Winning
Even When You Don’t Get First Place
Five
months of preparation, countless injuries, and more blood sweat and tears than
you could imagine, and it all comes down to this one moment. Sitting on the
panel mats with my cheerleading team all around me, holding hands, and praying
that all our hard work will pay off. The beaming voice of the announcer echoes
throughout the arena as he begins to announce the placement of each team:
Starting with 24th place our little anxious hearts begin to pound
harder and harder as the number gets smaller. We hear
“And in 5th place, Pride
Athletic Champions.”
The team goes silent and small
cheers begin from the crowd, but not from girls who just spent what feels like
a lifetime on a 3-minute routine that didn’t reach the judges expectations. Low
was an understatement to how we felt at that moment.
Lets
go back five months prior. It was a normal Junior 4 practice (junior is the age
level and 4 is the skill level). Practice ended and I was getting ready to
leave when the cheer gym owner Tenay came up to me and asked if she could talk
to me in her office. Tenay was the epitome of a cheer coach, with her toned
legs, to her rocking six-pack, and always full of energy. She was willing to
step in for girls and show us how to do skills instead of telling. I idolized
her and her passion for this intense sport! Fluttering butterflies swarmed my
stomach because I knew exactly what this conversation was going to be about.
Cheerleading Worlds was coming up and this is not your typical cheer
competition. You have to qualify and only a certain number of teams from each
country are selected to compete, and our cheer gym had just qualified, among
four others from America. I walked into her office shaking like an Olympian
standing on the podium awaiting their eminent results. She sat me down and with
the anxious voice said
“Mackenzie since our Junior 5 team
just qualified for Worlds we are looking to add about 5 more athletes to the
routine and wanted to know if you would be one of those girls.”
I felt pools of tears forming in my
eyes. I had been working so hard to get my level 5 skills and finally, I was
being notice for my countless hours in the gym.
“Yes, of course I will do whatever
it takes to help out the team!”
“Thank you so much Mack! I hope you
are ready to challenge yourself and work harder than you ever have.”
“Yes, I am Coach”
“Okay I’ll see you at practice on
Tuesday then!”
I understood the struggles that
were about to begin as I took on this new challenge and the process it would
take to adapt to a new team.
The
next week practices began and that’s when everything changed. I was pushed
physically, mentally, and emotionally in ways I didn’t know were possible. The
team welcomed me with open arms and right away I began to feel like these girls
were my family. I knew that I could go to them for anything. As Worlds crept
up, our practices were longer, and more intense. I can’t think of one practice
that I didn’t get hit in the face, “eat mat” on tumbling, or go home bruised
all over. We were all working our bodies to their maximum capability. Because
we were so young (11-16 years old), we struggled trying to keep up with the
senior 5 team in the gym who we looked up to, but also felt a sense of
competition towards. Our team was a new structured collaboration of girls as
well and most teams that compete at Worlds have been working together for
years. This gave us a disadvantage, but we just kept pushing ourselves. We
motivated each other and came together more and more every practice so, that by
the time we arrived in Florida to compete we had built intensely close
friendships.
By
the time we got to Disney World at least half of the girls had gone through or
still had an injury, but knew that they had to push through it for the sake of
the other girls. It felt like one thing after another was bringing us down, but
we weren’t letting anything stop our perseverance. We had three full days before the competition
started that were dedicated to practicing and team building. We had two
practices a day outside and one practice a day at a local cheer gym. In between
practices we were eating, napping, and icing our bodies. At this point
everything was hitting consistent and we felt ready to get on the mat and give
it our all.
Finally,
it was day 1 of the competition. Warm ups went well and nerves were kicking in
as we walked on deck. Before we knew it the announcer called out
“And from Las Vegas, Nevada, Pride
Athletic Champions.”
The cheers began, and that’s when
we all ran out to the floor and got set in our first position. The crowd was
dark like the night sea and the spot lights on us, so bright that the glitter
on our bows sparkled. Our uniforms, black, blue, and gold perfectly formed to
our little bodies! With our every move, the silver rhinestones outlining the
initials PAC that shined bright. Here we
go, I thought as the music started. Before I knew it I had hit all my
stunts, tumbling passes, and jumps. That was it! The music ended and we all
came together on the mat, jumping up and down, sweating running down our faces,
and celebrating the perfect routine we just had.
“One day down, one to go girls” my
coach said to us as we left the arena. Sleeping that night was almost
impossible but my body and mind really needed it.
Day
2 started off well! Again, we had a great warm up and another successful
routine. So much weight was lifted off our shoulders as our coach praised us
for all the hard work and dedication that we knew finally paid off. At this
point all we could do was sit and eagerly wait for awards. Time couldn’t go by
fast enough for my team and me! Finally all the teams are called to the mat, now
it was time to find out if all these months of training paid off. We will also know each teams ranking
worldwide. 5th place, really?
I thought to myself as tears were being shed from girls all around me. We met
up with our coach after the conclusion of the award ceremony and she said
something that I will never forget. She gathered us around so we were all hand
in hand and said
“Girls, I couldn’t be more proud of
you. I know these aren’t the results we wanted, but I’ve seen so much growth in
each and every one of you. Not only with your skill level, but also with your
maturity and love for one another. I couldn’t have asked for a better group of
young women to represent my gym. I love you all so much, now go have fun at
Disney and I’ll see you at practice next week!”
We finished off the trip with a few
fun days in Disney World!
Last
Christmas, my good friend from that team met up with me for lunch.
“Gabby! I yell as I run up to my
old friend, jumping and getting gitty thinking about all we have to catch up
on.
“Mackie, how have you been? I miss
seeing you everyday at practice.” Gabby replied
“I know me too! I miss those long
practices and endless laughter we used to have with the team”
“Me too! I would have never guessed
back then that I would want to relive those moments to bad.”
“Seriously those were the days! Our
only worry was if our full-ups, and two-to-fulls were going to stick! haha”
Our little dinner date went on for
a while when we realized the restaurant was waiting for us to close up. It’s
crazy how much I miss those days.
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