Friday, January 27, 2006

Endless Cliffhanger #2- Cheerleaders In Vegas

Come on gang, play along. Let's see how creative we can get. I got this idea from a Discovery Toys game that I used to play with my kids. Here's the idea and how it works:

* I will start off the story
* The first person who comments adds on, the second person who comments adds on to the first, the third person who comments adds on to the second
* And so on, and so on
* You can add to the story as many times as you wish
* The story will go on throughout the weekend
* Oh, and spread the word so we can get a great story going!

You guys catching on? Okay, then let's get this story rolling..........

After the cheerleaders' last practice before defending their National Championship title in Vegas, they headed for their rooms. The coaching staff instructed everyone to go straight to bed so that they would be well rested for the day ahead. As the coaches turned the corner, the cheerleaders took one quick detour to..........

( I will be gone from Saturday night to Tuesday morning for the Nationals in Vegas.....wish us luck)

Thursday, January 26, 2006

Thursday Thirteen #4 Cheer Stuff

Thirteen Things about how I became a Cheer Coach

1. My Oldest daughter, who was 12 at the time was interested in cheerleading. She was fascinated with competitive cheer, their routines and their stunts.

2. I started looking into competitve cheer organizations locally and found the all star teams to be a bit pricey. I still continued to look. Someone finally led me to pop warner.

3. My daughter and I attended one of their meetings during their open registration. There were quite a few people there. They notified us that the age group that we were interested in did not have a coach and that they wouldn't have a Pee Wee squad that year if no one volunteered.

4. No, I did not raise my hand voluntarily. I looked around the room and saw other moms who were starting to raise their hand, but their daughters sitting right next to them grabbed their mom's hand and brought it back down. It happened to a few moms.

5. I looked at my daughter and said I know nothing about cheer and she said "that's okay, they send you to workshops to learn." I told her.....I don't think so.

6. By the end of the night, no one had raised their hand and they were about to end the meeting. They called out one last time for volunteers and my daughter right next to me, raised my hand and she said PLEASE! I saw in her eyes that she really wanted to do this so I said what the heck.

7. After I raised my hand, four more did and we had an instant coaching staff ( who knew nothing about the sport) Pretty scary, huh? This particular Pop Warner group had a reputation of placing in the top 3 of all their competitions. How were we going to do that?

8. To make the long story short, that first year that I coached we had 3 competitions. We placed 3rd, 2nd and 1st. It was a lot of hard work, but well worth it.

9. Second year of cheer came around and my second daughter joined the team. I told my daughters I would not be able to be on the coaching staff because of the time factor. They were pretty bummed about it and everyday until the girl's first meeting they asked me if I changed my mind. NOPE!! At the meeting, the coaching staff welcomed all the new and returning cheerleaders and my girls did not look happy at all. Gosh Darnit, they really wanted me to coach. It got me thinking......... sooner or later, there will come a time where they might not want me around at all so I might as well do it while they still want me around. Coaching a cheer team takes an enormous amount of time. They practice everyday in the summer for 2 hours and when school starts it goes down to 3 days. So yes, I coached that year as well. In all our competitions, we placed 1st or 2nd.

10. Third year of cheer(this year).....my oldest daughter had to have knee surgery so she took a break. And yes, I'm on the coaching staff this year. This season we have been undefeated and we have one more competion to go. It's the Nationals in Vegas which will be held this weekend. The team took first place last year so we're returning to hold on to our title.

11. I've had a great time with my girls, but am so glad this will be our last year. My oldest daughter will be on the high school cheer team in the fall and my second daughter decided she wanted to go back to soccer and then try basketball.

12. I have learned a lot about cheer this past 3 years. When I was in high school it was just 'rah, rah, go team, go' But cheer is really a sport. It takes blood, sweat and tears to put together and pull of a great routine.

Thursday Thirteen #4 Cheer Stuff

Thirteen Things about how I became a Cheer Coach

1. My Oldest daughter, who was 12 at the time was interested in cheerleading. She was fascinated with competitive cheer, their routines and their stunts.

2. I started looking into competitve cheer organizations locally and found the all star teams to be a bit pricey. I still continued to look. Someone finally led me to pop warner.

3. My daughter and I attended one of their meetings during their open registration. There were quite a few people there. They notified us that the age group that we were interested in did not have a coach and that they wouldn't have a Pee Wee squad that year if no one volunteered.

4. No, I did not raise my hand voluntarily. I looked around the room and saw other moms who were starting to raise their hand, but their daughters sitting right next to them grabbed their mom's hand and brought it back down. It happened to a few moms.

5. I looked at my daughter and said I know nothing about cheer and she said "that's okay, they send you to workshops to learn." I told her.....I don't think so.

6. By the end of the night, no one had raised their hand and they were about to end the meeting. They called out one last time for volunteers and my daughter right next to me, raised my hand and she said PLEASE! I saw in her eyes that she really wanted to do this so I said what the heck.

7. After I raised my hand, four more did and we had an instant coaching staff ( who knew nothing about the sport) Pretty scary, huh? This particular Pop Warner group had a reputation of placing in the top 3 of all their competitions. How were we going to do that?

8. To make the long story short, that first year that I coached we had 3 competitions. We placed 3rd, 2nd and 1st. It was a lot of hard work, but well worth it.

9. Second year of cheer came around and my second daughter joined the team. I told my daughters I would not be able to be on the coaching staff because of the time factor. They were pretty bummed about it and everyday until the girl's first meeting they asked me if I changed my mind. NOPE!! At the meeting, the coaching staff welcomed all the new and returning cheerleaders and my girls did not look happy at all. Gosh Darnit, they really wanted me to coach. It got me thinking......... sooner or later, there will come a time where they might not want me around at all so I might as well do it while they still want me around. Coaching a cheer team takes an enormous amount of time. They practice everyday in the summer for 2 hours and when school starts it goes down to 3 days. So yes, I coached that year as well. In all our competitions, we placed 1st or 2nd.

10. Third year of cheer(this year).....my oldest daughter had to have knee surgery so she took a break. And yes, I'm on the coaching staff this year. This season we have been undefeated and we have one more competion to go. It's the Nationals in Vegas which will be held this weekend. The team took first place last year so we're returning to hold on to our title.

11. I've had a great time with my girls, but am so glad this will be our last year. My oldest daughter will be on the high school cheer team in the fall and my second daughter decided she wanted to go back to soccer and then try basketball.

12. I have learned a lot about cheer this past 3 years. When I was in high school it was just 'rah, rah, go team, go' But cheer is really a sport. It takes blood, sweat and tears to put together and pull of a great routine.

Wednesday, January 25, 2006

Can't Think Straight!

Don't you just hate it when you don't have a thing to post????? I'm having Blogger's Block right now. I think it's because I'm preoccuppied with other things. I have lots on my to do list today and I'm working on a secret special project that I can't tell anyone about. No, not even you. :)

I'm off to start my busy day. I won't be able to make my daily rounds until later so leave me a comment and I'll be sure to visit you when the day is done.

Toodle-Loo!!

Tuesday, January 24, 2006

Good Choices

Yesterday my 15 year old daughter called me up from school.
Mom, can I ditch school today?
Ummmmmm.................NO!!!!
Why? Please! Please! Please!
Don't ask me again, the answer is NO. And anyway, why do you want to ditch?
Because everyone else is.
Who's everyone?
(She rattles off about 7 names)
Oh, I see. And where do these girls plan on going?
To the beach.
Who's driving?
Nikki
She only has her permit
I know
Okay, you just walk you butt right to class. You know it's wrong to skip school and get in a car with someone who only has their permit.
I know mom, that's why I called you to ask you.

So off she went to class. And off I went to call a few girls' moms. I am good friends with the moms a few of the girls she mentioned, including Nikki. I would expect them to do the same. All the moms that I talked to were very grateful that I called. To make the long story short, all those girls not only got in trouble with their parents, but with the school as well. They have to serve after school detention, do community service and are suspended from any sports activities for a week.

Now, what I was trying to figure out was, did my daughter call me because she really wanted to go with them or did she call me to tell on them in a round about way. Last night I sat down with her and had a heart to heart. I thanked her for calling me and gave her different scenarios of what could have happened to those girls. Without me asking her, she did confess that she really didn't want to go but she was scared that something bad was going to happen to her friends. I assured her that she did the right thing by calling me.

Peer pressure is one of the things that I dread my kids going through. I homeschooled my oldest until 3rd grade and then put her in a small private school until 6th grade. I so feared the public school system because that is what I grew up in. In 7th grade, because of certain circumstances I transferred her to a public school. I felt that she was well grounded in all that we have taught. I thought, why am I so scared? God is bigger than the public school system and I trust in Him. So prayer everyday is what gets me through. I think it's one of the best decisions we have made. She has encountered so many situations and has dealt with them well. It has made her a stronger person. So yes, I am proud of my 15 year old daughter!!!! :)