Kaitlynn's cheer team, the Bombers, participated in their penultimate competition at the end of March in downtown Houston. We were happy for the convenience of the local venue and even more excited about the fact that all of us would be able to attend the event in person. Slowly but surely, things felt like they were returning to normal and we were finally understanding more about the appeal of the cheer competition world to all of these athletes and their families. While Kaitlynn was never thrilled about the hair and makeup requirements, she LOVED the experience and was always so excited to compete.
One of the first things I learned in the face-to-face competitions is that there is a lot of sitting around and waiting in cheer. Waiting for your teammates to show up, waiting for the team's call-time for warm-ups, waiting for the judges to take their breaks, waiting for the time to take the stage... all that waiting for a 3-minute performance. The ironic thing is that I was never a fan of summer swim leagues for kids because of all the waiting involved between heats, and yet here we are in cheer with WAY more waiting than we ever experienced with the older boys' swim meets. Ha!
While waiting for warm-ups to begin, you can often find the cheer girls doing a lot of stretching. They have nervous energy to burn and are often goofing around as well, but stretching is always important to help them get warmed up. Kaitlynn and her teammates cracked me up - and made me cringe! - with their stretching routine before the competition.
Jeff and Connor were able to join us for the Bombers' performance, and we had quite a bit more waiting around until the Bombers took the stage. I always enjoy watching the other teams' performances but this particular venue was restricting the crowd due to Covid protocols.
When it was time for the Bombers to perform, we all cheered loud and proud. Jeff was excited to see the girls for the first time in a while, and Connor was watching for the very first time. By this point in the season, I was getting used to the routine and what to expect during the performance, but I still never could get a good read on what constituted a GREAT showing versus a mediocre one. I would usually ask the other parents afterwards for their opinions, because they seemed to know what types of details to look for and whether the girls "hit" their routine or not. For the Bombers' Day 1 performance, they did well but not their best. We were proud of them regardless!
These cheer competitions are usually a 2-day event with 1 performance on each day. So the next morning, we showed up again at the George R Brown Convention Center to do the competition performance all over again. Kaitlynn was ready for another big day and hoping for improvement from the prior day.
My favorite part of every competition has been the professional photos of the team from their performances. Kaitlynn always has the best expressions and her showmanship really shines through. The photos from this event were no exception, so fun!
The girls did GREAT on their Day 2 performance, but as it turned out, there weren't any other competing teams in their division. That meant only 1 thing - the Bombers were Youth Level 1 National Champions! They each took home the medal and the coveted cheer jacket, and their smiles were never bigger. Now on to the next and final competition of the season!
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