Friday, June 22, 2012

Let's go T-Bones ... Rah, rah, rah!

If you know me at all, you know I am not, nor was I ever, a cheerleader. Shocker, right? I never even really knew or hung out with cheerleaders. In fact, most of my ideas and preconceived notions of cheerleaders come from 80s and 90s TV shows and movies. (As readers might remember, I love me some 80s cheese movies!)

I do have to confess, though. I tried out for the cheerleading squad in 7th grade. (What?!? Yes, I know. It's a deep, dark, dirty secret of mine.) We had to make up our own cheer and perform it. Someone helped me make up a cheer, but I didn't think the basic "Go team, go!" was good enough. I added a bunch of other words in there to tell a better story. Then, when I got up to perform, I forgot half the words I added. Needless to say, I didn't make it. Eventually, I found my place in the world of words: the school newspaper. Much more appropriate, no? It seems I was less Saved by the Bell's Kelly Kapowski than 90210's Andrea Zuckerman, no matter how much I loved Tiffani-Amber Thiessen.

Kelly Kapowski
Andrea Zuckerman




Anyway, all this backstory to explain how I ended up enrolling Molly in a cheerleading camp this summer. See, a couple months ago, I got a message from a friend. Nickie has a daughter (Jensen) two months older than Molly. Nickie said she had signed Jensen up for cheer camp and that I should sign Molly up, too. I was shocked, because I never had even considered the idea. But, then, Nickie wasn't exactly a cheerleading-type, either. Plus, I wouldn't picture myself as a "cheer mom." I kind of pictured Dance Moms, but with cheerleaders.

But, in spite of myself, I signed Molly up. I didn't want to put my preconceptions (and bad junior high experiences) on Molly. And, who knows? Maybe she'd really like it.

She went to camp every morning for a week, then all the girls got to perform some cheers at the T-Bones game. (The T-Bones are our local Independent Baseball team.)

Turns out, Molly had a great time. She learned the cheers and dances, and knew them pretty well when it was game time. She seemed to like performing, though she never did master the art of smiling while doing moves. She liked the jumps and kicks, and now Charlotte is even running around "doing cheers" like Molly.  And, the cheer coach was really nice - not at all like Sue Sylvester from the Cheerios.


Performing on the last day of camp.

Molly and Jensen

Doing some dance moves.
Jensen and Molly at the T-Bones game.

Chatting before the performance started.

Dancing.

Jensen watched Molly for the moves.


Cheering.

Up in the air!

Mommom and Gigi came out to cheer on the cheerleader.

Me with Molly.

Molly and her daddy.

Charlotte trying out her own cheerleading moves.

Molly and Charlotte cheering all by themselves.

So, it turned out fine in the end. Molly had a great time. All the girls looked mighty cute standing up there. And, we'll probably even do it again. And, as long as she never tries to add a bunch of extra words into her cheers, she'll already have topped her mom's experiences. Way to go, Molly!

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