Never did I think my JV cheer season would open my eyes to how the sport should really feel throughout the seasons. As the season started the JV cheer team got a new coach. I was not happy because the old JV coach was so cool and laid back. The new coach came from rochester and she meant business. Her name was Doni.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               I wasn't prepared for her kind of coaching. Doni coached in a strict way. We balanced our time with having fun and working hard. I fell in love with the sport all over again. I wasn't prepared for how hard we were gonna work, I wasn't prepared for the sweat and tears that happened almost every two and half hours for 5 days a week getting prepared for competitions.

As the season started we had one goal and that goal was to have a team with back tucks, for a JV team it wasn't mandatory to have this skill but it was dedication to have it and we would be one of the few who had them. I knew it was gonna be hard because we started out with two back tucks and we needed twelve to compete. We had a couple of months to prepare. little by little every day people were getting closer to the goal. Everyday we worked and worked harder and harder towards our goal even though some were still not landing.

Competitions started we were better than most competitors in our league, but we knew our biggest competitor was gonna be the Rochester Falcons JV cheer team. One of our lowest scores so far was third place. It is still good but I prefer first place. We have three routines to learn which got stressful at times, round one is jumps and a cheer, round two was tumbling, jumps and a cheer. Round 3 was tumbling and stunting. In my own opinion round two and three were my favorite. I have always loved tumbling. There is something about being able to jump off the ground and do something cool in the air for a couple of seconds risking injuries just for a few points.
   

One of the most memorable competition I competed in was today I did the same routine as I did for every other competition. My best friend Alex, always spent the night before competition. It was easier to get ready because waking up at 5:30am seemed easier with a buddy. We did makeup, put on our warm ups and packed our cheer bag our uniforms, cheer shoes, makeup, hairspray and gel to take with us. Once our bag was packed we drove to my good friend Hannah house to meet Courtney and her so we could get hair done. Hannah’s mom could do hair and so could my mom. We had a certain hair style to do which was french braid into a bun at the bottom of the braid. My mom tugged and pulled on my hair I resented her for that but it helped so I wouldn't have to use as much hairspray and gel I had so many flyaways that no matter how tight my mom would pull my hair I still would need a pound of hairspray in my hair just to keep them back.
   

We got to Troy High School where the competition was held. We had a breakfast table so we had something in our stomachs early in the morning. When we finished breakfast we went to the locker room designated for us. We delayered all of our coats and pants since it was in the middle January. We entered the warm up area and started to warm up round one, two and three I had a feeling it was gonna be a good day but not trying not to jinx it. The competition started. We were standing in the hallway getting anxious waiting to be called to the mat. We entered the gym in a certain line that would help us get to our formations easier while I walking all I could think was everyone's watching you don't mess this up don't be the one girl who forgets the routines. I was standing there running the routine through my head. I thought my stomach dropped to my knees when the announcer said
“now give it up for our next team the JV team.”

I cheered super loud yelling “let's go wolves, come on blue.” I got to my spot and smiled at the judges, so many thoughts were running through my head standing there with my hands on my hips waiting for Hannah to call “ready go” and when she did the only thing running through my head was the part I was gonna do after the last we finished the routine and ran off that mat I grabbed whoever was closest to hug because of how well we did.
Round one came to an end it was time to start round two. We were warming up our tumbling we had a couple back tucks not landing. I started to get to panic and stressed. We did the whole routine full out one time but time was flying by that day! It felt like seconds we were already back in the locker room changing into our round two uniforms. We were doing last minute touch ups to our makeup and hair. We were having a dance party to calm the nerves but before I knew it I was in a huddle yelling “stick it” as motivation to stick those tucks,
the announcer called “our next team will be The JV Cheer Team,”

we hit the mat. I cheered super loudly going to my spot while giving facials to the crowd and judges. Waiting for Hannah to call those two words was making me more nervous, “Ready go”.

I hit that first motion and yelled those first words as loud as I could. Motion by motion, word by word, jump by jump, skill by skill. We got to the point where we now throw the team tucks. Out team's section was yelling loud the varsity cheer team was cheering us on. I looked right at coach and yelled those words “POWER BLUE” I turned I took that bend to jump as I lifted off the ground and pulled my legs to my chest what felt like a slow motion back tuck. Only took seconds. I landed the crowd went crazy everyone yelling and cheering looking at coach crying and seeing how proud she was made me start crying during the routine. The routine ended and we ran off that mat hugging each other and crying tears of joy because we just landed team tucks as a jv cheer team! We go get ready for round three and as we yelled those words “ONE TEAM ONE DREAM JV” before the announcer called us to hit the mat. I felt confident and like nothing was gonna stop us of crushing this routine. That's exactly what happened.

The competition came to an end all teams came into the gym to find a spot, either on the mat or next to the mat. They calculated  everyone’s score up while playing music. We had our own little dance party with the varsity team before the nerves kicked back in waiting to hear our score. They stopped the music we all sat on our knees looking down at that smelly blue mat holding each other’s sweating hand. They started to place teams starting from ninth place. They got lower and lower it was scary we knew our biggest competitor was gonna be the JV team from Rochester Falcons. They were known to be one of the best. We knew one thing they didn't have which was team tucks. I knew we were gonna place first just because we landed team tucks as a JV team. When they got to second place

they announced “the team with score 700.635 is the team from the JV Cheer team.”  We jumped up in excitement! I looked at coach and she looked so proud of us.

The announcer began to say “and the team with score of 700.638 is the team from Rochester Falcons JV cheer team.”

We all knew deep down inside that was unfair considering they didn't even have team back tucks but they were favored because they were a very well known cheer team.

At the end of that comp as we were packing up ready to leave we had a team meeting coach Doni told us “that no matter what place we got today did not change the fact that we just made cheer history by having team tucks it would definitely not change how much I love this team. I am proud of this team and what we have accomplished.”

I learned from my JV cheer season to always give someone the benefit of the doubt when you first meet them because you never know what kind of impact they can have on you as a person. As I continue my cheer career I will always have that team in my heart and the fun loved memories. I will always show the legacy coach Doni had shown and taught me through my performances because without her hard practice and those tears I cried because of her pushing me to be my best and how much sweat I pushed out of body I wouldn't be the cheerleader/person I am today.