We Could Have Never Predicted This Season...

You just can’t predict the future. Sometimes things turn out so different than where you thought you were headed. At the beginning of this competition season we had some issues. We had people leave the team, most for valid reasons, but far enough into the season to cause major problems with our routine and practice schedule. Cheerleading is the ultimate team sport—when people quit the team it causes hours and hours of rechoreographing and redoing that could have been spent in improving the routine. By November I was ready to quit myself. I don’t remember ever being so frustrated with a team. I was so upset I unfortunately lashed out one night at those who were still there and told them that I had decided to retire from coaching as soon as my boys are done with high school. That I just can’t take the heartbreak anymore. I was speaking to them from a place of pure emotion and frustration and was not level-headed about it at all. I even gave them the option of calling it quits for this competition season and just focusing on our big trip to Paris, but they wanted to continue on. I’m so glad they did. It took me a couple days, but I calmed down and came to my senses. I apologized to the team and asked for their forgiveness for being so emotional and for taking it out on them. One of the parents texted me later and thanked me for doing that—she said it’s good for kids to see adults take responsibility for their actions and admit that they were wrong. I agree…none of us is perfect and it’s okay to admit when we messed up.Little did I know that the “thinning” of our team would result in the best season we’ve had, EVER. Every competition we did improved on the one before. Every performance was the best each individual had to give. We evolved the routine over the course of the two competition months, and by the time we got to our Rec State Championships, we got the highest score we’d gotten all season…by a lot. But wait, there’s more! We also got the highest score of ANY traditional rec team, in ANY division, the ENTIRE SEASON. That is craziness! That hasn’t happened in years. And compared to the high school State scores in all the traditional divisions, we would have placed 6^th among all high school teams. As much as I hate to use this word, that is UNPRECEDENTED for us. Who would have thought at the beginning of the season, when I was ready to call it quits, that we would work through the chaos and come out as champions. I couldn’t be more proud of the ladies and gents of Red Squad. They truly earned their accolades this season. And now…on to Paris!