Steelers Homecoming

It's been a whirlwind for Steelers cheer leading since school started. They had the opportunity to cheer at the high school football game with the Salem cheerleaders 10 days ago, then last Saturday it was the homecoming game. It was supposed to be later, but for some reason was bumped up about a month, which made prepping for it more urgent. Karissa had to go to extra practices, including a 2 1/2 hour practice before the actual game! Yes, JV is pretty intense!

Karissa is the flyer in the middle.

JV squad. She's right in the middle.

 The morning of the game they had a quick practice and then went to breakfast with the football players. I drove back and forth between cheer and dance on Saturday while Jason took the boys to soccer. Not to mention, I was on the homecoming committee, so I got to help decorate as well. Karissa had to miss the BYU game-watching party at our friend's house, who host at least once a season, to go back for the 2 1/2 hour practice before the game. Well, she didn't miss much at the BYU game :(.

The Steelers didn't have a great game either, and their star player snapped his wrist just before the 4th quarter- OUCH! But, the cheerleaders were great and always fun to watch!

Jason and Karissa running out the the 50 yard line before the game.

After meeting me at the 50.

Passing out candy at the half.

Karissa's nickname this year is Peanut. There are three 5th graders on the squad and the rest are 6th and 7th graders. Considering she is about the size of an 8 year-old, you can see where she got her nickname. She didn't end up flying for homecoming, though. There's another girl who wants to fly and can't be at competition this year, and Karissa can, so she was a front spot for the stunts in the performance. It's so fun to watch her really get into cheer!

They changed into "80s" attire (leg warmers and all, though you can't tell since they're black) for the big performance at half time.

Here's the routine. She starts in the middle and spots the stunt on our left.

Go Steelers!