And now the moment we've all been waiting for...

our first junior high basketball game.  Wahoo!!  I can't recall if I've told you that my friend and I are the junior high cheerleading sponsors...or coaches.  (Back in my day, we had cheerleading sponsors.)  Last spring I was approached by one of the athletic directors and asked if I would consider being the junior high cheer sponsor.  Without a second's hesitation I said yes.  I was a cheerleader from 5th through 12th grade and loved every minute (or at least that's how I remember it:).  I figured that if Madolyn was cheering, I would be going to the games anyway, so why not.

My friend Beth was standing nearby and said that if I would do it, she would help me.  Great, she is a teacher and at the school, where I am not.  It would be very, very handy if there was an insider involved.  Beth can keep track of the grades, discipline problems (of course, we won't have any) and there is someone at the school to be in the know.  I think we make a good team.

There was a slight scare for a while...Madolyn didn't want to try out for cheerleading.  A thought that had never entered my mind.  I begged and pleaded with her, as I had already been approved by the board, that she try it just this year and if she hated it, I wouldn't make her go out next year.  Thankfully, she obliged me and tried out and made it.  I'm not sure I would be as willing to commit to this task if I wasn't already going to all these ballgames.  Secretly I hope she loves it as much as I did, but I promised I would not push if she decides it's not her thing.   (Hold me to that, okay?)

Of course, you know how it is when you envision how things are going to be...and then realize they're not exactly like you thought.  Uh-huh, that's kind of how we felt at first.  Overwhelmed maybe.  Bewildered.  Baffled.  Frustrated.  Those are some of the emotions I had during the first few weeks of practice.

We have eleven girls (four-6th grade, four-7th grade & three-8th grade).  Do you know how hard it is to keep 11 girls focused on one task?  We started out with two-hour practices and have cut it down to 90 minutes. We've been practicing at least two, sometimes three, times a week since mid-September. I must say after practice last Thursday, we are ready.  The girls are as tired of practicing as I am, I think.  The real fun will be cheering at games, not at Beth and I.

I think what amazed us the most was the lack of drive to make up any cheers of their own.  Back in my day, I remember we would be assigned/or pick a cheer and it was our job to make up the motions and then teach it to the rest of the squad.  I could not wait to make up my cheer and teach it to everyone else because, of course, mine was the best.  And I believe that all the others felt that way about their cheers too.  If you made it up and it worked, you got to be where you wanted to be, do the stunt you wanted to do, etc.  It's not that way anymore.  I suppose it's like many other things, it just not the same as it used to be...and boy, don't I sound old?!

But we got through it and have met all of the goals we had set for ourselves before our first game.  That was quite an accomplishment and the girls look pretty good.  I'm excited for them to see how it will be.  By the time I was in 7th grade, I had already cheered two years of basketball games.  For many, this will be the first time cheering in the gym.  Thankfully, several of the girls have been football cheerleaders, which made our job much easier, with learning sideline cheers. 

So Thursday is the big day and it's a home game, then an away game on Friday...(Hands on hips) Ready, Okay!