#1!!

Karissa's squad took 1st place in the cheer portion of competition a couple of weeks ago and second place for the dance portion! I was so happy,  I cried! This has been a rough Steelers season for me, so this helped put a better light on the season.

Number 1 and Number 2!

 As I mentioned in my homecoming post, the schedule was changed at the beginning of the season,  making many games on Sundays and homecoming the week after her 6th grade camp. She had a small part in that routine, for that reason. From that week on to just about the last few practices (about 5 weeks total) there was at least one girl missing from each practice, usually the same girl,  which messed up Karissa's stunt group. They never got to practice their stunts, therefore they weren't able to stunt in their routine. The reason this really bothered me was because since there were only 8 girls on the squad,  they barely had enough for two stunt groups.

 The main reason I decided to allow Karissa to compete with the squad,  on a Sunday,  was so that she could allow the squad the extra person in order to have two stunt groups during the routines.  I was very upset when I found out she wouldn't be stunting at all in the routines in addition to the fact that we were now committed to going to competition on a Sunday.  She was happy to be a tumbler, which is not her strength right now, so she made the most of it.  (On a side note, she injured her wrist, a week before competition, doing cartwheels.  She wore a brace the whole week and I even took her to the dr, but it wasn't broken and ended up being fine. That was a couple days before Austin broke his pinkie,  which was why I wasn't happy to go back to get an x ray a few days later. )

The squad pulled through and brought home a gold and silver medal. They looked great,  though it wasn't Karissa's personal best.  She worked hard and I'm glad she loves cheer so much,  otherwise I would have just signed it off.  

Monday was the banquet and they received nice gifts from their coaches.  Next year she'll be on varsity, assuming the man in charge can help prevent so many Sunday games, so there will be a lot more girls. Currently varsity has 26 cheerleaders! Some will move on, but a bunch will stay.

Karissa got her hair cut the week after competition. No more high pony tails for a while!

A plaque with her bow and some cute pictures framed, along with a little Steelers charm, were her gifts.

Here's to the end of the season-hooray!!