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Lisa Welsh
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By Lisa D. Welsh
www.CHEERMaD.com
Sometimes it’s fun to look back to gain perspective which is what this Cheer Mom did while reading some of the earliest CHEERMaD blog posts from our first year. Here’s one from June 23, 2011 only four days after CHEERMaD launched and soon became the No. 1 site for cheer moms and cheer dads.
Rachel has aged out of minis.
A baby-face mini; first competition of the 2010 season~Jamfest
Because she was eight years old when the season began last year and wouldn’t turn nine until November, Rachel was put on an extraordinary team. They weren’t special because they came in First Place 9 times and Division 1 Grand Champs seven (!) times. They were special because this time last year there were doubts by coaches and parents alike that this team would get it together enough to compete at all.The team of 16~we’ll call them young ladies even though they acted more like wiggle worms~ between the ages of five and eight spent more time talking and fidgeting than practicing. With patience and determination (on the coaches part) and enthusiasm and determination (on their part) the team became a cohesive unit. They took care of each other when someone was hurt—physically or emotionally. When a six-year-old puts her arm around a seven-year old’s shoulder and whispers “don’t worry, it will be ok,” you believe it.
Like the extended family that they were, they would get on each others nerves and bicker, but they overcame any differences on the mat. They learned that they needed one another if they were going to get anywhere. Soon they were holding hands as they ran onto the mat at competitions and started to leave arenas with trophies. Later in the year, they’d start high-fiving and hugging each other before they got into position.
A little more experienced; last competition of the 2010-2011 season~USASF International All Levels
Some kids, including my own, who could do no more than a cartwheel when the season started were doing round-off back-handsprings by the end of the year. The more advanced kids learned patience and the less advanced learned perseverance.
Although I’ve been Certifiably CHEERMaD for ten years, don’t sit next to me at a competition if you want to know how a routine compared against others in its division. I have a couple of friends I sit with at comps who are real good at seeing things like deductions and questionable moves but I don’t think I’ll ever master that.
But one thing I can do is read my daughters’ body language no matter how bright the lights or how much spring-board floor is between us. I didn’t see half of a pyramid fall but I knew immediately when Becky hyper extended her elbow and dislocated it, never flinching, not missing a beat until the music stopped and she ran off holding her arm as if it were ready to fall off.
Becky and Rachel from the last year they would both be Allstars (2010-2011 season)
I knew, not by the look on Rachel’s face, but by the way she grasped her flyer’s leg, that she was off-balance and kept the stunt afloat nonetheless.
If the routine goes well, I seek them out on the side of the arena where they’ve exited. If it doesn’t go well, I know not to go near them. I watch from afar, my heart breaking because a stunt that never, ever falls chose to collapse on this particular day. I want to run up and hug away their disappointment, but know that they have to go through this by themselves. Nothing I could say would ease their pain anyway, but they know I’m close by when they are ready to be consoled. I resist the urge to protect them and know that I can’t even if I really wanted to.
Like many things in cheering, it’s a life lesson for parent and child.
Rachel's first comp as a ShowStopper December 2011
But now a new season (2011-2012) has started and some of the minis have moved up to youth as Rachel has. Being from the same gym, they know this older group and teams have been reconstructed as the youth team also had kids that aged-out.
Watching to see what new stunt groups would form (from the safety of a flat screen television set up in the lobby) it was apparent to us parents that something was already clicking. These kids went right to business, including one alternate who had moved to a junior level team but who loved her youth team so much (and since she was still within the youth age grid) she asked her coach if she could still work-out with them.
In my experience, a team needs to win and lose together for about six months before they actually become a team. But if the first weeks of practices are any indication, maybe it can happen sooner.
In celebration of CHEERMaD’s one year anniversary on June 19, we’re posting fan favorite blogs like this one. Original post date was June 23, 2011.
By Lisa D. Welsh
www.CHEERMaD.com
Sometimes it’s fun to look back to gain perspective which is what this Cheer Mom did while reading some of the earliest CHEERMaD blog posts from our first year. Here’s one from June 23, 2011 only four days after CHEERMaD launched and soon became the No. 1 site for cheer moms and cheer dads.
Rachel has aged out of minis.
A baby-face mini; first competition of the 2010 season~Jamfest
Because she was eight years old when the season began last year and wouldn’t turn nine until November, Rachel was put on an extraordinary team. They weren’t special because they came in First Place 9 times and Division 1 Grand Champs seven (!) times. They were special because this time last year there were doubts by coaches and parents alike that this team would get it together enough to compete at all.
Like the extended family that they were, they would get on each others nerves and bicker, but they overcame any differences on the mat. They learned that they needed one another if they were going to get anywhere. Soon they were holding hands as they ran onto the mat at competitions and started to leave arenas with trophies. Later in the year, they’d start high-fiving and hugging each other before they got into position.
A little more experienced; last competition of the 2010-2011 season~USASF International All Levels
Some kids, including my own, who could do no more than a cartwheel when the season started were doing round-off back-handsprings by the end of the year. The more advanced kids learned patience and the less advanced learned perseverance.
Although I’ve been Certifiably CHEERMaD for ten years, don’t sit next to me at a competition if you want to know how a routine compared against others in its division. I have a couple of friends I sit with at comps who are real good at seeing things like deductions and questionable moves but I don’t think I’ll ever master that.
But one thing I can do is read my daughters’ body language no matter how bright the lights or how much spring-board floor is between us. I didn’t see half of a pyramid fall but I knew immediately when Becky hyper extended her elbow and dislocated it, never flinching, not missing a beat until the music stopped and she ran off holding her arm as if it were ready to fall off.
Becky and Rachel from the last year they would both be Allstars (2010-2011 season)
I knew, not by the look on Rachel’s face, but by the way she grasped her flyer’s leg, that she was off-balance and kept the stunt afloat nonetheless.
If the routine goes well, I seek them out on the side of the arena where they’ve exited. If it doesn’t go well, I know not to go near them. I watch from afar, my heart breaking because a stunt that never, ever falls chose to collapse on this particular day. I want to run up and hug away their disappointment, but know that they have to go through this by themselves. Nothing I could say would ease their pain anyway, but they know I’m close by when they are ready to be consoled. I resist the urge to protect them and know that I can’t even if I really wanted to.
Like many things in cheering, it’s a life lesson for parent and child.
Rachel's first comp as a ShowStopper December 2011
But now a new season (2011-2012) has started and some of the minis have moved up to youth as Rachel has. Being from the same gym, they know this older group and teams have been reconstructed as the youth team also had kids that aged-out.
Watching to see what new stunt groups would form (from the safety of a flat screen television set up in the lobby) it was apparent to us parents that something was already clicking. These kids went right to business, including one alternate who had moved to a junior level team but who loved her youth team so much (and since she was still within the youth age grid) she asked her coach if she could still work-out with them.
In my experience, a team needs to win and lose together for about six months before they actually become a team. But if the first weeks of practices are any indication, maybe it can happen sooner.
In celebration of CHEERMaD’s one year anniversary on June 19, we’re posting fan favorite blogs like this one. Original post date was June 23, 2011.
