Go DAWGS!

My Valentine's Day...let me re-phrase...my Valentine's morning - very early morning - was spent at a cheerleading competition. And it was not just any competition...it was THE world's largest cheerleading competition. Over 800 teams were there, meaning over 16,000 cheerleaders! That would also mean over 16,000 cheerleading moms! LOL!

My daughter has been involved in competative cheerleading for over 10 years. I took her to her first tumbling class when she was in 3rd grade and she has been hooked ever since! So I have spent many a weekend in gymnasiums and conference centers battling large crowds, chaotic traffic, expensive hotel fees and mind-numbingly loud music just to get the chance to see my girl perform for a grand total of 3 minutes! Good news is most competitions are two day events so I guess you could say I get 6 minutes of viewing pleasure. Yippee!

Seriously, I must admit that I enjoy watching her team compete. When she was younger, there were episodes of the stereotypical cheerleading mom syndrome (would not have been me, no siree!) that had to be dealt with, but overall it was a very good experience. I made some great friends and amassed some fantastic memories from all our travels.

Keri is now in college and we thought competition days were over. Lucky for her, Georgia has a club team that competes and Keri made the team. They've done well this year, but as you can guess, the true feather in their cap would come from winning this one particular competition. They arrived Saturday morning to discover a team member had actually broken her foot at Thursday night's practice and the routine needed to be re-worked...they had roughly an hour to make the adjustments...no alternates on this team so it was tricky. Despite the set back, they performed well. There were 6 teams in their division and they were in 2nd place after day one. The team in first place had a show-stopping routine with every high-flying, jaw-dropping stunt you could imagine. They were from Ontario, Canada and have won this competition 3 years straight. We felt honored to be in such good company.

Sunday's routine and the team's reaction were a testament to what this is all about. The Georgia Dawgs gave it everything they had and presented the performance of their lives! They even succeeded in outscoring the number 1 team for that day. Sadly it wasn't enough to take the 2 day lead, but they were so proud of themselves. My heart warmed to realize that while the 1st place trophy was certainly the goal, this team kept their perspective and was thrilled and content knowing they had done their best.

I thought I would leave you with a little viewing pleasure of your own. The competition hosted a "So You Think You Can Tumble" competition on Friday night. Take the time to watch, it only lasts maybe 30 seconds. Trust me, this is a freak of human nature at its finest! Happy Monday!

***Edited***

I couldn't get the video to load like I wanted. If you would like to see this you will need to click the link below, make sure you are viewing the male finalists and scroll down to view Meek Green from Freedom All-Stars. I've seen some great tumblers, but this guy blew me away!

http://www.passionation.com/