Spartans at Spirit

The first weekend of December arrived with so much excitement, because it was finally the official opening weekend of the competition season for Woodlands Elite and Kaitlynn's Spartans team! This is one of our most favorite comps of the year, because it's in Dallas during the holiday season, and all the festivities and Christmas spirit are in full swing. We love the ease of the Dallas drive, too. This year, I was in Dallas for a work meeting, so Jeff and Kaitlynn drove up by themselves to meet me at the hotel. I'm so disappointed that I didn't get any photos, but Kaitlynn actually drove the entire trip to Dallas with Jeff, including the chaotic downtown streets of Dallas. I was SO PROUD of her for such a huge milestone in her driving experience, and Jeff reported that she did such a great job!

We stayed at the Adolphus Hotel, which was in the heart of downtown Dallas, and it was packed with cheerleaders and families for the big weekend ahead. On the morning of Day 1, Kaitlynn woke up with a sore throat and we were worried she was getting sick - such horrible timing! Fortunately, she recovered with some Advil and was well on her way to getting ready for the performance ahead. 

Unlike our early years in cheer, Kaitlynn is 100% self-sufficient in getting herself ready for comps, which is so nice. Jeff and I just sit back and make sure we're all ready on time when it's time to go, ha! We walked to a local restaurant for some lunch before the day ahead, and it was really cute when 2 precious little girls attending the Christmas parade and saw Kaitlynn in her competition outfit. They asked if they could get a photo with her. Adorable!!

We arrived at the convention center and quickly met up with friends and teammates. Excitement for the first comp of the season was in the air! The decorations were all set up for the holidays, and the girls were so excited to hit the mat and show the judges what they had been working so hard on since back in May.

Unfortunately, the day 1 performance didn't go as planned and the Spartans made some mistakes. Coach Sheryl was not happy, but she knew they could improve for day 2. We shook off the bad performance and headed out for one of our favorite traditions in Dallas competitions - pizza dinner at Cane Russo! So much fun with this great group!

The next morning, Kaitlynn and her team were optimistic for a flawless performance. Coach Sheryl gave them the perfect pep talk and it was time to go!

And oh boy, did they come through! Wow, they hit a gorgeous zero-deduction routine, executed beautifully with excellent technique and eye-catching performance quality! The parents in the arena went wild with excitement, because they looked awesome! They were so happy when they came off stage, and rightfully so. We waited around for the awards ceremony, hopeful for a win, but you just never know. Luckily we were able to cheer on some friends while we waited.

When it was time to announce the winners, Spartans were thrilled to be announced as the 1st place team! Woohoo! It was so exciting to overcome the day 1 mistakes, and the team felt so great to have done their best on day 2 to secure the win. The team won new backpacks and the title of National Champion, along with the top Tumbling team award as well as the Golden Ticket award. What a great outcome for these champions, and an awesome start to the Spartans competition season!

Kaitlynn was so excited to snap some photos with her gold medal, and she had multiple other medals from past competitions to add to her collection. Love these shots!

On our drive back to Houston, the coaches shared the final scoresheets and one of the parents noticed a unique comment from the judges. In one of the comment boxes for the stunt execution, the judge simply remarked, "HONEY!" It became a newly adopted battle cry of sorts, because OH HONEY was our team looking good! One of the parents even mocked up a new logo for the team, so fun and cute!

As if the Spirit win wasn't good enough, we learned a few days later that the win had secured an At Large bid for the Spartans to attend the end of season Summit competition in Orlando in May. Wow, what an honor to get the team bid at the very first competition! The gym held a bid party for all the teams that had secured their bids at Spirit, and we were excited to celebrate with all the girls. We didn't have long to celebrate, though, because the next competition was only 1.5 weeks away!

I almost forgot to share the official photos from the Spirit Comp where Kaitlynn and her team were featured. It's always so much fun looking through the thousands of photos at each competition, scanning for familiar faces and laughing (sometimes) at the split second images captured during those performances on stage. Kaitlynn's joy and love for cheer never fails to shine through!