment it takes we let her stay in the emotion and arrive at the decision that is best for her. We obviously want her to be competitive and do things she loves for as long as they bring value to her. Hell, who am I to say as a plus fifty year old adult who likes to do bike races? But, we also want her to weigh the value with the fear of missing out come to a decision that leans on the former and not the latter. But, I am sure this conversation will continue to take all sorts of versions over the coming months.

She said

Well… we are back from Nationals. It was another insanely busy weekend. This weekend was maybe (or maybe not) Emelia’s last year in All-Star cheer. She loves this sport so much and it is killing her that she might be done. I love what this sport has given her—the friendships that she has made and the joy it has brought her. Every year we think this is it, she is going to be ready to move on and then every year she begs to go back. So as we get home from Nationals Emelia is back in the world of I don’t want to quit Cheer. She is planning on trying out for all-girl Western this season and we really hope she makes it but it is insanely competitive to get on the team. Some of the top cheerleaders around Canada tryout so Emelia knows she is in really tough company to secure a spot. So it is back to she really cannot imagine not being in Cheer and she wants to tryout again for the World’s team next season.

So here we go again….

Back to Nationals. This season has been a roller coaster of emotions. This team started out as essentially a Level 3 team clawing to be a Level 6 team. And with insane work and determination they put on a level appropriate routine against some of the best teams in their division. The first run was a bit rough, they struggled with some of the new upgraded skills and got slammed with deductions. But even with that they were in a tight race for third place. They refocused and put it all out there on day two. The put on one of their most energetic runs of the season, putting it all out there, in the end it wasn’t enough. Even though it was a strong run they got hit with enough deductions that kept them out of medal contention. It was a rough end of a hard year. The girls trained so hard, put it all out there and even though they do not feel it now they should be so proud of what they accomplished. They came so far in a year, in the beginning of the season they could barely hold clean level 4 stunts and by the end of the year they were putting on a full level 6 routine. We are beyond proud of them. I will forever grateful for what Cheer has given Emelia and our family. And if this is her last season in all-star I will leave this sport so proud for what it gave our daughter and family. I guess time will tell if this is our last nationals or not.