Hello Everyone,
So this past weekend, May 16th
and 17th, I was away in Manchester competing with my cheerleading team in the
spring cheerleading nationals. This is something hosted by the UKCA (United
Kingdom cheerleading association) and it happened every year in May.
I have to say that the weekend is
absolutely amazing. The environment of the cheer comp is just fantastic,
everyone there is so happy and in good spirits. And since I had an amazing time
I thought why not write a post about it! So that's what I'm going to do.
We (my mum, her boyfriend and me)
all travelled down on the Friday after my English exam. We did this for a
number of reasons. The first on being it was going to be less stressful then
going up on the Saturday morning and the second reason on Saturday we had to be
at the Manchester cycling arena for 7:45 am. So getting into Manchester
went relatively okay as we have been doing it for the past 4 years so it was
easy (ish) this year we decided to stay in a different hotel closer to the
arena. Finding the hotel was the hardest part. We pulled into a hotel called
the stay inn to ask for directions and they said that we had driven past the
hotel we needed to get there. So we made it to the hotel and the parking to it
was underground which was interesting and difficult to get to as the parking
spaces where tightly packed in and hard to get to. After we got booked in and
put all of our bags in the room it was time to go on a walk round the area. The
hotel was near the shopping centre so we just walked around the streets and had
a look at the shops and what we could get to eat.
On Saturday morning it was a bit
of a shock to the system getting up at 5am. Needless to say I am not a morning
person so I wasn’t the happiest person ever but after I had a shower and got
dressed I was more awake and happy! We went and had breakfast with the rest of
the cheerleaders then back up to the room to pack everything for the day. For
me this is the most worrying part as I needed to take everything I needed for
both days. So this involved:
Food
Competing shoes
Red socks
Uniform
Black leggings
Black top
Hair brush
Bow
Hair bobbles
Hair spray
Money
Drinks
I am a very forgetful person so I
spent a good 20 minutes going over everything to make sure that I had it all.
Then it was time to make our way to the velodrome. This was again easy because
it is always in the same place. When we got there the rest of the team was
stood outside waiting for everyone. Once the whole team was there we all stood together
to have photos taken then we had to go in pairs so we didn’t lose any of the
teenies. Then we had to go and get put wrist bands on to allow is in and out of
the veledrome and they show that we have entered the competition. We fond where
we were going to sit and in a matter of minutes it was time for the tiny teenies
to go and compete. So we all split up the tiny teenies went through the photo
process and I took the rest of the team down to the floor to go and watch and
cheer the other teams on.
The competition is split into different
age ranges. We had the tiny teenies which are ages 6 and below. Teenies which
are 10 and below. Junior B which is 16 and below and the senior which is 17+. But
it all depends on the ages of the eldest person. So me being 17 it’s my ages it
goes on. So in some of the dances 10 year olds were up against 20 year olds
(sorry girlies)
But watching the tiny teenies
perform is just so emotional and I will admit it and say that I did cry. They have
come so far, they entered last year and they cried because they didn’t want to
go on and this year they did the dance and I could not see anything that went
wrong with it. Needless to say no one on our team had dry eyes. The presenters
also said we have the youngest team members. Then it was the teenies time to perform
and again they did amazing. After this we had a little bit for a break before
we had to go on and perform so went round and handed out good luck messages to
other teams. Then it was our turn to go through the whole photo and warm up
process. And that all went well. Lining up behind the scenes is when the nerves
actually kick in really badly. You can see the teams you are up against performing
on the floor and also warming up. Then running on to the floor and getting into
position after saying the chant it seems to get easier. The worst part is the
few seconds waiting for the music to play. You know you cannot move if you are
not in the right place. Where ever you stand you have to stay there now until
you move in the dance. You have people watching you from all sides. On your
right are the other teams in the stands. Behind you have the judges that will
check the floor after you have finished for anything that has fallen. On the
left is the spectators in the stands and the teams lining up. And in front of
you are the ten judges, who you have to perform for. Nine of them are lovely
and sing along to the music you are using and smile to you. One of them is
horrible, she sits there and glares at you. At the front there are also teams
watching you. Also next to the judges table there will be your coach.
We all said before going on “we
have to do this for Kelly and baby” (our coach is pregnant) and I feel that we
did our best performance. We pulled faces. We smiled. We did it all in time. We
performed our hearts out. We did it for Kelly.
Then stunting came round. This was
a section we had never done before. We had entered dances which involved stunts
but we had never entered anything that was 100% stunting and nothing else and
this was scary! Warm ups again went fine and this time the nerves where 200
times worse for me anyway. We stood watching other teams perform and warm up
and this wasn’t a good idea. There were girls getting thrown in the air and
doing backflips and spinning. To say we were scared was an understatement! It was
then our turn. Everything was going fine until my foot gave in. for the past
few weeks I have had a pain in my foot so it’s been strapped up. And it wasn’t hurting
but I strapped it up just to be safe. Anyway when we went to do pop cradle my
foot was killing me it was the kind of pain where you feel like you are going
to be sick or cry it is that bad. And at this stage we had already popped and
the cradle didn’t go that well be we caught her and carried on. And it al all
went well from there. And luckily that was the last performance we did that
day. But it was all my fault it got messed up.
So ice went on my foot and we
waited for awards. Awards is the part where you all get your trophies and it’s
amazing all teams are sat on the floor and the atmosphere is just fantastic. We
ended up getting:
3rd
11th
7th
4th
4th
3rd
3rd
1st
I can’t remember what dances we
got them in but we did so well and I am so proud of the girls and awards is
always emotional and I did have tears in my eyes. We were ready for Sunday now.
After awards we all had photos then back to the hotel.
Sunday morning we had a lay in as
we didn’t have to be at the veledrome until 10:15 so plenty of time and this
time I didn’t have to pack my bag. So getting to the veledrome was the same as
the Saturday. On the Sunday I and Leigh-Anne only had one dance to perform so
we spent the whole time more a less stood at the front cheering every team on.
After waiting for the teenies to perform
we had one of our coaches come and tell us that we had to run back to the stands
and get changed and the rush down to photos. We then ran to the said of the
stage just in time to see the girls perform their dance and they did amazing. To
say that we all stood on the side behind a barrier jumping up and down screaming
was exactly what we did. We had the presenters laughing at us. The girls hit it
perfectly! Then we had to go and warm up. Again we had never entered this
section again so it was very nerve racking. Standing in line we said the same
thing again “do it for Kelly and the baby” and we went on and performed out
hearts out again. And it felt amazing to know that we had done our best and
nothing went wrong it was now all up to the judges. Then we went back to our
seats for the teenies to change and for the junior B girls to change into their
outfits. Then it was back down to the floor to watch the team’s perform. We had
the teenies doing songs from hairspray and the junior b girls doing songs from
grease.
While we were waiting for the
hairspray girls to go on. One of or coaches came round and got the grease girls
to start doing the whole process so it was me and Leigh-Anne. This was when we
decided to stay at the front all day and cheer other teams on as we had nothing
else to do that day.
When the hairspray girls came on
stage me and Leigh-Anne where ready to dance and sing along. We did exactly
that! The girls hit that performance again. Once they ran off the floor Sarah
took them back to the seats for food and drinks. So me and Leigh-Anne stayed and
watched everything. Then it was the grease girls turn to perform. And me and Leigh-Anne
where ready again. This time we jumped and screamed, this was the dance that
had problems and we had our worries about it. And everything that could go
wrong didn’t. Everything hit! Once they came off we all went back to the seats
to have lunch. Then everyone went to go and see parents whereas I and
Leigh-Anne went back to the floor to continue cheering everyone on.
The presenters had 12 special
medals that they were giving out to a few people. What we didn’t expect was that
we would get one on. There is a story to this so here we go:
Me and Leigh-Anne where cheering everyone
on and there was a gap so the presenters where talking and called up one of the
stewards and gave her a medal because she had spent the whole weekend with poms
in her hand and dancing. Me and Leigh-Anne did the “we are proud of you” chant
for her and then the dances continued and we danced in the small gaps. During the
next big gap we did not expect this to happen one of the presenters said “We
are going to be giving out two more of these special medals to these two girls”
pointed me and Leigh-Anne and told us to follow the other presenter on to the
floor “because they have been stood on down here dancing cheering everyone on and
this is what cheerleading is about so well done girls” and we got the medals
and we could not be any happier.
Then it was awards time. This was
so much better then we thought it would be. The dance that me and Leigh-Anne
where in was out of three. When third place got called and it wasn’t out name
all of us just screamed “WE DIDN’T COME LAST” we nearly missed our name getting
called for second place. We screamed so loud and all of us ran to the front to
collect the trophy (after us having jumped around and hugged each other.) on Sunday
we had four dances and we came away with:
2nd
1st
2nd
3rd
And I am so proud of everyone and
I am so happy that we did so well. Then we went back for photos again.
I really admire all the work that goes into the cheerleading
competitions. This year the charity we raised money for while being there was
teenage cancer trust. And at the beginning of both award ceremony’s the
presenters talked about Stephen's story and everyone did a standing applause
for him and it was so touching. 1500+ people all took part in this.
The whole weekend was just amazing and it’s something that I wish
would never end because I love it so much! 
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