Cheerleading Madness

Each year from August through November we are non stop with activities.

Sunday - 2.5 hours of recreational cheer practice
Monday - off
Tuesday 2 hour competitive cheer practice
Wednesday - 1.25 hours recreational cheer practice + 45 minutes of tumbling
Thursday - 2 hour competitive cheer practice
Friday - HS Football Games
Saturday - Recreational Cheer/Football Games

REPEAT REPEAT REPEAT oh and then add extra tumbling practice, school starting and finding time to help/check homework, daily 20 minutes of reading before bed, planning for homecoming, making weekly videos for cheer parents, coordinating, purchasing, boxing and delivering school supplies.  I love this time of year, but with mom living with us now I have constant guilt for not being home more often.

When it comes to cheer this year I'm more patient and more organized than ever before.  Firing my team mom as an assistant coach helped easy much of my previous stress... I love her as team mom, but, as an assistant coach, not so much!  Coaches have to make tough decisions and some parents don't like those decisions, she wanted to try to make everyone happy and the reality is when your dealing with 12 cheerleaders and 12 different sets of parents your never going to make everyone happy at the same time with the exception when they call your team name and announce you came in 1st place.

This year we are stunting and it seems everyone wants their child to be a flyer - 9 years olds lifting 9 year olds is not an easy task.  Many are weak, others still lack coordination, some are taller and heavier and what it comes down to is the most petite are the ones we can get up at least for now.   My job is to make sure every cheerleader knows that there job is just as important, flyers can get up without strong bases, back spots are critical to catching dismounts and/or a falling flyer.  One of the reasons I video tape all our practices is so the parents can see what we do.  Let them see how we try 12 different ways sometimes more before we get the right combination to make it work.  Maybe even see that we tried to put their child up in a stunt even if they didn't get that spot in the end.

One thing I have learned this year is the parents who do the least seem to complain the most... Can anyone tell me why that is?!?

Diet update... yes I know I said I would check in.  I'm down 4 lbs - yes not a ton of progress by that number, but inches I'm down over 12.  My hubby said it is because I've converted fat into muscle which weighs more.  I'm doing Zumba 3 times a week and cheer practice helps on the other days.  Running is really hard on my hip - so I speed walk a mile around the track after every practice.

~G