Cheerleading Camp

In early September some cheerleaders from the local high school were in the neighborhood seeing if any of the girls wanted to go to a cheerleading camp. Sarah was outside playing with friends and came running in to ask if she could do it. She said all her friends were going and she really wanted to go too. I talked to Kenny about it and we decided that, because it wasn't too expensive and because Sarah doesn't get to do much, we would let her go. When the cheerleaders came to the door we found out it was for girls ages 4-12. So, we decided to let Hannah go as well. A few days before the camp I found out none of Sarah's friends were actually going. Apparently they all wanted to go, but their mom's said no. I guess to Sarah wanting to go and actually being told you can go were the same thing.

Hannah doing a cheer.

The morning of September 18th came and I loaded the kids up to go to cheerleading camp. Both Sarah and Hannah were excited until we got there and then they were very nervous. The gym of Hillcrest High was packed with girls of all ages. The cheerleaders were there leading all the girls in cheers. This was the first time the cheerleaders had done a camp and it wasn't very well organized. I can totally see why my girls were overwhelmed. I stayed with them for a few minutes and waited for something else to happen. Finally they sent the girls up in the stands and had the cheerleaders introduce themselves. This was a perfect time for me to leave so I asked Sarah to help Hannah, made sure she had the cell phone in case she needed me, and headed back to the car. Kenny and I stopped in to check on them during lunch. They were both having fun and making friends. There were a few girls from Sarah's 2nd grade class that were at the camp and she had fun hanging out with them.

Sarah's turn to cheer. (She's in the back in the pink shirt.)

At 2:00 there was a performance of what the girls learned. Kenny was working, but I took the 4 other kids with me to watch them cheer. Hannah's group was first and it was a lot of fun watching her do her cheer and the little dance they learned. Hannah was more interested in watching us in the stands and chewing her hair (couldn't tell you why) than doing the dance, but she did shake her hips around a lot and that was very cute.

Hannah and her new friend getting ready to cheer.

Sarah's group was next and she was in the back on the opposite side of the gym. I didn't get many pictures or video of her because other girls kept getting in the way. One of her friends from her 2nd grade class has a sister who is a cheerleader. Because of this Sarah got chosen to help hold one of her friends in the air. She thought that was very cool and definitely the best part of the day.

Sarah helping to hold up her friend Alli.

So, overall the girls had a great day, once they stopped being shy. I've been hearing, "Red, Black, and White! Fight, Fight, Fight!" for weeks now and they've both informed me that they want to do it again in February when there's another camp. We'll see!