Indian Invite 2013

Saturday was the first cheer competition of the year.  And when I say competition, I mean performance because as the host school, the Falls was not able to actually compete.  Their routine was just an exhibition.  And it is a good thing.  More on that in a minute.

Alison went on first with the Jr. Indian cheer team.  It was the same routine they did at Jr. Indians night at the football game this year.  They had a couple of crash practices the week before to refresh their memories, and Alison actually had to miss their first one because she had pneumonia.  But they came out and did a pretty good routine.  I'd include the video here, but it was really bad.  I have come to realize that I must have some sort of setting wrong, because the camera is supposed to record in HD, but when I look at it, I can't believe it is HD video.  I think it is probably something relating to the light settings because everything looks really washed out.

So... on to Sarah's routine.  They had one fall, which wasn't bad.  Their routine was not very heavy on the tumbling, which is quite different from last year.  And speaking of last year, one of the other squads, the Falls' main rival in fact, pretty much stole the Falls' routine from last year.  It isn't 100% the same but I would say it is about 75%-80% identical.  Sarah said something about it to me and I had to say, there is a reason they stole it, it was a winner.  I think that Sarah's squad took 1st place in all but one competition last year.  But back to the critique of their routine...  It wasn't bad, but I don't think it is as good as last year.  If they actually were competing, I wouldn't have scored them very high.  Sarah told me that they would have been in the Small JV category, and I was comparing them to the Large JV category.  I didn't pay much attention to the other small JV teams so I can't really say where they would have finished, but I'll go out on a limb and say it wouldn't have been first.  Their team was also down two girls who were concussed and were not allowed to compete.  One of the girls got kicked in the head at practice by her flyer and was still dealing with the post concussion symptoms, and the other girl just fell and hit her head, if I remember what Sarah said.

The Varsity, however, is another story.  They were awful!  I think I counted them falling six times in addition to other flubs.  I was actually embarrassed to say I was from the Falls.  I shouldn't since it wasn't my daughter messing up, but I seriously felt horrible for them.  I hear things from Sarah that I won't go into because I don't know who might come across this review, but if what she says is true, it doesn't surprise me.

So now on to the next competition, which is Dec. 7th, the UCA qualifier.  Why they compete I don't know because even if they earn a bid to nationals, the JV team doesn't go.  From what Sarah told me last year, if they get a bid, the Varsity ends up taking it, which doesn't make sense to me.  But hopefully they'll perform well, and use the Indian Invite as a stepping stone to getting better.