Cheer Banquet

Tonight was Sarah's cheer banquet.  I don't know if this will be her last one or not.  Sarah has said that she doesn't want to do it if her current coach doesn't get bumped up to varsity coach.  Plus, Sarah doesn't have her tumbling down yet, so if her current coach doesn't get promoted, there is no guarantee that they'll let girls without tumbling on the team.  Her coach now had talked to Sarah and encouraged her to try out next year, which made me think that she was going to allow some girls who didn't have their tumbling skills down yet on the squad.  The rumor that was floating around was that some girls were very good at the dance portions, and were good bases, or spotters, and it would be a shame to lose a good cheerleader just because they couldn't do their back flips.

Now however, it is up in the air.  Sarah isn't sure what she is going to do yet, though she is leaning toward trying out and just seeing what happens.  My worry is that if they don't move the JV coach up to varsity, they are going to lose any sort of cohesiveness they have.  I think there is something to be said for having someone who knows the girls, and knows what the program has gone through to get to the point they are now.  We have heard stories of other schools who don't want to compete against out girls because they are so good and have built up that reputation.  If they bring in a completely new coach, I feel like they would lose that, and at the very least it would take a few years to get back to the point they are at today.

As captain, Sarah had to give a little speech, and I thought she did a very good job.  Her coach then introduced all the girls and gave them all their own "individual awards".  Most were very funny, and we could tell that her coach truly loved working with the girls this year.  Sarah got the last award of the night, the most valuable cheerleader.  This was an award that was voted on by the girls of the team, so I think it shows what the other girls thought of Sarah.  I don't know how many votes she got, but it must have been enough.  One of the other parents said that Almost all the girls voted for Sarah, but Sarah didn't think so.  Either way, Kris and I are very proud of how she performed this year.