A New Era

Since I last posted on this blog a lot has happened in my life and I mean A LOT.

• The team I was coaching places fourth in our first competition. We could have easily taken 1 or 2nd in our district but the night before our main flier broke her foot. Being as it was her Senior year we put her on the mat to stand and do motions with her cast on. We ended up getting last ending a 10 year last places streak of another school in the district. We celebrated with them. 
• I co-ed stunted for the first time in my life. The second time I did it I did a full up heel stretch full down. Quite impressed with myself on that one. 
• I began working closely with Coach D and the gym he works for. It was one heck of a season including our Level 4 team taking home grand champions at a Cheer LTD competition. We worked mostly with the Level 2 youth aged athletes but still to bring home a grand championship felt awesome! Sadly I am no longer with that gym for various reasons, most of which is that is is too far from where I live.
• I started judging high school competitions and LOVED IT. 
• I was laid off from my full time job. womp. womp.
• The man-friend is now my fiance and we bought a house! 
• I started substitute teaching. 

And most important, my new coaching job.
I need to rewind back to 2011 when I started coaching a high school team. There was one team in the state I am in that blew me away. They reminded me of my high school (located in a different state - I'll refer to them as HC). I went to the 2011 State Competition and watched them win their second state title in a row. Then in the summer of 2012 I began judging. Judging starts each season with a rules clinic. When I went to the rules clinic I had the opportunity to meet their coach. I was on cloud nine because they were the HC of the state I now live in.
After the clinic I reached out and asked her if we could meet and maybe discuss coaching so I could learn from her. Of course she agreed but unfortunately we never had the opportunity to have that meeting. A few weeks later she had an issue arise which caused her some health issues. When I heard of the news, I immediately reached out to her, the athletic director, and the principal letting them know that I lived close by and was recently laid off so if the needed a volunteer to come help with the team I was more than willing to join them. If it was to make phone calls or sit with girls at basketball games I could be there in a heart beat. They declined the offer saying they had the situation under control. I said no problem and figured that would be that.
Well a few months passed by and I received a call from their athletic director asking me for a meeting. When I listened to the voice mail I freaked out with excitement. Well interviews and meetings later I received the head coach position for their varsity team. I could not be happier to start on this new adventure. Hopefully it will give me more stories to share and hopefully there will be more good ones than bad ones). I am just excited that all of my hard work paid off and cannot wait for the season to begin!

The First Run Through..

Yesterday, exactly 16 practices before the first competition, my girls did our first run through of the entire routine, full out. While the stunts were an easy version of the routine (all double legged stunts and straight cradles), it is the back up routine for if we can not hit the more difficult stunts.

Our routine starts with jumps and since I have been drilling them jumps every practice since August 1st, their jumps looked phenomenal. I keep telling them that practice is really making them look perfect. Opening stunt hit with a tiny bobble on the cradle from the left stunt group.

Tumbling looked alright. Because of the lack of skills our tumbling is what I am trying to downplay the most. I am trying to make the routine a stunt, jumps and motions heavy routine so that judges will give us higher points on that instead of focusing on the lack of tumbling.

Since we only have nine our "pyramid" is a bunch of stunt tricks which then connects two full liberties to a shoulder-sit. The catch is that one of those liberties is a three man stunt (two bases one flier). I am hoping that we can get to working on it a lot next week as it will be by far the hardest point in the routine and there is no down-grade. We need a pyramid and with only nine its not going to be easy.

The cheer was the last thing we learned so it was a little shaky. The girls are having a fine time with the baskets, their half up extensions need some work (we need to work twisting in general) and the crowd involvement section looks fantastic! End stunt hit and ending dance looks amazing as they get it more solid each week!

Overall it was an amazing feeling to know that we have a month to make that look clean and if we do just that we will be fine. But it was even more amazing to know that over the next 15 practices I can up-grade it to the MAX. I will post videos as they start achieving some of the more difficult stunts!

5,6,7,8

The Last Month & High School Try-Outs

The past month has been crazy to say the least. It started off with a far from perfect trip to Smith Mountain Lake with my boyfriend's family, followed by one "normal" week of work in which I had to say good bye to the little ones at the All-Star Gym for a little while, and then try-outs for the high school team I coach.

So in the spring, I had at least 15 or 16 girls come out to practices for the competition squad at the high school and then on the day of the try-out, there stood nine. Do you know how discouraging it is to only have nine girls try-out for your team? However, as the days went on I realized that this may be the best nine that any coach could ask for. Instead of having 16 with seven of them only wanting to be there, I have nine who are all ready to work hard and push themselves to compete and hopefully win.

We have three standing tucks and three round off handspring tucks. We have two full libs and a bunch of crazy ways to dismount from them including working on 540 dismounts. The only thing we can't have with nine is a good flippy pyramid, but I think I have even found a solution for that. We are getting brand new uniforms, warm ups, and sneakers. We are putting in three hour practices in hopes to only get better and stronger. But the best thing that we have is an anti-drama zone. In a town where cheerleading is the miss-fit sport instead of taking a team full of drama queens who only want to be there for the skirt, we have a team of dedicated athletes.

The best part of the past two weeks of practice happened the other night. It was not the night where I did three handsprings to a tuck and landed on the hardwood floor which landed me in an air-cast and on crutches ever since. It was the night in which one of my athletes texted me and said, "Do we have practice tomorrow?" I said, "Yup", waiting for her to come back with, well my mom's cousin's uncle's grandpa has a sore big toe so I can't be there. But instead she wrote back, "Awesome. I did two minute squats today and I am ready for more tomorrow". On the team of 16 I thought I had back in May that text would have never come. But with the "nasty nine" as they have dubbed themselves (I am not really okay with that name but I am letting it go for now) I have a group of kids who want a taste of something great more than anyone else I know and I am honored to coach them.

5,6,7,8

My Trip To NJ

I promise I promise that once my seasons start up I will have more coaching details, but right now I am doing what every great coach does, enjoying the off-season.

I decided I would take two trips this off-season, back up to New Jersey to visit my grandparents and to Smith Mountain Lake with R's family. I headed to NJ last weekend and head to SML this weekend!

So my trip to NJ started out per usual, at the creepy Richmond airport. The thing that makes RIC so creepy is that there is NEVER anyone in there. No matter what time of day, it always look deserted. Hoped on the plane with my Cosmo (I never fly with out one) and flew down to Charlotte, NC. Yes they made me fly South to head North... Apparently, Charlotte is a "hub" so more flights travel to and from there. Anyway, on my flight down I got to talk sports with a bunch of Navy recruits heading to boot camp. They started asking me about UVA football since I was wearing my lucky travel day UVA hat. I got to share stories with him about my "dad" the Navy Seal. They started asking me about all of his awesome adventures. They were a great group of young guys starting a new adventure in their life and were doing it to protect my freedom! Plus on the flight it was the first time I ever sat on a plane with out a chair in front of me... (picture)

Then on the flight from NC to NJ I had the pleasure of sitting next to a young man from Ireland. He was also a pleasure to talk to. We discussed his world travels and he inspired me to want to pick a date and just travel somewhere in 2013. He has been all over the world  and has even done one thing on my bucket list, go to an airport, pick a random place and go. But apparently, it is like the movies and security does not think to highly of that plan. But even cooler than that is that he has met so many people that he has this network of people to stay with when he travels places. He offered to introduce me to anyone once I decide where to travel to. So now I just have to pick a date and go... it will be easier said than done with my coaching schedule!

Finally after a couple of train rides and watching a man get arrested in the Newark Train Station, I got to my grandparents house! Of course the first thing I did (after saying hello of course) was take a picture of my sister's cat and send it to her. Sophie (the cat) is staying with them until T (the sister) gets done at camp in Rhode Island. (picture)

Friday was a blast! Grandma and I went over and visited "The Closet". It is a thrift store/tailor. The tailor is the father Bucky, who is 80 something, and the son Victor runs the thrift store. My grandparents have been friends with Bucky since they first moved to the area close to 50 years ago. Victor even lets my retired grandma come in dust for him to keep her from getting bored. Well the store always has the best stuff! This time my favorite find was a necklace from Spain and a cute pair of orangy.pink shoes to wear to UVA football games! After we went to Victor's we headed to the dollar store for party supplies for my SML vacation! It was a great day shopping with grandma! She let me go through her jewelry and gave me some family heirlooms which I am already enjoying wearing!  


Friday night was the only night that I would be able to see my friends from my home town. I would say friends from high school except we didn't really start hanging out until after graduation. I got to see my best friends Girl T and Boy T. It was fantastic to see them and meet Boy T's girlfriend! Then after I met up with them, Girl T and I headed to New Hope for a girls night. We ended up at two bars people watching and dancing in our chairs to songs like Call Me Maybe. I wish she lived closer because we always have so much fun when we hang out! 


Saturday I spent hanging out with Grandma and Grandpa. I looked around their house for the cool stuff I could find. You always fun awesome stuff there... 








That night we just relaxed and watched tv and then I decided I wanted to start drawing so I spent the evening drawing pictures.. 






Sunday morning grandma and I went to Brunch which was nice and then after packing up we went to the train. I hate leaving my grandparents house. I always miss them when I leave. They helped raised me and are so important in my life. The only thing I wish I had done was get a picture of the three of us.  But next time I will! 


** pictures to come later.. my phone is being a pain!

Magic Matt Bomer? Its White Collar Day!

Most people search their entire existence for the love of their life, I found mine in 2009 on Tuesday nights at 9pm on USA Network. Matt Bomer. Now I know most girls swoon over this new hottie, but I would like to go out on a limb and say that I was one of the firsts! The only problem with my super crush is that he happens to be gay, which is completely fine with me except for the fact that I know we will never be together. lol. My boyfriend had great joy in breaking this news to me in 2010 after photos leaked of him and his boyfriend. It is okay tho, I will continue to have my love affair with him on Tuesday nights and when ever my phone rings. Yes, my ring tone is him singing on Glee.

Well yesterday my best female friend from VA (yes it is important to classify- will explain at a later date) went to see Magic Mike. We waited so long only because she was in Ireland and then I was in New Jersey and we promised each other we would go together! While the movie was sub-par, the men in it were yummy. A couple of things I would have done different:
1. Cast a different female lead character. Cody Horn is a great actress just not for a leading role in a movie that I want to see.
2. Edit the movie differently. A lot of the dialogue seemed like it was un-scripted and un-edited. Then there were these super edited parts. It didn't flow very well.
3. Change the plot. Okay, not the entire plot, just some of the crucial parts. Loved the beginning, the middle was even good, but as the movie started to peak and then come to the conclusion it lost focus. It was like a great cheer routine and then the end dance is just choreographed so awful you can't possibly watch. They had Cody's characters brother go down this pathway of drug addiction and drama which they could have done with out. I guess it was crucial to show that stripping is not glamorous, however, I wish they had focused more on Mike's struggle of falling in love and leaving stripping instead of having it be more about the brother. And the entire time Mike discusses opening the furniture business and then he doesn't even do so at the end.... really? Common now, at least have a scene at the end of him hammering a table or something!

Anyway, it was worth the money to see the hot guys dance. Channing Tatum is an amazing dancer and not so bad on the eyes. Alex Pettyfer was great eye candy as well. Matthew McConaughey was creeptastic, sporting the tiniest of tiny man undergarments but is in great shape for an older actor. He actually was bumped from my "Top 5" a few years back so that Bomer would have a spot. They had Adam Rodriguez from CSI: Miami which is a favorite of mine, however I am very glad they chose him and not David Caruso. And for the older women they even had Joe Manganiello and Kevin Nash. To top it off even the producer Reid Carolin is good looking! But the star of my show was my main man Matt! At one point Tatum was standing in front of him and I found myself leaning to the right to see around him, only to remember I am in a movie theater, not an actual strip club! 


And to top it off, today is White Collar Day. The season premier of W.C. is tonight at 9pm! I cannot wait to see what Neal does now that he is running from the FBI! It is bound to be a great season! 

I look forward to writing about my trip this past weekend to NJ and my upcoming trip to Smith Mount Lake soon! For now I will leave you with some pictures:

The While Collar Cast 

A Productive Week

I seemed to let time slip through my fingers, similar to a good practice. When the girls are running choreography perfectly, the two hours go by like the blink of an eye. When they are whining and complaining, minutes feel like days!

Well the past week has been like a very busy and productive practice. Let's start from the beginning!

Saturday I went to J & T's engagement party! It was absolutely amazing to see some of my old friends from college. And J & T asked me to be in their wedding party! It is a little strange because I am best friends with the groom but it will be a great time and I am excited to be a part of their special day!

T & J when he popped the question!! I was supposed to be there but could not attend because I was on a trip in Charlottesville with the man-friend. However, my other friend filmed it for me to see later! I wish I had gotten a picture at the engagement party but forgot to! 

Secondly, I worked on bow for the Youth Team I am currently coaching! I plan on giving them to them at my last summer practice! I got all of the ribbon (had most of it already in my crafting supplies) and glued them. Next step is sewing them into bow form! (pictures to come later)

Monday and Tuesday were busy days at work because I was getting prepared to be out of the office for the rest of the week. Wednesday was spent at R's family's house for the Fourth of July. Sadly enough I did not get to see any fireworks (one of my favorite things in the world) but it was a nice relaxing day in the sun. Thursday I worked from home and then flew to NJ for the weekend to spend it with my grandparents! 

Over all the week has been a full and busy one! And in a week from now I head out to Smith Mountain Lake for R's family vacation! So little to do and so much time to do it... strike that. Reverse it! 

Being Prepared.. A Good Or Bad Thing?

Planners. We all have one or we are told we should all have one. Every year I spend money on buying at least two which get used for a month or so and then sit dusty on my shelf. The thing about planning is that nothing ever goes according to plan. It has taken me 25 (I am only 24) years to really understand that. When I planned things as a child, if they did not run smoothly, there was undoubtedly a crying fit and an adult blamed for messing up my schedule. Then as I grew older I learned about procrastination, which killed motivation for planning and for getting things accomplished in general. In college there was always tomorrow which always turned into the night before.

Well as a coach I have tried my best to schedule practices but the thing with kids is, you never know at what point you are going to get them at 100% and at what point their ADD medicine is slowly but surely wearing off. I try to keep a base line of things I want to get accomplished and then work towards those goals. If they hit those goals then we were successful.

I am trying very hard to apply that ideal to my life. This way I can not be so upset when things don't go according to plan but yet actually set goals for myself. So for this weekend coming up, I want to enjoy my days off but I also need to get some things accomplished. Last weekend it worked pretty well!

 > Clean My Car!! Number 1 Most Important!
 > Finish "My Disaster Movie" Kit- (Will Explain More Later)
 > Attend my Best Friend's Engagement Party
 > Work on Hair Bows for my Youth Team
 > Choreograph the Cheer Portion to My High School Routine

 Lets hope it all gets accomplished and I have fun while doing it all!