Over the last weekend of January, Kaitlynn had a cheer competition in Tulsa, OK called the American Spirit Championship (ASC). Normally, Tulsa doesn't seem like an exciting or glamorous place to visit (no offense!) but for the Bombers cheer squad, this was sure to be a special weekend. The ASC competition was going to be our very first time this season - and first time overall for Kaitlynn and me - to experience the TRUE nature of a normal cheer competition. It would be an in-person event with no restrictions on spectators, so it was a weekend we were all looking forward to.
Because I was still traveling for work throughout the week, I arrived back home late on a Thursday and was planning to head to Tulsa on Friday with Kaitlynn. But because Connor had a basketball game on Friday evening, I wanted to watch his game before heading north to Tulsa. Unfortunately, there were no flights available that worked with our timeframe, which meant that Kaitlynn and I had a LONG drive overnight to Tulsa. We watched Connor's game, got home around 7:00pm, and headed out on our road trip to Tulsa by 7:30pm. The 8-hour drive meant that I had to drive through the night, not arriving at our hotel in downtown Tulsa until 3:00am in the morning. Ouch! I'll be honest: I was dreading that drive big time and to keep it real, I was also struggling to feel any joy about attending the competition. (Don't tell Kaitlynn!) I was already so exhausted from traveling all week and burning the candle on both ends lately. But I couldn't have picked a better traveling companion. Kaitlynn was so sweet and supportive to help me through the drive, even though she conked out by 10:30pm, ha!
I learned on that long drive that I am officially OLD because I cannot see the roads well at night, which is a trait I know I received from my beloved mother. (Yes, she would agree with that!) Thankfully, we made it to Tulsa safely around 3 in the morning and we went straight to sleep.
The next morning, it was go-time for Kaitlynn's preparations for her cheer competition. That always means hair, makeup, and uniform followed by some hotel room stretching to get her warmed up. Kaitlynn is not a fan of the required makeup; in fact, it is her least favorite part of the entire cheer experience. I am trying to work with her to figure out how to apply her makeup on her own to save me from a good 30 minutes of work each time.
Probably the best decision we made for the Tulsa competition was to stay at the onsite hotel, Aloft, which was right next door to the competition venue, the Cox Business Center. We could see it from our hotel room window, and we enjoyed watching the cheer competitors walk across throughout the day.
On this particular day, Kaitlynn and I finished her makeup and then made a lunch run to Chickfila for her favorite pre-competition meal. But first, we made sure to take some selfies to capture the fun time - and matching fur-trimmed winter coats! - we were already having together on our weekend.
When it was time to head to the Business Center for the competition, we had a short walk to get there. I snapped a quick pic of Kaitlynn in her cheer gear. It was a cold winter weekend in Tulsa so we were all bundled up.
When we arrived inside the convention center, I immediately noticed something that I hadn't seen in months... tons of people, all together inside! Most folks were wearing masks, which was a requirement, but the sheer volume of people really surprised me. It was a very pleasant surprise, in my opinion.
The girls met up in one of the ballrooms and immediately began their warmups and practice. As they headed out to their official warmup area, the parents formed a tunnel and clapped them out. It reminded me of the days when we did this for Connor's little league football team.
Since this was my first in-person competition, I wasn't aware that the parents generally drop the girls off with their coaches and then head out for some downtime. I chose to stick close to the team, and eventually I made my way into the spectator viewing area to watch the other teams while waiting for the Bombers performance to begin.
Once it was their turn, the parents were allowed to move to the designated parent area for front row viewing. We all took our spot on the carpet and then cheered our hearts out for the girls during their 3-minute routine. I was blown away by the in-person spectator experience, which was SO much more exciting and lively than I had imagined. The girls performed great, although not their absolute best, but it was still so much fun to watch them do their thing. I loved every second of it, and I was so excited to greet Kaitlynn afterwards with smiles and hugs!
She was sweaty, tired, but full of joy from the fun of her first live experience with spectators. She and I both agreed it made SUCH a difference in the overall enjoyment of the sport. We took some additional photos as we made our way back to our hotel room.
One thing (among many) about cheer competition weekends that I wasn't fully prepared for is the large amount of downtime that you have in between performances. Normally the girls and their families will get together for activities and meals after performances and enjoy the additional time together, but with Covid, most families decided to go their own way in small groups.
After the Bombers' performance, the team was dismissed for the rest of the day to enjoy the city on our own. I asked Kaitlynn if she wanted to join some other friends, but she told me that she would rather have some mother/daughter time together. That made my heart sing, and together-time was exactly what we did! We started with a yummy Mexican food dinner, followed by some fun shopping, and then capped off the long day with some frozen custard. We talked, we laughed, and we enjoyed our time together oh-so-much! We went to bed that night with tired bodies but huge smiles from our extra special day together.
The next morning on Sunday, we woke up and it was time to do it all again. Hair, makeup, stretching, and donning her uniform for her Day 2 performance. Since it was Sunday, we grabbed our breakfast at Whataburger in between getting ready, and funny story- we experienced the slowest EVER breakfast I can ever remember. I think it was 28 minutes for a breakfast biscuit. Thank goodness we weren't in a huge rush, ha! We still had plenty of time for Kaitlynn to perfect her look and head back to the venue.
Once we arrived at the Business Center, we snapped some more quick pics and then it was time for the Bombers to do their thing. They were pumped for Day 2 and hoped to pull out a better performance from the day prior.
Stay tuned for the professional cheer photos showcasing the Bombers fantastic performance and Kaitlynn's starring role. In the end, the Bombers did great at the American Spirit Championship competition. Unfortunately they didn't pull out a win, but they walked away with some great experience.
For the newcomers like Kaitlynn and me, we gained so much more understanding about cheer life and how much fun the weekend experiences can be. To this day, I will always remember Tulsa as the weekend that completely changed my perspective and opinion about the world of cheer competitions. We may indeed have caught the "cheer bug" :-)
