No sooner had we returned from our Thanksgiving travels and settled back into the school and work return, and it was already time for Kaitlynn and I to hit the road again. We were headed back to Dallas, this time to the downtown area, for her first official Phantom cheer competition of the season. So exciting!
For this particular competition, our Phantom team had a late timeslot to compete on Saturday evening and Sunday evening, so we found ourselves with quite a bit of free time during both days. We decided to enjoy some fun activities with our extra time, so we visited a local nail salon for some final touches to Kaitlynn's competition preparation. Afterwards, it was back to the hotel room for the hours-long hair and makeup routine to make sure she fully looked the part. We were a little out of practice with the cheer stage makeup and high ponytail, but we managed to conquer the look and even staged a mini photo shoot to capture the moment. These turned out to be some of our favorite photos of the season!
When it was time to head for the competition, we faced the usual stress of figuring out where to go, where to park, and how to navigate to the right meeting location. That seems to be the hardest part of these out-of-town competitions for me. Thankfully we figured it all out and were soon wandering the convention center amidst all the other cheer families. It was the first weekend in December, and the theme of the Spirit Celebration competition was all-things-Christmas. The convention center halls were festively decorated for the holidays and the atmosphere was pure excitement for the first official competition of the season. The Moms all looked a bit stressed and frazzled (including me!) but the girls showed nothing but joy and excitement for their big days ahead!
Although the huge venue - the Kay Bailey Hutchinson convention center - was a little overwhelming to me at first, I loved the competition stage in the arena with plentiful room to spread out for a perfect vantage point to see the girls compete. It was so exciting to see our Phangirls take the stage!
At the end of Day 1, Phantom was understandably disappointed that their performance had fallen a bit short. The good news is that the girls had one more chance to hit their routine on Day 2, and they were all determined to have a better showing the following day. After the long day, Kaitlynn and I found a little Mexican food spot to enjoy some dinner before heading back to our hotel for the night.
The next morning, we had another full day ahead for competition-prep followed by a late evening performance. Kaitlynn and I decided we wanted to watch some of the teams perform, so we arrived early to the convention center and settled in to see some great performances. At the start of the new season, it was so neat to see all the different teams and levels of competition. With this being our 2nd season, we were learning so much about the world of all-star cheer, which is truly unique and maybe not well understood by anyone on the outside. We soaked in the energy and excitement in the arena while marveling at the creativity and skill from so many athletes.
After several hours of watching some amazing performances, it was time for Kaitlynn's team to gather and begin their warmups. The girls were so excited and ready to "hit zero" for their Day 2 performance.
While the girls were gathering before warmups, they had a surprise encounter with a favorite Texas "cheer-lebrity" - Makenna Noble. She is a high school cheerleader from the Dallas area who had recently made international headlines when a tragic accident left her paralyzed and fighting for her life. The cheer community across the world rallied around Makenna, who soon became an inspiration to so many with her incredible attitude and positivity amidst such a difficult situation. The girls were so excited to see Makenna and get their picture with her!
Finally, it was time for Phantom's Day 2 performance. When Phantom took to the stage, they had an amazing performance but fell short of their goal for 0 deductions. They gathered to watch their routine together and wondered how the scores might fall. With a few "bobbles" in their stunt and pyramid execution, it was now going to be up to the judges to determine whether their performance was good enough to secure 1st place in their division.
Soon, it was time for the much anticipated Awards Ceremony. For the first time in our post-Covid cheer experience, the Awards were held in person with all teams gathered and packed together on stage to hear the results. The winners were called one by one based on the age, size, and skill level of each group. When it was time to hear the results for Youth small level 3, the winner was none other than... PHANTOM!
I'm not sure who felt more excitement and joy - the Phantom athletes or their parents! Wow! It was such a thrilling feeling to open the new season with a come-from-behind win, especially when the girls hadn't felt that their performance was strong enough in this first outing of the season. The judges felt otherwise, and the girls were beyond ecstatic for their first medals and jackets of the season. Way to go, Phantom! After a brief session of photo-taking and celebratory hugs, Kaitlynn and I hit the road towards home and chatted excitedly about the win almost the entire 4-hour drive. What a way to kick off the new cheer season!
