JOE’S NOTES
“…with a light in their eyes…a fire in their hearts…”
What a great weekend in Chattanooga! This was a fantastic event. As we arrive at the new Chattanooga Convention Center, our kids were delighted to find “Welcome ALLSTAR Panthers” up in lights; nice welcome! I’m sure that the other 379 squads wondered why they were only welcoming us, but they just don’t realize how special our kids and parents are!
We all arrive, go right into our rooms and prepare for pre-competition banquet dinner, to be held in our private Convention Center room with 230 of our kids, parents and staff. We had a great time talking about our “defining moments” and “seizing the moment”. Brian and Jamie also spoke and those that did not know them met Laura and Scott. I had some tearful reflections on Rebe and Megan’s years as Panthers and who were making their first trip as coaches. They were really excited about this until they realized that as the rookies, they were responsible to carry the boom box and medical bag! I am having a hard time dealing with the fact that they are both graduating seniors but very excited that they will both be teaching and coaching the Panthers next year!
These are fun teams to be with. They are young with about 25% new to competitive cheerleading. These kids truly enjoy the experience of the lights, action, uniforms and environment. They smile all the time and the parents are in amazement of the whole thing. All of these teams had been really working hard the past few weeks, changed a lot of things and moved people around and I really did not know exactly what to expect in the way of scoring.
Where Dallas was a test of courage and heart, this was all about excited determination. It just blows my mind when we go to practice or warm up, don’t hit a thing and take it to the floor and perform like professionals! These kids hit the stage, got under those lights, heard their crowd and just turned it on!
In two days of competition and some 90 stunts and pyramids, not one thing came down…everything hit both days! We were all beside ourselves. All we can do is to hit our routine. We do not control anything else. As each of our squads finished their performance, I thought about how far they had come since CheerSport just a month and a half earlier!
Youth Red…2nd place…what can I say? These kids were absolutely on fire. They were happy, excited and really turned it on. They were so far ahead of the 3rd place team, it was really just a two team division! I can’t wait to see how good they are in another month in Orlando!
Youth Black…3rd place and had a chance for 2nd; very tough teams in this division. We were 5 points out, day two we tied them. This was the first time that they hit their routine, all the way through, and they did it two days in a row! At CheerSport we had 3 standing tucks, here we threw 13. Not bad for a team that has really only been practicing since the beginning of December. Also, the team we tied the 2nd day, United Gators, we get to see them again in Orlando!
Junior red…6th place…in a much more contested division than at CheerSport. This squad probably had more routine changes than any other Panther squad but what a performance! This was our first team to compete and really set the tone on hitting the routine! Everything that they did was 1000% better than the last competition at Duluth. The timing was good and everything hit. As good as the first day was, the scores really went up the 2nd day. Their 2nd day score was higher than 2 of the squads that finished ahead! Watch out Orlando!
Junior White…5th place…where did this team come from? This was also a tough division. We were competing against a few “advanced” squads and really held our own. In 4th after the first day, the kids were so pumped, that we added in several standing tucks for the 2nd day. With all of those changes, they hit every stunt and performed with more confidence and energy than they had all year! We beat some squads that had been beating us all season and I sense something special happening in Orlando!
I am so proud of all the kids, parents and staff! It was a great competition and we are planning to take all of our teams there next year. Jodi Van Dresser and all of the team moms did an incredible job keeping things organized and fun! This was a very special experience and I can’t wait till Orlando!
See you in the gym…Go Panthers!
Joe