A Bid

Saturday Lexee had another cheer competition.  

I'll give you a very brief explanation of cheer competitions from my understanding, obtained by attending many over the past 5 years.

League and State are scored by deducting penalties.  Things like stepping off the mat, touchdowns, incomplete stunts, and falls.  You compete in your division (5A, 4A, etc.), and it doesn't matter the number of members on each team.  You can have a team of 25 (Colorado's max), competing against a team of 12.  It's a little harder to make sense of these competitions, in my humble opinion.

UCA and Nationals are scored more on the team's skill in dance, stunting (# of stunt groups), tumbling, and cheer.  It doesn't matter what division you are in (5A can compete against 3A), but you compete according to your team's size:  small, medium, large, or super large.  To qualify to go to the UCA Nationals, you need to achieve a particular score at the regional UCA competition (place doesn't doesn't really matter - except for bragging rights), and you are given a bid.  These competitions are a little easier to understand from a spectator's point of view.

So Lexee's team was hoping for a bid.  Which would mean they would plan to go Nationals in Florida in February.

I was torn.  Of course I wanted them to perform well.  Of course I would like to have Lex get the chance to go to Nationals (Britta went twice).  But I (along with a few other parents I chatted with) knew it would mean a longer practice season, and needing to cough up $1200 for the trip.  

I decided that I wanted them to get the bid.  

(Also secretly thinking that maybe Lex would change her mind about trying out next year if she had a really great experience at Nationals.  Which sounds like I enjoy cheerleading more than she does.  In my defense, I really don't.  But I think hard work, discipline, following direction, active participation, healthy competition, physical exercise, and teamwork can only be of benefit in the long run.  And if she still decides not to try out next year, at least she will have had the complete cheer experience.)

The competition was held here... a new venue.  It has been held at the Denver Coliseum the past 3 years, but they were hosting the 5A girls volleyball finals.  I like the Coliseum MUCH better.

After their performance, another mom came and told me Lexee was throwing up.  I went to go find her... not knowing if she had thrown up on the floor?  in front of everyone?  I searched around for her and asked a few girls if they had seen her.  "She was throwing up in a garbage can," one of them responded.  After more search futility, I called her cell.  She answered.  She had gone downstairs to a bathroom.  She didn't really throw up, she just couldn't breathe after the performance, and was gagging and choking as she tried to get air.

Oh yeah.  She has exercise-induced asthma.  We have an inhaler, but neither of us remembered.  I was just glad it wasn't a stress-induced-all-over-the-floor-I'm-so-humiliated-nasty-puke scene.

The Convention Center was not the most hospitable... they closed down the food venders about halfway through the competition, and shut off most of the lights immediately following the awards.  (Which is why I have this lovely glowing-eyes picture.)  

But LHS got a bid.  Congratulations, girls!