#cheer competitions

My squad got runner up, losing first by six points. That means we literally almost could have tied had 1) one of the liberties stayed up and 2) the basket toss hadn't been thrown crooked. 

I just spent the last few hours going over the score sheets, taking the judges critiques seriously and making some BIG changes to my routine. I changed formations, added new executions and dismounts to stunts, and even the chant. I really hope I increased our difficulty level because we were so close to scoring in the advanced ranges but all the judges said we needed more creativity. 

Tomorrow's practice, my squad is getting work done. Conference is next week and they WILL place in the top in order to go to Regionals and eventually States. Sadly, nearly all my boys play football and they have an away game so they'll be gone, but my girls can get this stuff done.

 I'm not kidding when I say that I refuse to play around next year. I'm scheduling tryouts in March, immediately after basket ball season ends and we are going to condition and work out twice a week until summer break. The girls that don't come to conditioning because they don't feel like it, I'm going to make sure I remember them when they try out for competition squad in August after camp. 

Speaking of camps, we are having two camps next summer. One is a sideline, learning cheers and stunting camp and the second camp is competition squad only where we will literally spend a week coming up with a routine. 

Next year's squad is going to have requirements too. I'm so tired of these flyers being too lazy to work on their flexibility. The requirements to be a flyer for varsity comp. squad are: 1. Flyers must be able to perform one legged extended stunts with flexible liberty variations (i.e., heel stretches, scorpions, scales, arabesques, and bows) and 2. Flyers must be able to have a full down dismount from all stunts, one legged or two legged. 

It honestly drives me up the wall whenever I hear a flyer say "Oh, I can't do that." or "I'm too scared to try that." I have this one flyer this year that CONSTANTLY says that. I want to replace her, but until tryouts next year, I don't know whether or not I have the option. Her mother is also an insane cheer mom that likes to kiss the coach's ass or become enemy number one when her daughter doesn't get her way. I can't wait to put her in her place next year when her daughter can't fly for varsity because she didn't follow my rules and work on her flexibility. 

Another requirement I'm implementing is a tumbling requirement. The judging rubric for intermediate tumbling states that if one hundred percent of the squad performs a basic level tumbling skill (round offs, forward rolls for example) then they can score in the 6 to 10 point bracket. I'm adding a round off requirement. This will take care of another girl on my squad who is literally USELESS. We've tried her as a flyer, she sucks, we've tried her as a front spot, she sucks. She's honestly so annoying to deal with. Last night for example, I took out this stunt where she does fly for something simple because I needed her bases to do something else with other groups. THIS CHILD STARTS THROWING A TEMPER TANTRUM ABOUT NOT BEING ABLE TO FLY. 

The other coach and I almost kicked her off right then and there. We're still debating letting her compete next week. She pissed me off so bad last night that I decided right then and there that when I have tryouts next spring, she will not be making it. I couldn't believe how selfish she was being last night. We took her stunt out because it was the best for the squad and she wanted it to be about her. Oh hell no. Next spring, I've got almost a dozen eighth grade cheerleaders trying out and I'll bet one of them can replace her. 

And my last competition squad requirement is boy participation. When I cheered, I did everything from motions, jumps, dancing, etc. We don't get scored on full squad participation because our boys just want to tumble and stunt. I know I need the boys to tumble and sometimes yes, I really do need them for stunting, but if I don't get my full scores because of them then I really don't want them. I wish my boys would quit football (their coach is a literal asshole anyway) and just cheer full time until they play basketball. But yeah, next year, boys got to do everything. 

My goal for competition squad next year is to take twenty cheer leaders for the floor. I want four awesome working stunt groups and at least a quarter of the squad tumbling with advanced skills. I will focus on scoring in the advanced bracket for jumps, stunts, dance, motions, etc, and then worry about tumbling scores later. Until I get a squad of twenty people being able to do a round off back handspring back tuck, I'll just have to work on building our other talents. 

I'm honestly prepared to take on next year. I feel like I'll have a big squad and I'll have a good variety to choose competition squad. Also, some new boys have expressed interest in joining and yes, they can tumble. I really want them for next year and I hope they join and don't play freaking football ( I really can't stand this coach ). That way, my squad can kick ass and the district, conference, region, and state title is ours. ;)