BANG! That was Carissa's cheer team ending the season!

Well, another year of cheer is over! Yay! The last competition was at Daytona Beach - outside. Let me remind you that I HATE the beach. The competition mat was at the bandshell. There were two sets of stands on either side which blocked the breeze. It was brutally hot! I thought I was going to melt! I slathered myself with sunscreen and just figured I'd be hot all day. I discovered upon looking for shade that the shopping/restaurant complex attached to the bandshell was quite breezy, cool, and shady on the 2nd and 3rd floors. So I parked myself there instead and was comfortable all day! It was awesome.

By the time Carissa's team came out at 2:30, the sun had baked the dark blue spring floor mats for around 6 hours. She said it was burning hot to the touch. They have to put their hands on it to tumble and they roll around on it during parts of the routine. It was also radiating heat. To make the whole thing even better, the sun was in the bases' eyes when they were looking up to hold up a flyer. They couldn't see anything! This had been going on all day and I suspected was the reason so many teams were dropping girls or the reason for flyers bobbling (shaking) in their stunts (also a deduction).

Well, Carissa's team nailed their routine. They had one person put hands down on tumbling, but that was it. There were 14 teams in their division. At awards, they had all 14 teams on the mat. As their name was called, they got their trophy and left the stage. So the number of teams on the mat dwindled as the awards ceremony went on. I knew they were in contention for at least top 5. So as it got to 6th I started to get nervous. Then they called 5th . . . then 4th . . . then 3rd . . . then I was REALLY nervous! They were one of two teams left on the mat. Second place went to some team we'd never heard of. So Carissa's team WON! Another national competition and a great way to end the season. First out of 14 is quite a feat! So her team ended the season with a bang. It was awesome and made the icky day at the beach a little less annoying. =)


So what now? Three weeks of tryout clinics where they work on specific skills. Carissa will be going for working her tumbling full and her standing tuck. Then there are two weeks of tryouts. Then . . . the new season starts! Yay! sigh.