First of all, when we got home, our yard was a wreck. We had these saplings all over. And let me tell you, they were tall. So the first thing I did when we got back was look for that one envelope that tells me what team I’m on, and where my locker is, and my schedule and stuff. I’m on 7-1, my locker is B1111 (easy huh?) and my combo for my locker is __-__-__. Haha you didn’t think I was actually going to tell you my combo did you? Well, I know it, I made a cheer for it in case I forget it, and long story short, I have it down. Anyways, so right after that I was swamped with unpacking. Not really though, I just tossed my stuff into the laundry or my closet, but that doesn’t matter too much.

Moving right along, for those of you who don’t know every “vocabulary word” in cheerleading, please use my cheer dictionary that I provided at the bottom of this post. Any words that have a definition will have a * next to them. Ok, so, when we got back, I had cheerleading the next day. That was all well and fine. I think it was later that week… Wednesday I believe, that I got to meet one of our assistant coaches. I had heard good things about her, but I knew she was tough. So we started with prep-retakes*. My group was having trouble. Now I knew it wasn’t me, because I was staying perfectly tight. So our coach (well, the assistant coach, let’s call her coach B, and our head coach can be coach A), she finally decided we would work on extension-retakes*. Now I’m always nervous to be in an extension*, this time especially because we weren’t on mats. We were on the track surface. So if we fell, and no one caught us, that would be bad. I had fallen out of a lib* before in the grass and no one caught me, and that hurt, so I knew what I was dealing with. Our group kept trying, but we just couldn’t get this extension-retake*. I was frustrated, and the more frustrated I got, the worse we did. Now, coach B, she was blaming everything on me. The bases* they were all “Well she’s toeing* a LOT, so…” Now I knew that I wasn’t toeing*. I might’ve been for a little while, but I knew that I was keeping level when they kept saying I wasn’t. So coach B, she was yelling at me about how I needed to tighten up when I was up there. She was putting everything on me. I was on the verge of tears I was so upset. So the next time she was there, I was with a different set of bases* and back*. Prep-retakes*? Easy. Extension-retakes*, a little harder, but I nailed them. The bases* and back* I had been with before along with a different flyer*? They couldn’t even do prep-retakes*. So while my stunt group and the other good stunt group, got to work on libs*, they had to do prep-retakes*. The other stunt group went first, and they couldn’t get her up there, so that worried me a little. Then their flyer* had to go to competition cheer, so then it was our turn. I tried my hardest, but I couldn’t manage to get a decent lib*. Coach B, she was saying that when she called re-take*, that was when I was supposed to hit my lib*. The Capitan, she had told me that when I felt ready, then to hit my lib*. I was forced to do something I wasn’t ready for. That freaked me out. I just kept falling and falling. I couldn’t get it. So yet again, coach B was blaming it all on me. That upset me. So when I asked for a break, so I could cool down and not get frustrated, and you know what she said? She said “No! If you can’t do a simple lib*, you don’t deserve a break!” That set me over. I don’t know why I’m taking the blame for everything when it wasn’t all entirely my fault.

Now this last week, well, Monday and Tuesday at least, coach A wasn’t there. On Monday, coach B was there, and on Tuesday, our other assistant coach, let’s say coach C was there. On Tuesday, she was going to have us work on cheers, but we told her coach B had us work on those the day before. So she let us do free stunting. I asked our Capitan if I could work on my full-down*, because I was the only one who couldn’t do one yet. She had me do a few high cradles* first, and then we worked on full-downs*. I hit all my cradles* perfectly, so I knew I was ready. We got into a prep*, and the back* called full-down* and I tried to spin as fast as I could, but I landed on my stomach. But the Capitan, she said that that was just fine, and most flyers* don’t get it on the first try. The next time, I almost got it, but the bases* didn’t catch me right. The Capitan said it was perfect. That made me happy. The next time, she said if I had kept spinning I could’ve done a double*. I was shocked to hear that, but still thrilled. We didn’t some tumbling after that. Then we worked on putting some stunting into our cheers. That was pretty cool, because I got to fly for one of them. That was really fun.

Kick-off was pretty sweet. JV (junior varsity) got to do our cheer, then our dance, then some stunting, then Varsity came on and did some stunting, then a cheer and their dance and then more stunting, and then both Varsity and JV together did some basket tosses* and then extensions*. It looked really cool. Before all that was our school song which we did motions to and the marching band played.

The countdown is of course until school starts. It begins on Tuesday, so I’m a little late, but whatever. So on our first day, we’re supposed to wear our uniforms. Just our shell*, skirt*, and spankies* though. If we’d had to wear our body-liners too*, we would roast. The first day of school also falls on the day I cheer at my first game. It’s a soccer game though, so even though I would’ve been happier cheering at a football game, it’s my first game of the season.

I think that’s all for now… OH!! I slammed my thumb in my dad’s car door when I was getting out last Sunday. It got stuck in there, so I actually had to open the door again to get it out. Luckily, it’s not broken and nothing’s going to fall off, and it’s not bleeding or anything, it’s just going to hurt a bit and turn some nasty colors just like my toe when I dropped my Ripstik on it. It should heal up soon. Right now I have some light pink nail-polish over it, but you can barely tell, so I won’t have to remove it for my first game. Especially if we’re supposed to fly, we aren’t allowed to wear nail-polish, but if it’s so light you can’t even see it, it should be ok. Besides, if it covers up my bad thumb that’s already a decent shade of purple, it should be fine. Since we have our thumbs out, you would be able to see the nastiness. So I’m just going to let it blend in, and it should be fine.

Prep- A stunt at which the flyer is held at the bases chin level.

Flyer- The girl who gets to go up in the air.

Base- The two girls who push the flyer up into the air.

Retake- A dismount of a stunt, when the bases bring their hands together and slowly lower the flyer.

Back- The girl who holds the flyer’s ankles and helps the bases get the flyer up in the air.

Cradle- A dismount out of a stunt where the flyer is tossed into the air and the bases/back catch her.

Extension- A stunt at which the flyer is all the way up in the air (the bases have their arms locked above their heads).

Lib- A one-footed-stunt in which the bases hold tightly to one of the flyer’s feet and push her up into extension level while the flyer puts the foot they aren’t holding onto (foot B) next to the knee of the foot they are holding onto (foot/leg A).

Full-down- A dismount out of a stunt similar to a cradle, but the flyer does a spin on the way down (a double is when two spins are completed before the catch).

Toeing- When the flyer is accidentally standing on her toes in the air… BAD!!!

Heeling- When the flyer is accidentally standing on her heels in the air… normally BAD, but if you’re about to fall, you want to heel a lot to fall backwards, never forwards.

Basket Tosses- The bases make a little square by holding on to their own and the other person’s wrists, the bask puts her hands under the square and a front puts her hands under the back’s hands. The flyer stands on the hands, and is tossed up into the air.

Front- A girl who helps the bases get up into something high, like an extension or a lib or other one-footed stunt. They’re required for baskets

Shell- The tank top to our uniform.

Skirt- The skirt for our uniform.

Body-liner- A long-sleeved top made out of mostly polyester, that comes half-way down your stomach, is sort of a turtleneck style, that is worn under your shell.

Spankies- The diaper-like briefs we wear under our skirts so people don’t see our underwear when we do jumps, or kicks or stunts or anything like that.

Love:

• Soft towels. There’s nothing better after taking a shower then having a soft towel.

• Samples. If they have a lot of samples, expect me to take them.

• Comfy beds. I enjoy sleeping. If I don’t have a nice bed, then I won’t be happy in the morning.

• When they have a mini fridge with a freezer, a microwave, and a toaster.

• Big bathtubs. I’ll plan my shower schedule so that I can take a shower in a hotel. If they have a big tub, I’ll take a bath.

• When they screw up with your room so you get a better one.

• Sweet room service… like when you can not bother to use any samples and let them all pile up until the last day and take them all.

• Good internet service. If they say free wifi, they better mean free and it better work.

• A decorated lobby. At the hotel I’m staying at now, they have a fountain, a HUGE fish tank, a sitting area, and more in the lobby.

Hate:

• Hard towels. I just hate it when you step out of the shower and have a hard towel to look forward to.

• When the sink is outside the bathroom. If I don’t want/can’t shave in the shower, I don’t want it to be a public display.

• When there’s a vertical, metal bar in the shower so when you raise your arms to shampoo, you whack your elbow on it.

• When you can squeeze out the shampoo from the sample easily, but the conditioner refuses to come out.

• When you go to turn off the hot water after your shower and the knob is burning hot.

• When you book a non-smoking room, and yet it smells smokey.

• Non-green hotels. I hate it when a hotel isn’t environmentally friendly.

• The air-conditioning. If it’s cranked up and refuses to come down, that’s a major minus.

• Interiors. If the interior looks gross, then that’s not good.

• When you have to be 16 to use the exercise room. I just don’t get it. As long as there’s someone with them, why can’t kids just run on the treadmill for a while?

• Clocks. When the digital clocks are hard to read and hard to operate, you know something’s wrong.

That’s all I got for now, but if you have anything I missed, comment it UP!!!

~Robyn <33~