I felt the love last Sunday.
What was last Sunday? It was the Washington State Cheer Coaches Association Rec Cheer Championships. It was an event I’ve attended every single year since its inception…until this year. It’s an event my team won first place at for a decade…but didn’t attend this year.
So what’s with the love? I got a TON of texts from awesome rec coaches from all over the state asking where I was and making sure everything was okay. It’s been a rough year for me personally, and although I try not to let that affect my coaching, inevitably it will. I know that. But that wasn’t the reason.
Last year we were told we couldn’t compete—we could only be exhibition—because we had someone too young on our team. Despite the fact that the board changed the age rule at the beginning of the season and this girl had been on the previous year and I wasn’t about to kick her off. Despite the fact that we were told we could get an age waiver, which was then denied.
You know that song about unanswered prayers? This was one of them. I was disappointed to feel like I needed to resign from the WSCCA board last year…a board I’ve been on for 20 years and was a founding member of the organization. But I couldn’t take it anymore…the hypocrisy, the mean girl backbiting, just all of it. Now I’m sooooo glad I’m off the board. Let’s just say there are recent issues that I’m glad I’m not a part of.
Over half my competition team is new this year, but they certainly got an earful from the half that isn’t about how things went down at Rec State last year. So at the beginning of the season, before we had even taken the competition floor, the team voted unanimously to skip Rec State this year and focus on our first time at Nationals since 2019. Instead of getting up at 0-dark-thirty to get to the middle-of-nowhere, I slept in, went to church, and had a very relaxing day. And answered lots and lots of texts from worried friends.
Thank you coaches for sending me the love. I appreciate it. Thank you for all the love over the years. In general, the rec cheer community in Washington is really awesome and I’m proud to be a part of it. And thank you to my team who never lets ANYTHING get them down, and who just keeps bringing it every time they hit the floor. I am so proud of you and super excited to see what happens at Nationals this weekend. Let’s get out there and ROCK. THE. FLOOR!

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