Junior High Cheer: Big Sis/Little Sis + UCA Cheer Camp & All-American Tryouts
This last week & next are the most important for junior high cheer: it’s their preparation for the entire year!
Monday was all playtime: their Big Sis/Little Sis reveal celebration! Annelise’s big sis snuck in her bedroom while she was still sleeping (obviously I knew they were coming & let them in the house!) & jumped in bed with her before kidnapping her away to breakfast with everyone. :-D Then on to a pool & pizza party (with a fondant pom cake I made! yes, everyone loved! yes, Annelise helped make: I told her it was for cheer camp, so she didn’t know about big/little! ;-))
They also had their backpack reveal where they all got their complete uniforms, 5 practice wear shirts, 2 shorts, 3 bows, & jacket - they all tried their unis on immediately. (The designs are COMPLETELY NEW *every* year; if you remember my old youth cheer program - look here and here - can you BELIEVE Annelise’s 7th grade design?! #classicforareason #goodtaste #3rdtimesamestyle :-D)
UCA Cheer Camp began Tuesday, and our school won the spirit award (UCA Top Banana) out of ALL 15 of the junior highs here! (Yes, we have *15* junior highs in our city!!!) Our 7th & 8th grade squads worked together for all of Camp:
UCA Cheer Camp Day 2 - our sweet girls brought balloon gifts for the other squads. ❤️ Annelise had 12 HOURS of nonstop cheer that Wednesday: UCA 8:45 AM until 5 PM, extra junior high practice right after UCA, and then her competition team, Rage, practice until 9 PM = she was starving (I brought lots of food in b/t :-P) but in cheer heaven!
UCA Cheer Camp Day 3 - UCA held official All-American tryouts during the day. What’s that process?
YES: Annelise made *ALL-AMERICAN*!!!!! Super proud of her for stepping up to earn this extra special honor. ❤️ Since she made it, she’s invited to march in Disney World’s Thanksgiving parade! (Since we just did Summit (& are praying to get back there, again, next May!) I doubt even just Annelise & I will go = $$$!!! But it’s still such an honor!!!)
“The individuals invited to perform in the parade are part of a select group of cheerleaders chosen as All-Americans during Varsity Spirit summer camps across the country. All-Americans are selected via tryout based on superior cheerleading skills at camps operated by UCA. Only the top 10% of the cheerleaders from Varsity Spirit camps earn the chance to march in a holiday parade of this caliber.”
The UCA Showcase Thursday evening for friends & family highlighting everything all of the squads accomplished at camp was sweet on multiple levels: not only did Annelise & her squad look good, but we had SOOO MANY competition friends *AND* quite a few girls who came up through my youth rec cheer program there! I’m so proud that we properly prepared them for this, that everyone did well, and that - did I mention? - ANNELISE IS AN ALL-AMERICAN!!!
With friends from our competition gym:
Dinner after:
First morning off :-D
Now her specific junior high cheer camp is next week, where it’s just the 7th & 8th graders from her school working together on their specific cheers, routines, & spirit stuff for their school with their name & mascot in/on everything. Her 2 hyper-intense cheer weeks conclude next weekend with her choreography camp for Rage, this year’s new allstar competition team. #cheerlife
Monday was all playtime: their Big Sis/Little Sis reveal celebration! Annelise’s big sis snuck in her bedroom while she was still sleeping (obviously I knew they were coming & let them in the house!) & jumped in bed with her before kidnapping her away to breakfast with everyone. :-D Then on to a pool & pizza party (with a fondant pom cake I made! yes, everyone loved! yes, Annelise helped make: I told her it was for cheer camp, so she didn’t know about big/little! ;-))
UCA Cheer Camp began Tuesday, and our school won the spirit award (UCA Top Banana) out of ALL 15 of the junior highs here! (Yes, we have *15* junior highs in our city!!!) Our 7th & 8th grade squads worked together for all of Camp:
UCA Cheer Camp Day 2 - our sweet girls brought balloon gifts for the other squads. ❤️ Annelise had 12 HOURS of nonstop cheer that Wednesday: UCA 8:45 AM until 5 PM, extra junior high practice right after UCA, and then her competition team, Rage, practice until 9 PM = she was starving (I brought lots of food in b/t :-P) but in cheer heaven!
UCA Cheer Camp Day 3 - UCA held official All-American tryouts during the day. What’s that process?
YES: Annelise made *ALL-AMERICAN*!!!!! Super proud of her for stepping up to earn this extra special honor. ❤️ Since she made it, she’s invited to march in Disney World’s Thanksgiving parade! (Since we just did Summit (& are praying to get back there, again, next May!) I doubt even just Annelise & I will go = $$$!!! But it’s still such an honor!!!)
“The individuals invited to perform in the parade are part of a select group of cheerleaders chosen as All-Americans during Varsity Spirit summer camps across the country. All-Americans are selected via tryout based on superior cheerleading skills at camps operated by UCA. Only the top 10% of the cheerleaders from Varsity Spirit camps earn the chance to march in a holiday parade of this caliber.”
The UCA Showcase Thursday evening for friends & family highlighting everything all of the squads accomplished at camp was sweet on multiple levels: not only did Annelise & her squad look good, but we had SOOO MANY competition friends *AND* quite a few girls who came up through my youth rec cheer program there! I’m so proud that we properly prepared them for this, that everyone did well, and that - did I mention? - ANNELISE IS AN ALL-AMERICAN!!!
With friends from our competition gym:
Dinner after:
First morning off :-D
Now her specific junior high cheer camp is next week, where it’s just the 7th & 8th graders from her school working together on their specific cheers, routines, & spirit stuff for their school with their name & mascot in/on everything. Her 2 hyper-intense cheer weeks conclude next weekend with her choreography camp for Rage, this year’s new allstar competition team. #cheerlife
Wow - so much cheer :) but I know y'all are loving it!! Huge congratulations to Annelise on being All-American!!!
ReplyDeleteThank you!!! We are SOOO PROUD of her for stepping up in front of hundreds of girls - her peers - and trying out! There are a number of other really talented girls on our squad, but they were honestly just too scared to try out in front of everyone. I’m so proud of her courage!
DeleteWow! Your pictures look like so much fun! And congratulations to Annelise for making the parade!
ReplyDeleteThank you!!! I so wish we could go! 😢 This is the first year that they haven’t had a Houston parade option. In years past, Midwest and Northeast would go to Philadelphia, Southeast to Orlando, and the entire West would come to Houston for our Thanksgiving Day parade. I can’t believe this is the first year that Houston isn’t an option - they’re only doing Philadelphia in Orlando. Maybe if her competition team doesn’t make Summit this May, and she makes All-American again next year, we could make it back to Disney Thanksgiving 2019?
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