All-Star Future?

First off I just wanna say, it's been a really long time since I've updated my blog. I mean.. like almost over a month. I guess that's because there hasn't been so much going on with cheer since off-season and I've been really busy with school, and social life. But now basketball season has started and I'm ready to be back in the game! It's been a long time since I cheered considering my broken thumb, but that first game we had was exhilerating and well worth the wait.

Since then, I now realized how addicted I am to cheerleading, not that I didn't know it before, but how much I need it in my life. It keeps me sane, and healthy and fit at the same time. I have been contemplating joining an All-Star Team on top of doing high school as well. Sometimes, gyms don't want you doing that because you have to split your time between the two, and generally one always comes out the priority. Well for College Park cheer you have to sign a contract prominsing cheer comes first. So if I were to do an All-Star team they'd have to be ok with it. It's not like I have practice every day, however sometimes I wish I did.

Our highschool program has a competition team, but that was never what I really loved about cheerleading. I loved the skills and all, but I loved performing for the crowd, as well as cheering on my school team. But, I think maybe an All-Star team could help me better my skills, and if I see myself cheering in college (which I totally do) it could help me get in, maybe even get a scholarship! Just a thought.. let me know your guys' opinion on the whole thing? I'm torn...

Hope everyone is having a reallky good end of 2012, sorry it's been a while, I'm gonna try to keep it up more!

All I want for Christmas is.. Cheer Bows!

My Christmas list has never been too long in my life. But the first thing I thought of to put on my list this year was.. cheer bows! I know it sounds crazy obsessed, but I love the look of giant cheer bows! Sadly, I don't think I have any so I was like "well.. 'tis the season right?" So I've been looking around and I saw these bow designs that I just absolutely adore.

This is the first bow I found, and even though my school colors are purple and white, this bow is absolutely drop dead gorgeous. I love the pattern, I love the sparkle, and I love love love the color. I have a black and teal sports bra I can wear with it too, so it's not a waste.

 I fell in love with this bow once I saw it. It's purple, zebra, and sparkly! It'd go with so many of my practice clothes, and my breath was taken away as soon as I saw it. This is probably my top pick of anything on my list so far.

Finally, I saw this bow and I thought it was really pretty. The colors are stunning and the effect of lights are breathtakingly stunning.

 

I just thought I'd do a quick little update of what's going on cause it's been a long time since I've posted. My thumb is doing well, and I can't wait to start cheering again! To be honest, I'm a little nervous to start tumbling again. I had a small mental block before, but now I'm hoping it didn't just get worse with this injury I'm recovering from. Hope all is well with all my readers, and you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Have an awesome end of November!

Cast Is Off!

I am finally cast free! Last Friday I was pulled out of class to go get my cast off, and you will not believe how wierd it is to be able to see my thumb again. I mean I have been so used to it being plastered and immobile in this finger coffin. But now I have it off and it's really awesome!

I mean at first it was really scary to try and move it, and now I have to take my brace off every hour and do little finger excersises to strengthen it back up again. Although I was only in the cast for about 3 weeks I lost alot of muscle in my forearm and wrist. Compared to my right arm it looks like a skeleton.

Well my football season is over, and our team didn't make the playoffs so our next step will be basketball season, which I can't wait for because that means being back in cheer! I hope everyone else is having an awesome end of the season and end of the year too!

Real Cast

So last Wednesday I was pulled out of class to go to the doctors and get my real cast on. Well let's just say there's nothing too great about it. It practically goes to the end of my forearm and makes even the most simplest tasks impossible.

The only good thing from it was that I got to get it purple so it matched my uniform somewhat. Well my liner doesn't even fit over my cast :( I had to buy a plain black long sleeve shirt that would fit over my cast, it was awful...

Luckily I only have to keep it on for two weeks, then I get a removable splint that I can take on and off. Thank goodness cause showering with a bag over my arm is getting kinda old. Anyway I can't do much typing cause it takes a little longer than usual, hope everyone had a good end of Football season or start of competition season!

Senior Night spent in the E.R.

Last night was Senior Night, a special night where the seniors on the football and cheer teams walk down the field with their loved ones and are announced to everyone. Well thank goodness I'm a Junior because I spent that night in the Emergancy Room.

Let me just explain what happened. So we were warming up for the game, I was throwing some simple tumbling passes while waiting for everyone to arrive. Since it was Senior night the seniors were going to perform their senior dance during Halftime. But they didn't want to leave the 4 Juniors out so we were going to do our halftime too. Well when the seniors were warming up the dance I warmed up my tumbling. What a mistake that was...

When I went back in my back handspring I heard a snap, when I stood up I realized my whole thumb was sideways. I looked at it and started just hyperventalating, then Maddy came over and started screaming "oh my god, oh my god!" over and over again. Our Spirit Advisor Shawn came up to me,  took my hand, and led me to the trainer. She made me a splint out of popsicle sticks and taped it and iced it. Surprisingly I remember being really calm, probably because I was in shock.

My parents were called and I went to the Emergancy Room. X-rays confirmed the break and I was given a shot to numb my finger up. Then the doctor had to set my finger, which was probably the worst part. Now I'm in a temporary cast until Wednesday and I get the real one. I'm thinking purple!

Ugly temporary cast

Luckily I made it back to the game by 4th quarter and got to see all my friends. Also my advisor said I can still do sideline cheer! Countdown from 4-6 weeks starting now!

The Poof.

It's one of the icons of all cheerleaders. You'd know someone is a cheerleader as soon as you saw them with this, you can't miss it. We work so hard for it, and give it so much effort. It's the cheer poof.

If you're a cheerleader you'd know what I'm talking about as soon as you read the title. These are just a few of the pictures I found when I typed in cheer poofs, but there are so many variations it's hard to focus on only one.

I remember the one time we had to wear a poof for our homecoming game, I got up about half an hour earlier than I normally would just so I could get the poof right. It defines cheerleaders that simple buldge of hair on top of your head that seems to stay perfectly in place. Trust me, it takes alot of work to make that all come together.

There is probably over a can of hairspray invested into making sure that poof does not come. Generally, it's mostly for competitions and you need to see what you're doing when throwing a tumbling pass or putting up a stunt. Your cheer hair has to stay in place.

The perfect poof is one of the most difficult things to achieve as a cheerleader. The bottom of it has to be teased and hairsprayed to get the correct amount of volume so it's noticeable. However the top has to be slicked back with every last strand of hair in its place. Then the whole thing has to be hairsprayed over and over again until it's as hard as a rock.

Even though alot goes into making the perfect poof, it gives you and your squad alot of bonus points. Looks are also being judged on the mat. If you present yourself in the perfect cheer mannar it only adds to your score. Being a cheerleader isn't only about the skill and drive, but it's about looking good while being crazy athletic. We do our sport, and look good doing it :)

 

Homecoming 2012!

It comes and it goes, another year, another homecoming completed. And boy did this one have it's ups and downs.

It started off at 5:45am when I got up, and already my hair was being stubborn. We had to have our hair in a high ponytail with a large poof, but of course mine was being difficult and In needed my mom to come help me. I got Starbucks in the morning too which made my day even better :)

I sat in 2nd period anxiously awaiting my early dismissal so the cheerleaders could go warm up, but it never came. Finally, I asked my teacher if he'd gotten an e-mail about those who were supposed to be released early from class. He walked over to his computer and looked out the window and said "well they're some girls who are dressed like you on their way to the gym," and I was freaking out that I was gonna be late so I left and sprinted to the gym. Luckily, I was on time and every stunt and tumbling sequence hit in warm up and we were all confident in our performance. The rallies' went well, the first was always a bit nerve wracking but once you get over those performance jitters you learn to have a fun time and just relax.  So many people complemented me on my skills, as well as remarking how well the cheerleaders did during their performance.

After school ended my group of friends had a little tailgate of our own. First Paulette had to fix my poof, because it was just a mess. She's an all-star cheerleader for East Bay Sports Academy so she knows what she's doing.

 

Then, Rachel, Maddy, Reed, Ben, Paulette, Taylor and I all went to In 'N' Out for lunch. Mmmm those hamburgers tasted really good :) And after that we went to Ben's house until we had to leave for the game.

We perofrmed in the beginning of the game, and after. The first performance went really well and everyone hit their stunts. Well remember how I was supposed throw my tuck for the game on the turf. Well I decided I wanted to wait for the last performance to try it, especially with Windy there.

That is not what happened... at all. About a minute and a half before the final quarter ended Windy came down to the field to help me warm up my tuck. On the very last one before I was about to go on I let go of my tuck and my feet landed too far behind me. My ankle snapped in an awkwardly bent direction and I knew at that moment it was too far.

Going back all the way to when I first hurt my ankle I was diagnosed with tendonitis in my right ankle. For 6 weeks I couldn't tumble, jump, or even walk on it because it had to heal. I went through intensive physical theropy, and wore a boot full time! But after tryouts everything seemed to be going better, until that day...

I performed in the routine, but every movement I made sent a sharp pain through my achiles tendon. I walked off the field so the seniors could do their senior dance, and burst into tears. I was then carried off the field, and to the medical bench to get it taped and iced. Just my luck, I was doing so well with my tumbling too... and now history repeats itself.

I talked to my physical therapist and he said I need to ice, ibeauprofen theropy, and do my ankle stretches. Otherwise I'll be back in the boot, which means no driving. And if I don't, and my tendonitis gets worse and I can't seem to make it better, there is a potential I could never walk again.

Not the homecoming I was expecting... Let's just hope my ankle heals!

Football Banquet and Pre-Homecoming Make-Up!

Today we had the football banquet, which is where all the cheerleaders and footall players get together and have a big dinner and just bond and stuff. The cheerleaders also get on stage and do a couple cheers to pump the football players up for the Homecoming day. It was our first year on Varsity, so we were super excited :)

To start off that day we went around decorating lockers with the names of the football players on paper footballs. There were only 3 girls on Varsity there to help with the decoration, Serenity, Taylor, and myself. We had to cover the whole school with football player names by ourself! But it was a good time to just hang out and be close with my girlies :)

Then we got food from Boston Market served to us at the banquet, did a couple cheers and exchanged presents. The football players got us cute little make-up bags with make-up in them! I'm not one for a lot of make-up, but it's the thought that counts, right? :) Even if it was probably one of the football players moms ideas... whatever! Then we got them little bags of candy and each senior member got a T-shirt.

After that we went home, and Maddy came over to my house to help me pack for the Ranch. We ended up doing our make-up in preparation for the big game tomorrow and got a little side tracked. It was pretty goofy make-up too! Lots of eye liner and eye shadow, giant wings of sparkle silver eye liner that crusted to our face. We ended up washing it off the minute we put it on, but it was still fun :)

 

That was my Thursday! And yes, I am posting this after Friday, so we did have the Homecoming game already. More to come later :) Just got home from the Ranch so I have no spare time! Will post soon though :)

I am... BACK!!

Yesterday was the most frustrating day of tumbling I've ever experianced. But that makes me want to work that much harder to make it a better one the next time. Since Homecoming is this Friday that "next time" needed to be today.

My coach Windy is so wonderful, she came and met me at the school so we could throw some tucks and I could get back into the action of tumbling. Sadly we wanted to go on the DVC field which is where I'll be performing, but the gates were locked.

So we went to College Park's back fields. Mind you, that's straight grass. But you know what, I was willing to try anything from that moment. It was a little awkward when I was warming up round-off back handsprings but once I started tucking it just came to me. I did about 4 or 5 by myself, no spot or anything. I'm feeling confident about friday! Hopefully I can go down one last time and secure that confidence.

I'm just so happy I got my mojo back. Icing wrists and ankles right now and healing my body, but ready to tumble my heart out. Shout out to all the cheerleaders who thought it couldn't be possible, but had the heart and dedication to make it possible. Remember, nothing is ever impossible<3

Tuck, Tuck, Tuck!!! And there it goes........

Yesterday was our last Monday practice in the gym before Homecoming. We were gonna have to run through the routine full out atleast 5 times so we know we could get it perfect. Well at first we just did stunts full out and stuff so we would be sure we could hit those. Because we perform a rally in the gym and there's no mats for us, just a paper thing anti slip thing so we don't get the gym floors dirty. So no flyer hits the ground, otherwise that'll sting alot worse than if we're on the turf (spell check). And basically our stunts were hitting so we got a couple minutes to warm up tumbling for the only 4 tumblers there are. I asked Kat to spot me on a round-off back handspring back tuck and she said I was good to do them by myself.

I have never gone for it by myself without a coach standing there, but suddenly I got this huge burst of confidence. I was committed to doing that tuck in my pass, and guess what.. I landed it! I was the happiest girl ever! I just did a round off back handspring back tuck all by myself and it hit! I knew the next day I would have tunbling practice so I figured just go and practice getting it perfect and I'll have it for the game on Thursday :)

Boy how wrong was I.. I get to tumbling today with the mindset of it's gonna happen and what happened was the exact opposite. Just my round off back handsprings were awful, there was no way I could throw a tuck out of that! And when I got the confidence back to just start throwing them again I didn't get my chest up fast enough or I'd reach for the ground. If I did that on the field it wouldn't stick at all.

I was literally ready to give up and walk off, I was so frustrated by this point I wanted to change my tumbling pass and be done with it. Maybe I'll never get my tuck. Fine whatever.

That's not what I wanted though... I knew I wanted that tuck. Whether I got it by Homecoming or by the last game of the season. I want it by the end of football season so I can show off my skills, because I have worked so hard and I want it more than anything.

My coach offered to come to DVC with me tomorrow and start spotting me on them just so I'm prepared for the game on Friday. If I'm tucking well then maybe I'll throw it at the game. But I don't wanna risk any injuries. Maybe give it another week? I want to tuck so bad... 

One Week 'Till Homecoming!

The end of today marks the offical one week remaining until Homecoming! This week, instead of having a game we had a "Bye Week" which is when the football team takes a week off to prepare for the all important Homecoming game. The cheerleaders also took this time to have an extra practice at the school and practice our stunts and timing and stuff. My stunt group for the elites was all there except for our backspot. But luckily Serenity stepped in for us so we could still practice. Our extension lib is hitting and it seems really sturdy and perfect. All except the cradle. I think we get a big enough dip, but I tend to get right under my flyer and take all her weight. Generally I could save it and she'd never hit the ground. Well this one incident when we cradled I got right under her and collapsed under her weight. We're both ok, but literally I'm so exhausted.

We got out of practice and for some reason someone hit my energy button and the hyperactiveness came rushing out! I was hopping all over the parking lot in my sports bra and spankies doing split jumps and handstands everywhere. Rachel took us to 7-11 and her and Maddy got food. Now I'm home and the exhaustion just hit me like a brick. I'm ready for some Lost time and a good nights' sleep :)

Epic Cheerleading Picture #5

Bows, cheer bows to be exact. The single thing that differenciates cheerleaders from gymnasts and dancers. Well, apart from the crazy stunts and cute uniforms. Cheer bows come in all sorts of different sizes, shapes, and colors. I personally have a various array of different bows, but none are quite as flashy as I'd like them to be.



Pretty blue bow :)

Anyway, I love cheer bows. Love love love, like I could write a whole book about cheer bows! Well..short story atleast :) And this bow in particular is one of my favorite. It's a combination of light blue, white, black, and rhinestones which make any bow pop.

This just happened to be one of the few search results that came up when I typed in cheer bows, cause I decided I wanted to blog about something :) If anyone has any suggestions of what I should blog about, let me know!

Sybling Bonding & Tumbling!

Today was the first day Belle and I have been in the same tumbling class since I was 12 atleast. So it's been roughtly four years since I've seen her throw any type of tumbling skill! I remember when she was working on her bridge fall, and perfecting her round-off getting ready to start learning back handsprings. Now she's flipping and flying working on her round-off two back handspring, and I couldn't be any prouder :')

Awkwardly holding Belle's phone

Also, I had someone to drive with, which made me a happy girl :) I hate driving by myself! So the only people I can drive without it being illegal is my family. I mean she can be fun when she's not telling me to turn down the radio and drive careful. But ya know, it's a human being I can associate with rather than talking to myself... awkward.

But yeah Windy worked with us each individually on our skills. I really feel confident about my tuck now! I was throwing a round-off back handspring back tuck on the floor and they were really by myself unless she just grabbed my shirt and made sure I rotated all the way. Then on tumble trak we did standing back handspring back tucks which I did with no spot at all. Then we just perfected the running tumbling by being confident and showing I have this skill. Hopefully I get it by homecoming! 2 weeks left, who thinks I can do it? :)

Cheer Pictures :)

Today we had Cheer Pictures, which is when we get an individual photo, and a team photo taken for the yearbook. Also cheerleaders can individually decide if they want buddy pictures with a close friend on the squad. Naturally, I chose my best friends in the whole entire world! Taylor and Maddy <3 But we don't get those for a couple weeks and I wanted some cute pics that I could share with the Social Networking world immedietly. So Maddy and I brought our cameras and we had a little fun once the professional people were done shooting.


Taylor and I :)

Taylor and I showing attitude by the rails, we're pretty adorable. It totally describes our friendship though. She's crazy and fun, while I'm simple and smiley. But together we make a Best Friend couple that no one can beat. We've been together since 3rd grade. As of senior year, it will have been 10 years of being best friends. That doesn't even seem possible! I mean, that's only a couple years less than I've known my sister, and we're related! But, Taylor practically is family <3

We had fun posing in all sorts of places, like by the railing...



Two blondes and a brunette!

 And on the stairs...


Camp Dance Group :)

 Taylor, Maddy, and I are all in the same group for the camp dance so we figured, "hey that might be a cute picture!" Maddy and Taylor got their little sassy faces on ;)

Then we got sime individual ones of eachother. Like me next to this tree. I make that tree work though, right? ;)

 And the rock poses are pretty cute :)

 Serenity, Destiny and I all by some plants and stuff. Photo credit to Maddy for being an awesome photographer! That Photo Arts 2 Class seemed to come in handy.

 

 Oh the original Freshmen 4... Taylor, Serenity, Maddy, and I were the only girls who are left from Freshmen year. Granted there was only one other person and the reason she dropped was cause she was taking so many AP classes, however next year she'll join again. But as for continually being with the program year and year again, us 4 take the cake... or pom pom, whatever :)

 

 Taylor Maddy and I kinda stole the idea from Charlie's Angels. We worked it out though!

Then there's Maddy and I. We've been best friends for 5 years, can you believe that? It wall all coincidental too. Who'd of thought I'd make so many life long friends when I was in elementary school and middle school. Goes to show you what real friends are like :)

Epic Cheerleading Picture #5

Yes, I just posted I'm aware. I'm in a bloggy mood though, so I figured may as well find something else to write about! Then I realized, it's been a while since I've done an "Epic Cheerleading Picture" so may as well do that, right? :)

This girl has an awesome needle stunt! For a long time, I didn't know this was called a needle. If I saw a girl do a scorpion that was that straight I called it a "straight leg scorpion" simple as it sounded. But then I saw a guy who was on our cheer team last year start posting pictures on Instagram saying he was gonna stretch all summer to get his needle. I looked it up and it was a straight leg scorpion!

So I just typed in "needle cheerleading stunt" in google and this picture popped up. I can't tell what team she's on, but it looks like this routine was performed at Worlds. Her facials are super cute too. You can see how concentrated she is in geting her leg perfectly straight in the third column on this picture. In cheerleading, if you can get your leg that much more straighter, that could mean the difference between 1st and 2nd place.

The support her backspot and bases are giving her foot seems really stable, which is probably why she can pull her scorpion so straight. She has no fear of falling or keeping her balance because she knows and trusts the people beneath her. That's what cheer is all about.

Well hope you guys like Epic Cheerleading Pictures. Leave a comment or something and let me know if you're enjoying it!

Gameless...

I was so looking forward to today. I was gonna wear my uniform, it was my easy day for school, I was gonna be dismissed early from 6th period, and I was gonna spend the whole day with my cheer friends in Hayward and have an awesome away game. WRONG!

JV's game got moved to Thursday at 4pm, and Varsity's game got moved to Friday at 4pm. And because it was so short notice we weren't able to go, so we had a "day off". I don't want a day off though, I was so excited to cheer today! Considering the fact that I missed my Tuesday tumbling class cause we were getting the whole private lesson thing situated since my original class was cancelled I was super amped to cheer today. I wanted to start throwing my tuck! Now the next time I'll be tumbling on turf is Oct. 5th on Homecoming, and I wanted to practice my tuck before then to make sure I could do it!

Long story short... my week went downhill when I got that set of news. Anyone else know what I'm experiancing?

Team Bonding!

Today we had a team bonding day and it was alot of fun :) First of all, I got behind Maddy on our way there, so I was following her and of course she got lost. She's a litle directionally challenged but I (with the help of my mother via speaker phone) found our way to the restaurant. We went to El Tapatio, a mexican restaurant because it was Taco Tuesday! :D


Awkward webcam snap shot

We ordered tacos, and then we got to start making our Breast Cancer bows which turned our really nice! They are pretty simple, but they get accross the point of Breast Cancer awareness. I got Taylor to fold mine because I'm bow making challenged :) I'm sure your asking yourself, "how can a cheerleader be bow making challenged!?" Trust me... when you suck at Arts 'n' Crafts as much as I do, it's possible.

Anyway, after that we got to make noise makers, which are basically water bottles filled with beads, glitter, and wrapped with purple string. Sure, it sounds lame now but when you hear a stadium full of them it gets the mood up!

It was a fun night :) After that Maddy, Taylor, and I went to Big 5 Sporting Goods and found Maddy some running shoes. Now I'm home, and once again I should be studying for my history test tomorrow but.. I'll get to that later :)

DISLCAIMER:That last little fact didn't have anything to do with cheer, it just happened in that sequence of events in the day. Are you interested in hearing about that or should I just stick to my normal stuff strictly involving cheer. Leave a comment and let me know!



3 Practices 'Till Homecoming!

Today at practice we worked on our Homecoming routine which is coming together really nicely. Considering the fact that I picked this up in a matter of weeks, I feel really confident about most of my spots.

We worked on our extension libs, and they were hitting solid! It wasn't until we got to the whole stunt sequence when it kinda crumbled, but I think that's just because we're all nervous and rushed it a little bit. But I'm sure with practice it'll quickly be improving! Also, I finally have a spot in our pyramid! Not a big spot, I'm just a front spot, but every spot is important in cheer. I front spot Maddy's stunt group which is just a prep, but I like knowing where to go in the pyramid rather than running to the front because I'm not sure where to go and I don't wanna get in people's way.

Team bonding tomorrow, so juiced! Gonna make noise makers and bows for Breast Cancer Awareness Month, I'll post pictures once their made :) Tumbling classes may continue! My sister and I might take 45 minute privates with Windy just working on the skills we wanna work on. Hopefully that works cause I want my tuck soo bad! Can anyone else relate? Being so close to a skill you want so bad but things just keep getting in the way? Yeah... not a great feeling.

Gosh it's so hard for me to go to sleep knowing I haven't updated my blog with what we did today in cheer. I think I'm addicted, but it's a good thing :)

Homework... or Blog...

Hmmm.. to do homework, or to post mindless cheer realted topics... I choose blogging! :D Don't worry though, I will do my homework just... when the time is right. Obviously my brain is too high-wired to focus on homework so I gotta blog it out right now :)

Just found out yesterday, my Tumbling Class which I grew to love oh so much was cancelled :( Guess why... Because I was the only one in it! Ok, I can understand why, it's a valid reason. But I was so close to getting my tuck, it's not fair! So my sister Belle and I might start doing privates with Windy and we can both tumble at the same time for a good price. Hopefully that all works out because tomorrow I was supposed to start throwing tucks by myself, but obviously that's not happening!

Anyway, today we have spirit practice from 6pm-7:30pm. On Mondays we have our whole schedule of classes, but Tuesday we only have 1,3,5 classes. I used to be able to do all my homework and get it all done and out of the way before practice. But now since I'm a junior and I've got alot harder classes I can only do my 1,3,5 classes because by the time I get home I eat food, go to practice, and am exhausted! But I wouldn't trade cheerleading for anything, you know that <3 Or I've said it enough and it's been implanted in your guys' brain.. same difference!

Just thought I'd let you guys know what's happening. And obviously my blog comes first before any amount of homework :) Still open for suggestions and ideas on what to talk about, feel free to e-mail me or comment! E-mail ---> larissa_terry@comcast.net Thanks for listening!

What do YOU want me to talk about?

So I was looking at my stats for my blog (which already has almost 900 page views in like.. less than two months, thank you so much anyone who keeps up!) just to see what people liked most on it. And when I checked which entries got the most views it was the post I did about cheer hair.

I realize that more recently I've just been talking about what's been going on in my personal cheer life because I have school going on, and it's like if I wanna come home and write something it's just easiest to write what happened that day. Rather than in summer where I had so much free time and I could sit and research pictures and take my time writing and composing my thoughts.

So I want to know what you, my readers, would like me to talk about. Whether that be my own personal cheer stories, my thoughts and opinons on anything cheer related, or topics you guys pick for me! I'm happy to answer some of your questions, or bring up a discussion on something you'd like to hear from me. Leave a comment, or e-mail me about anything you'd like me to write about. Everytime I see my page get more and more views it makes me really happy so thank you so much to anyone who is reading! :)

Marching in the Parade!

College Park Cheer was asked to be in the Walnut Creek Twilight Parade! Along with some other high schools whos cheerleaders attended this event, it was a super fun parade! Maddy drove me there in her car that she learned how to drive yesterday. a 4-runner (stick shift) and we took freeway! I was a little scared at first, but then I calmed down a little bit, only stalled twice :) I smell like moth balls though.. If you don't know what they are? don't ask.

So we got to the parade a little later than we were supposed to, but that's because the traffic absolutely sucked! We rehearsed our camp dance, and a cheer with jumps in it that we would perform for the judges at the end of the parade. As we walked along the street we did chants that got the crowd interacted and excited. It was really fun seeing all the little kids look up at you and smile when we walked by chanting and waving.

When we got to the judges we were all lined up and ready to perform. We did the jumping cheer first which went really well because at Camp, College Park was awarded the "Best Jumps" award for having the best squad jumps. I'm super proud of our team for accomplishing that :) Then we turned around and got set for the dance. We all worked it out and put on our best facials. It wasn't until midway through that I realized there were two professional looking cameras filming our routine! But we totally played up the spirit and gave them exactly what they wanted.

After that, Maddy dropped Taylor and I off at Jo'Annes. In the Bay Area, it's basically like a fabric store. We went there because we wanted to make special bows for Breast Cancer Awareness month in October. Even though we didn't really find anything we liked, we know what's there. And we still have a fair bit of time to do some researching. It was a super fun day, I love cheer <3

Falcons for the Win :)

College Park faced the gruling Pinole Sabercats tonight, and beat 'em 14-7! It was a pretty good game I'd say. We coreographed a new pyramid in literally less than an hour, and performed it with almost no practice! One group tosses a flyer back and we catch her, then J-swing and do a quarter turn, straight up extension. Keep in mind, it's not a very difficult stunt. But when you pair the tallest girl on the squad who generally backspots and an ex-flyer who is only 5'2" it's a little tough to stay even. And our backspot has never backed before, she's generally a base! So it was something really new to us. Notice how the base on the left hand side of this stunt has her knees bent alot, and the base on the right hand side has her legs locked and close together. That's basically what it was like for me and Taylor basing together. She was the one that had to get really low in the stunt.



Extension!

Well after the extension falling down twice we got it up there and held it! Everyone clapped and cheered for her and it was awesome :) We went into halftime knowing we could perform it... then bobbled... But luckily Taylor, Sammi, and I caught it just in time and saved it into a prep. Not as impressive, but I think everyone rushed into the stunt a bit and it all got bumped down to a prep.

Other than that, I thought it was a pretty fun game. There was one point where we were all laughing really hard so Sammi thought it would be a good idea to call a cheer and we would focus. But she ended up stuttering on the words and we all laughed and couldn't even start, let alone finish the cheer!

Also, I'd like to add I did a total of 26 back handsprings that game! 6 for warm-up, 3 during halftime, 7 during the banner breaking, and 10 on the sidelines during the game. The crowd started cheering and counting how many I was gonna do! My friend thought I was gonna tumble all the way back to my high school! (Awkward, we play at a Community College field, not our home school field) But yeah it was pretty incredible and I feel aweosme! My wrists are a little dead though... Well I need some sleep.. Kinders Fundraiser and CP Comp Team car wash! Also, gonna perform at the Walnut Creek Parade, too excited :) 

Friends are the key to Happiness

Cheer is a really big part of my life. I mean, I know if I didn't have it I wouldn't be as happy as I am right now. But I realized today why it means so much to me. It's because I get to share it with my best friend. I've known her forever, and we've been through alot. That's why I can say she's my best friend. We've gone through life for 9 years of being there for eachother, and it's not gonna change. There have been challenges and hurdles that tested our friendship, but there's never been anything that has separated us. I'm figuring it out now though, that no matter what, she's always gonna be there for me.

So for anyone who wants to do cheer because they think it's a fun sport, or because you want the challange in life of learning how to stunt or tumble, by all means go for it. But what makes it enjoyable is the people you spend it with. During those long practices where you feel like you're sweating your butt off to make everything perfect, until you preform that routine during halftime. It doesn't even compare to what it's like sharing those sideline experiances with your friends. If you can share something you love with one of your best friends, how can life get any better? That's what I'm doing, and I can honestly say it's the best decision I've ever made.

Taylor... this one is for you. This is me saying how glad I am you're in my life, and how thankful I am to have you as my best friend. Cheers to almost 10 years of Best Friendlyness... and for 10 more to come. Love you girlie <3

4 Weeks Till Homecoming!

Why does it feel as if I haven't blogged in forever? My last post was September 8th, and now it's September 12th. It's been four days.. but it feels like it's been an eternity since I've put my thought into writing. So let me just tell you how my cheer week has been :)

Monday: Practice started at 6pm, so I left the house around 5:40pm so I'd get there with enough time. Naturally, since it was Monday I had all my classes, and I was swamped with homework. But it's literally a cheer sin to miss practice just because of homework. So I get to practice, and I brought my "homework" from two weeks ago. After our first game we had homework to write down what needs to be improved in our squad. I forgot mine time and time again, but this time I was determined to get it to my coach Danielle! So we worked on our Homecoming Coreography which is in a little more than a month, can you believe it! Feels like it just snuck up on me out of no where.
So we line up the routine and we wanted to start working our stunts considering we'd never done them once. In this stunt sequence I am main basing a walking prep, retake, switch grip, extension lib. It sounds a little funny typed on the screen, but it makes sense when we do it! So we practiced those stunts and it actually hit! Considering this was my first time basing an extension anything I was pretty proud of myself :) Although I can't really feel my muscles right now... So yeah that was my Monday practice!

Tuesday: Every Tuesday I take the High School Tumbling Class #2 which is for advaced tumblers like myself. Well last week I was a class of one. This week I was again a class of one! So basically I'm getting private lessons for a way cheaper costs, and I love my coach too! We worked on standing tucks and running round-off BHS tucks. Did you know that one standing back tuck is roughly the same as 25 sit ups? My abs are killing me! I actually had to stop for a while because my abdominal muscles couldn't handle anymore tucks! I came home sore too sore to even more. I told my dad how a certain muscle in the lower quadraint of my stomach was hurting and he said I probably strained or pulled an abdoman muscle. Hopefully that heals soon because I wanna start tucking at football games not this Friday but the next!

Well, that was what my week was like! :) Sorry I hadn't been updating in a little bit, and this was kinda lengthy but I felt I had to make up for neglecting my blog. Thanks for keeping up :)

Well that didn't go as planned...

First away game, remember me being so happy and excited for it? Well that didn't go as planned... Infact since we got to the field there was tension in the air. And it was not good from that point out. Things happened, and life sucked at that point. All in all... well, I'm just looking forward to our next one, hopefully it will be better than the last.

Tumbling Love!

It's been a really long time since I've tumbled in like an acutal class. Considering that I injured my ankle around mid March, it has been a good 6 months which is totally crazy! Like I wore a boot for about a month and even went to my cheer clinics in it. I took it off for tryouts so I could tumble and get bonus points, but after that I had to put it right back on. And I went to a couple Open Gyms but we basically just played around and I didn't get to do any hardcore tumbling.

But I got the schedule for my gym's classes and I saw a High School Team Level 3 Class that I wanted to sign up for! I was afraid I'd be the only one without friends but it turns out I was the only one... period! No one out of all 10 of us showed up except for me! And the coach turns out to be a girl who was on our Varsity Cheer team last year! I basically got a private lesson from our cheer captain last year.

But aside from strange coincidence of having a private lesson and a former CP cheerleader as my instructor, the class went really well! We started off with a basic warm up and moved to sets for standing tucks. And she asked if I wanted to do them on the floor or trak first so I just chose floor. And she said they were practically by myself I just needed to do a bunch of repetitioin, which we did. By this point, I'm like sweating, and I think I sweat off a good 3lbs! Then we moved onto running tumbling after about 20 standing tucks!

So that went really good, I have more power than I think I guess cause my tuck was a good 6 feet high at one point! My goal is to have it by Homecoming, but if not then end of football season. I feel like I could nail that, but maybe I'm just too full of optimism? Anyway, I'm so glad to be back in the swing of things with my tumbling!

First away game for me! And actually, it'd be really cool if you guys wanted to help out our team by voting for us as Game of the Week #3.It's College Park vs. Deer Valley. Vote it up! Let me know if your're having as great of a season as I am!

Link for the website --->  http://www.ktvu.com/s/sports/highschoolsports/

V-V-Victory for Var-Var-Varsity!

Victory for Varsity for College Park High! That's right, we won today! Today was our second game of the season and it was alot of fun! Of course there were some major catastrophes that kinda set us back in the beginning. But we got it all worked out and put on a great show!

So in the beginning when we warmed up our halftime we were missing a couple people, and it turns out one of them go sick during the day and went home. So we had to coreograph her out and figure out stunts cause she was a main back spot. Also, we had our center flyer missing, so we had to put some other girls in the stunts she flew in.

So to replace the girl who was sick, we changed our whole pyramid around. I flew the beginning stunts which was a show 'n' go to extension. And then Anastasia flew the pyramid which was a toss backwards to another stunt group that caught her, J-swing to a prep. And Cassie flew the full twisting basket toss at the end of the routine. Well my extension didn't hit, so we had to settle for prep level. And the basket toss didn't get up but.. we were loud and proud falcons!

And we might even be on TV! A woman with a camera came up to us and asked us to yell and cheer, so maybe we'll be featured on the High-School Sports channel.

All in all, it was an awesome game, and I'm super stoked for next week! First away game as a Varsity squad member at Deer Valley! Now I'm just at home ooVooing my best friend :) We have practice tomorrow at 7am! Why am I still awake? Still on summer schedule..

Maddy and I after the game just relaxing :)

Practice and Temporary Bows

So you know how I missed Homecoming Coreography because I was in Alaska. Yeah well it's pretty hard to pick up a whole two minute routine in a short practice. Luckily, I'm a quick learner so I picked up the dance from my friend Serenity and got the tumbling section today. However we have a bit of a crisis with the whole stunting situation.

So my friend Taylor tells me that I'm in her stunt group and I'm put as a main base. So I rush over to Taylor and go to learn my new part as we are doing the routine full out and I see a girl who's basing. And I'm confused like "so.. am I backspotting? But Taylor told me I base?" The girl who was basing in my spot asked if I could back spot because she'd already learned the basing counts. Well I have no problem with learning the backspot position, infact I don't even mind it at all. The only problem is, it's an extension lib, and I am 5'2". I don't know if I will be able to reach that high! I told her it was no problem, but we'll have to see if it hits because I'm not very tall.

That's all of homecoming I did and I know very little which bothers me because I hate not knowing our routine full out. On the plus side, since our game bows haven't arrived yet, we got temporary bows! They are silver sparkle with a purple band around the middle. Thank god we got some color because our white practice bow is not as fun as these are. Hopefully our official bows are awesome too!


Temporary Bow!

Then we worked on our halftime. Turns out the main flyer in our routine, also named Taylor but with the last name M. is having surgerey and can't perform the stunts. So I suggested to Taylor to have Maddy (my other best friend) step in and I take her spot back spotting. Because her and I both flew for Frosh and JV stunts. But Cassie pushed me into the stunt group and said "have Larissa fly!" and so there before you know it I got my wings back and flew! I looked at Haley who is my main base and told her I haven't flown in a while and she said "well you do now" It's just a simple show 'n' go to a prep, but the fact that it's the center position is something new. And it actually hit really well. Our show 'n' go was fully extended and our cradle from prep was awesome.

Well after practice, Maddy and I went and got Starbucks for half off and spent a whole hour in the parking lot talking and dancing and what not. It got to be dark and we both realized this was like.. the wierd part of Concord and we might get killed in a gang shooting if we didn't head home early enough.

Now all I want is a shower, because that was like the first official work out I'd done in a while since the cruise and I am a hot mess! Well thought I'd share my new position with you guys and what's happening. It's just a temporary spot, but who knows. Maybe this could lead into potential new stunts. I forgot what a thrill it is to be in the air.

First Football Game!

One game down... 9 to go! (I think..) Today was alot of fun, and I had a super awesome time cheering for Varisty and bonding with the squad. It started off at the JV game when I met up with Taylor and C.C. to support Junior Varisty. That was all good fun and it was awesome watching the girls we knew as freshmen lead and be good examples. Then we as the Varsity team went to go practice.

This is where it got kind of crazy. You see, in the beginning stunt sequence I walk from the front of the jump sequence to the front stunts and front spot. However, since Maddy was gone the back stunt didn't have a backspot. Me being the only extra front spot had to go learn a new part. And mind you, I'm 5'2" so I've never been asked to backspot, nor try it. So this was something new! I had to sprint to this new spot and get there on time and support and catch my flyer. Granted, I actually like back spotting and now I can officially say that I've done everything! I have flown, I've front spotted, main based, and secondary based, as well as backspotted! I guess that means I'm a very diverse person ;)

The captains went over and welcomed the Alhambra cheerleaders to the game and wished them good luck and the game started! It was fun calling chants and stuff, and that's what I missed out on last year as Co-Captain. It was never made clear to me if we actually get to call cheers. However, this year Sammi was all for switching off with the other two Co-Captains.

We set our standards, and can't wait to improve! Our next game is gonna be even better! But you know what I'm really looking forward to? Our first away game. As Jvosh (JV & Frosh) we were only allowed to do one away game. And since last year the one we had scheduled was against Mt. Diablo we weren't allowed to go considering past events. Now we travel! But of course...JV is now too which is kinda dumb cause that's the first year and it's supposed to be a varisty privalige! But whatever, I'm just excited to be on someone else's turf and show them what College Park is all about!

Anyway, that was our game and I had an awesome time! Oh I know I've been promising new uniform pictures but I never got around to it today. So this is one I took when we first got it. I promise to have one by the end of football season no later with my full uniform, bow, and cheer hair. But aside from that, hope everyone had an awesome day and I will keep you informed on what's next in the Cheer Chapter!

First Game Jitters!

Tomorrow is our first official game of the season, and I'm so excited! Our rival is Alhambra... and that's who we always play for the first game. It's the biggest deal ever, so it's important that we win and show them who's boss!

We get to wear our uniforms and be all sparkly and awesome which I am looking forward too. The only bummer thing is that we didn't get our bows on time :( I don't even know what they look like and it's KILLING ME! I want giant purple bows with like rhinestones and sparkles and everything, because we're varsity and that's how it should be.

I feel like our Freshmen Year we were punished because first of all, we didn't even have our uniforms for the first game. It never hit me until my Sophomore year how much of a priority it was that we have our uniforms. Secondly, our game bows were just regular white bows, with a different cut than our practice bows. You could have worn the practice bows and no one could tell the difference!

Moving on from that past year nightmare, there's a new crisis at large. We will have to wear our practice bows for the first game! This is totally ridiculious, I wanted to look our best for the biggest game of the year, but we'll have these wimpy little bows. I don't even know how to wear a practice bow all cheery and peppy and whatnot!

Captains made a big deal about cheer hair and how it needs to be all the way up in a super high ponytail with our bangs slicked out of our face. You don't understand how high this is. Put the palm of your hand at your eyebrows and your middle finger on the top of your head. Wherever your finger stops is where your ponytail should be. On mine that's super high, and I personally like it when it's high but not like whoo-ville status where it's on top of your head.

I'm not gonna let any of that get me down though, I'm just gonna keep the spirits up and cheer my heart out! Hopefully everyone else has an awesome first game or competition ahead of them, good luck to all! I will write later about how it went with pictures to follow, I pinky promise :)

Back from Alaska!

Hey guys, I'm home!! After a long 10 day cruise it's finally nice to be back in California just relaxing and enjoying the land. I found out some new stuff:

1. Lots of old people go on cruises
2. People tend to get really fat and eat alot on those cruises
3. I get sea sick

So a couple practices before we left I was learning some new stunting techniques. And considering we have  14 seniors and 4 juniors, it's a little hard sharing the lime light with the "Senior Showcase." So I was learning how to base, and mind you, I'd been a flyer my entire cheer carreer. Well I have the muscle for basing because I'm a tumbler so it wasn't difficult for me. And now it seems like that's my new position.

The first thing I did when I docked in Alaska was text Taylor and find out what my parts are in Homecoming Coreography. I front alot of stunts, but I base a prep switch grip extension lib. I've never done that... ever! I guess they have alot of faith in me, but still I'm really nervous.

Anyway, tomorrow we're gonna go over a couple chants at DVC so we're prepared for our game this Friday. Can you believe it, our first game is this Friday! I'm so excited! I'll get a picture of my squad and I in our uniform before the week is over, I promise :)

School starts on the 29th of August, so hopefully I find time to continue to blog. Keep on reading, and I'm still up for any stories you're willing to share or suggestions on future topics, just e-mail me. It's nice to be home :) Hope everyone is having an awesome end of August/beginning of the school year!

Banner Decoration & New Uniforms :)

Today was a cheer-tastic day! I got to College park around 9am so we could start making bannars for our football games. You know, the ones the cheerleaders hold as the football players run through them yelling and screaming the cries of their people sounding all manly and what not. Yeah so we got all designful and created 10 gorgeous banners. Serenity even painted a smiley face on my leg with the purple paint! Sadly, it turned pink :( Which meant our banners were gonna be pink too! Hopefully we can go back over them with some darker colors..

Anyway, whilst the banners were drying we went over the chants we'll have to be performing at games. I think everyone did really well, even though we haven't gone over all of them. But the new girls know many of the main chants we do repetitively at games. Then once that was finished we got pizza and sat with our squad. Our instructions were to go over what our teammates expect of our Captain and Co-Captain. I don't mind a little constructive criticism and learning what would be appropriate so I was all ears. It was mostly just about being fair, and putting things for the best of the squad not your friends. But I think both Haley, Sammi, and I all get that so it'll be a breeze :)
We also had a little discussion about cheer hair. And as I mentioned before in my Epic Cheerleading Picture I love when All-Star teams curl their hair and put it half up half down with a big poof and sparkly bow. But I think for high school it's a little different because we're not as professional as the Big League. There has been alot of debate as to what our cheer hair should look like. Some like a low pony tail, others like it in the middle, and some like it high. There's always a question of bangs and the little baby hairs that won't go in your ponytail and what not. But this year we decided the ponytail should be towards the top of your head with bows forward and your bangs slicked back and neatly pushed out of your face. Personally, that's how I like it because I can't have hair in my face or I won't be able to see. Also if I had a low ponytail I would step on it when I tumble. There was a bit of arguments on that and questions like "well maybe we can switch it up sometimes" and I wouldn't be apposed to trying that but it's so hard for me personally. However, if the squad comes to a vote on it and the other Captains are ok with it I'd be willing to try.

Finally, what I've been waiting to tell you all since I got home, WE GOT OUR NEW UNIFORMS!!!! They are absolutley gorgeous and I love them <3 I'll post a picture of me in it, with probably my friends later but just to describe tem to you their purple with black and white stripes and a sliver CPHS in the middle. It's super awesome, and I can't wait to see what the bow looks like too!

So yeah that was my day. Sadly, I leave tomorrow for a 10 day cruise and I doubt there will be anything cheer related there but.. we'll see, maybe I can come up with something ;) Anyway I hope you all are having a marvelous day! Comment or message me, and be sure to check out my new Blog "Cheer Bows Are Us" which is all about me and Taylor selling cheer bows! If you're interested let us know :)

Cheer Bows Are Us

So remember how I was talking about possibly selling the bows that Taylor and I made? Well we decided it just might work! So we put together a franchise (at home run business), set up a facebook page, and have a blog for it! You can keep up with any of our new designs and bows on the site we created, here's the link: http://cheerbowsareus.blogspot.com/ Here's our Facebook link: http://www.facebook.com/#!/CheerBowsAreUs?notif_t=page_new_likes

Each bow is handmade from scratch and custom designed from what you decide, or one of our premade products. We don't have prices yet, but those will be up soon, and we can ship them to you no matter where you are.

This is something totally new to both of us, but we're really looking forward to spreading the love of cheer bows to everyone out there. Because what's a cheerleader without a bow, nothing! Comment, or e-mail me at larissa_terry@comcast.net or Taylor at tayrazmataz@gmail.com.

Cheer Bows!

On Thursday Taylor and I went to go get supplies to make cheer bows with. We got all sorts of pretty ribbon, glue, and rhinestones. We just had to figure out a day to make them, which I was so excited about because what cheerleader doesn't love cheer bows! I also love having variety to pick from. We had our game bows that the program provided us with, but our Frosh ones were plain white, and our JV ones were purple and white. I got a dark blue one from the 4th of July Parade, and the purple and white sparkly one we ordered for our cheer class at Recreation Summer School. But I needed some variety.

Our school colors are purple, black, and white. So I figured I'd need some bows that would match our camp clothes, as well as any other spirit shirts we'd gotten in the past. But I also have some blue shirts that I like wearing, and blue is my next best favorite color, so we got some of that! I loved spending time with Taylor and making the bows, and now I finally have some variety to pick from. Of course, when we aren't wearing our designated practice clothes with a plain white bow. Maybe we should consider selling them? Is there anyone who might be interested? Let me know! 

Epic Cheerleading Picture #4

Maison, spokesmodel from 2by2

I'm obsessed with cheerleading, you know it. The first thing I do when I get home is search new cheerleading videos I haven't looked at before. When I was on You Tube I found this channel named 2by2 which was all cheerleading videos! But it wasn't just cheerleading teams competing at national competitions, they were tributes to many different girls and boys on different cheer teams. I loved watching videos about all the team members, but Maison especially stood out to me. She's an incredible flyer with crazy awesome flexibility and fantastic tumbling ability. She's the spokesmodel for the channel and you can see her featured on many different videos. If you're obsessed with cheerleading as I am you'll check out this channel. Their always putting up new videos so it's never old.

This was just a quick little blog I wanted to get out there because I've been pretty busy and nothing new has been going on with my cheer life. However we start our regularly scheduled practices in exactly one week, and I'm so looking forward to it! Our first game is in a little less than a month, so excited to play our rivals Alhambra and kick their butts! Hope everyone had an awesome weekend, don't forget to comment or feel free to message me :)



Pre-School Performance

This morning the College Park Cheerleaders were invited to Kidz Planet out in Clayton to do a performance for the little kids! I was so excited to meet the little kids and get them excited about cheerleading. Who knows, maybe they'll become the next great cheerleaders of our generation.

So we drove all the way out there and performed our camp dance that we learned at, well where else but Camp. Then we did a couple chants to get the spirit going. We also did some thigh stands with the more older and mature ones, which they did awesome! Lastly we did a meet and greet and had cookies and lemonade with the little ones.

Overall it was just a really fun day. Conditioning tomorrow at frickin' 8am and I am so not excited! So tired right now... Goodnight to all and hope you are having an amazing summer!

Epic Cheerleading Picture #3 & Update

Twisting skills are awesome :)

So for today's Epic Cheerleading Picture I purposfully (spell check?) went on the internet and looked specifically for an interesting picture I could blog about. And I came accross this picture of a tumbler finishing her cross pass with some sort of twisting skill. This cheerleader has pretty good form for it, the only thing I would change is that her knees are a little bent. However, it's an exceptionally hard skill to master so I think I'd give that a B+ don't ya think?

Also I'm a little more inclined because her uniform is absolutely gorgeous! I love the cut off shoulder and the design pattern. Whoever designed that put alot of hard work into it. The colors are really gorgeous too! But I love all cheer uniforms :)

So just a little update on what's going on cheer in my life: We start Saturday morning practices again, and considering we've all been to camp already and even the newbee's have some experiance under their belt I hope we can start working on more skills and stuff rather than conditioning. Don't get me wrong, I love conditioning as much as the next person, but I think that was more to get us in shape for Camp, and now that the ship has sailed for that we should work on perfecting our halftime.

Also, whilst we were at camp the Captains and Co-Captains were revealed for each squad. In the morning I woke up and there was a sign on my door that said "Congrate Larissa, Varsity Co-Captain" and my name was in sparkly pink writing. I made Co-Captain! I was actually a little shocked because we had alot of good candidates submit applications. With that noted though, I'm gonna do my all time best and work with my squad to make this a great season. Varsity is looking pretty good this year! Can't wait to start cheering at football games and stuff. Keep cheering!

Cheer Camp at the Maritime Academy!

I literally just walked through the door, and the first thing I thought of was "I need to go blog about Cheer Camp!" We were there from Thursday to Sunday, and we did so much! I wish I would have gotten some pictures and stuff, but we weren't allowed to have any electronics for like the whole day until we got back to our dorm. But anyway I'll just get right into it.

So on Thursday we left at 10:00am to go to camp. Taylor and Maddy came in my car, along with my mom who drove and Darcy (Maddy's mom) who was there for support. We get there with all our luggage and we have to walk down all these stairs. It was crazy excercise, and not even the last time we were going up and down them. But anyway we were introduced to the staff, and got right into working out and learning the camp dance and cheer which is so cute! Then after a long tiring day we had Crazy Clothes Dress Up Night. We were all crazy and spirited, and played really fun games.

Then Friday we got up at 6:30am to go to down to breakfast, so that meant we had to be up at like 5:45 or something just to get ready, and get our hair up and perfection. That day we did a warm-up with jumps, and cardio and it was fun, but a little squished. During jumps Taylor and I were in the back and there was no room to jump where you wouldn't kill anyone with a toe touch! So we did mini motions and just dealt with the close corners. Then we got to go to our electives, and I of course wanted to go to tumbling. It was either that or stunting, a cheer, or a dance. Don't get me wrong, the dance was cute, and the cheer was cool, and of course I love flying. But there's so many flyers on Varsity right now I think tumbling is all I have to offer. Then we got our second round of electives, and I chose tumbling again cause it was the more advanced stuff such as back handsprings and back tucks. I basically have my standing tuck on the floor, I just need to practice practice practice. Then we got three hours with our personal coach Lessandro working on our cheer for evaluation. We perfected it so well that for our evaluation we got Superior, which is the highest you can get! At night, we had our skit night which was pretty fun.

This is our crazy Camp Leader, he was College Parks first male cheerleader!

Saturday was another hectic fully packed day starting off at 6:30am and ending at 10:30pm. Again more jumps, and cardio for warm-up. When electives came I was dying to take another tumbling class, but our Advisor wanted Cassie and I (the two tumblers) to take the stunting class so we can fly. So we did, and we did full downs, which were gorgeous! We got to show that off and it was pretty awesome. Then our second set of electives was a dance. It was really fast paced, but it looks so awesome when you perform it to music. After electives there was a tumble off, which I was nominated to go up for. I did my round off four back handsprings! I focused alot on form and technique. Then we had another three hours to work with Lessandro, but this time on our halftime. We have a really cool pyramid in it, and it looks good. However the dance was a bit of a mess. There was decision on changing it to something harder and challenging ourselves, or keeping it the camp dance. We changed it.. sadly that didn't work out in our favor. For our evaluatioin we did everything really well until the dance. That's when the entire teem got up there and just froze. It was humiliating! Luckily everyone got a second chance to perform so we did much better the second time (and we switched the dance back). Our theme for the night was 80's dress up, our outfits were too cute. Also, Varsity won the Spirit Stick!

Finally, Sunday came, and we were going to go home. But not after being evaluated on what we learned of course. We got up and performed all the dances we knew, all the chants we were taught, and then that final performance. We performed the cheer because we got Superior on it and we felt confident. We got superior again! And then they announced awards. The first night I got a "Great Example" award for being a good role model. Seconldy, I was called up for the top five tumblers and was awarded third place out of 11 squads! College Park Varsity went home with the Sprit Stick once again, and a trophy for best jumps.

This was a super fun experiance for all of us, and I hope next year I can spend it there again. Thanks to all my fellow cheerleaders for reading, I know this was pretty long, but I had to get it all in there. Peace, love and Cheer <3

2 Days Until Cheer Camp!

So excited, cheer camp is in two days! I still have major shopping to do for Secret Buddy gift and whatnot. But this is our first time going to a sleep away camp! Well it is for all the going to be Juniors and lower classmen. But I'm sure we'll have a great time :) It's all the way out in Vallejo, and we'll be there with 10 other high schools! It'll almost be like a competition, but with a giant sleepover. I have finished packing, for the most part, all that's left is getting everything finalized with my job and stuff!

Anyway, today in Cheerleading Class we went over the stunts with all the groups, and it looked really great! I mean, sure their only thigh stands, but their also 9 years old so I'd say that's pretty boss! Yes, it ranges from grades and stuff, but the majority is pretty young. Each of the stunts went up cleanly and on counts. Also, we convinced out Advisor for high school cheer to let us use the mats that we normally use for CP in our class. I think that's super sweet, and it gives the girls a confidence boost cause they know theirs something soft beneath them, even if it is a foot off the ground. Hopefullly this inspires them to do high school cheer when they get older. And hopefully they'll bring the class back next year too!

Well, I should probably be finalizing my packing and stuff, don't forget to send in those pictures and stories!

Sharing Stories

Yeah I know I just posted something, but if I waited any longer to tell you guys about this I know I'd forget. Just letting you all know, this is not my first blog, it's actually my second. If you remember way back when to my first ever post on this blog you'll remember me saying how I created it because cheer takes up so much of my life it just needs it's own blog! But if anyone is interested in reading that blog as well, feel free to check it out. Here's the link to blog :) http://rissyterry.blogspot.com/

So what I've been waiting to tell you is this new idea I got. As much as I love telling you guys all about my life, I'd like to learn a little about my readers as well, so here's the plan:

You can e-mail me at larissa_terry@comcast.net a picture of your squad, team mate, or just you and send a me a story of something that happened to you regaurding cheer. I'd love to share that on my blog with the rest of the cheer community out there reading. Or it can just be for my eyes only, it's whatever you wanna make it. But I'm always open to hearing your personal cheer experiances, maybe we have alot more in common than I would have thought. So have at it, message me, leave a comment, or e-mail me about anything and everything. I'm looking foward to reading your stories and getting to know you all more! :)

Epic Cheerleading Picture #2

Most everyone seems to think that cheerleading isn't a sport. Well we can prove them wrong because we can defy the aspects of gravity by flying, throw our own body weight into the air, flip head over heels, and land safely on our feet, and stretch so far our leg is next to our head. I'd like to see a football player do a round-off back-handspring double full, or a 360 up scorpion. What we cheerleaders do is death-defying craziness! But once you go cheer, you never go back :)

This is a saying I hold to be true,especially when someone who doesn't even know the sport of cheerleading starts saying we're not athletes. First off all, if you've never tried it, it's alot harder than you think. I'd really like to see someone with no experiance what-so-ever try and do what we do. It really offends me, as well as the rest of the cheer community, when someone judges us. And generallly, these people only see the short skirts, high ponytails, and happy faces. But they don't see the work that goes into everything. Countless hours a night stretching and rehersing a new routine. The long hard practices that go into making a performance perfect. The injuries we all face.

The smiles the crowd sees are a make-up, because as much as we are athletes, we're entertainers as well. Football players, basketball players, soccer players, all of them! They don't have the need to look pretty while playing their sport. Us cheerleaders are different because we're the only ones who have to look pretty, AND do some hardcore stunts. So next time you feel like judging one of us, think of the consequences. First of all, you lost your chance with being with a cheerleader, no cheerleader will even talk to you after you insult their sport. Secondly, we know how to kick to our head, and that could do some serious damage. Think about what your saying before you say it or you'll regret it later. Hopefully all my cheer sisters can relate to what I'm saying!

Epic Cheerleading Picture #1

So this is just a little something I'm gonna try to do maybe every day or so, it's just a really cool picture that I liked about cheerleading. I'll like evaluate and say what I like and dislike, or anything I might change. And it doesn't have to just be stunts, it could be tumbling, or a really awesome jump, or anything! I'll either just be searching cool pictures and come accross something I feel like sharing with you guys. Or I'll purposely find it because I had something in mind that I wanted to express to my public audience. But yeah here's to the start of Epic Cheerleading Photos!

So this is a picture I found on the internet while I was just surfing around looking at awesome heel stretches. And she's an All-Star cheerleader, as you can tell by the Worlds 2011 sign behind her. And she's pulling an extension heel stretch and it's really good! You can tell because her leg is as close to her head as it can be without breaking her perfect high-V motion with her arms.

You can see her stunt group really paying attention to the flyer because their focusing on if their the same height, and making sure she's sturdy in the air. The flyer has an open mouth smile on her face. She actually might be saying the words to her cheer music, because after you practice and listen to it so often, you learn where certain words come up and you mouth them as your on stage. Their hair is half up half down, curled and I think that always looks really pretty :) Overall I think it's a great picture. Thanks for reading, always feel free to comment or message me, or even post a reply to this.