Last spring, my youngest daughter had to tryout for a team for competitive cheerleading. This occurs every spring and this coming year, this will be our sixth year being involved with competitive cheerleading, will be our youngest daughter's fourth year. The usual wait time to find out what team she made was excruciating, as usual. When the teams were finally posted, the air went completely out of our balloon. Talk about disappoint for my daughter. She was placed on a team we felt she was beyond the skill level of some of the girls listed. Now don't get me wrong, I am in no way a stage mom and think my daughter is the best, I am far from that stereotype. I was trying to be realistic. The hardest part was seeing the disappointment in my daughter's face.
I did voice my concern to the coaches and I also had my daughter communicate her feelings to the coaches. It all came down to the fact that yes, she had the higher tumbling skills, but she was too small to be on the higher level team when she was not a flyer, the girl that is tossed in the air. I talked about it with my daughter, as she wanted to quit she was that disappointed. Maybe she just take tumbling classes for the year and tryout again for a team when the year was over. I thought about it more and told her that her level of stamina would not be up to par with just tumbling when it takes so much to compete and perform routines.
Now came my parenting skills and I told my daughter that with life, came disappointments, but we all have to learn to adapt and accept some situations and make the best of it. I told her it was a good idea to stay on the team she was placed on, be a role model and a leader as shew would be one of the oldest girls on the team. Continue to work hard, strive for the best, and make the most of it. She agreed and had a wonderful attitude thru/out the year and continued to improve on her skills.
As in most cases, the beginning of the competitive season got off to a rocky start, but we all continued to keep our positive attitudes and continue on. As the year went on, the team did improve and my daughter was having fun, that is the most important part!
The last national competition paid off, my daughter's team got first place. What a way to end the year, BUT they weren't done yet. The coaches decided that the teams would go to the U.S. Finals in April. A new competition for everyone. Since my daughter's team was a youth team, they got half the fee paid for from a previous competition whereas the other teams won full paid bids.
So what are the U.S. Finals? I had no clue, but we went anyway as we always support our kids in whatever they love doing. My daughter's team placed first! Now that was the way to end the year, right? All the hard work and positive attitude paid off...but it wasn't done yet. The U.S. Finals, there are six Regional competitions across the country and after these are done, the judges then look at every team in each level and rank them to decide on what team will be named U.S. Champion. The competition was in April and the rankings would come out in May, yeah a long time to wait, but hey, there were 1300 teams to look at!
Last night, we found out that my daughter's team was ranked number one! They are U.S. Champion in the nation in their division and level!! There were fourteen teams and they were number one! Now THAT is the way to end the year! So lessons learned, you stick it out, make the most of it and you get rewarded! Way to go team ICE!! So now onto this coming year, my daughter was placed on a very high level team, will be challenging for her, but we know she can do it.
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