State Drill 2013

Well, after Region, we had a week to prepare for State!  We started by having a "fireside".  This is a tradition that the team had started.  The first year, I didn't even know they did them.  But, the next year, they told me about them and I attended a few of them.  It is so neat that they want to do something like this and they plan it and take care of everything.

 

We met at Shalee's house, she lives in Covered Bridge, which is up Spanish Fork canyon, and of course, it was snowing a little bit that night!  We still had the fireside--even though I was nervous the entire time about driving home!

 

The girls had invited Coach Wyatt again this year.  He spoke to the team last year and did such a great job that they wanted to invite him again.  He did another great job!  He is the cross country and track coach at MMHS and he also teaches sport psychology, so he has a lot of great stuff to share with the team.

 

We also celebrated Jamie's birthday!  

 Jamie, about to blow out the candles!  With Melissa and Shalee in the background.

 Eating the yummy treats!

Our other tradition is to have a Pre State Dinner party the night before State Drill.  Well, this year we had a basketball game on the night before State Drill, so we had our dinner party on Thursday night.  It was at Bryn Starkey's house in Mapleton.  The moms of the month put it all together and they did an awesome job!

 Hanging out, waiting for the party to begin.

 This was the table setting.

 They received their Region Shirts!  So cute this year!

Scott made some sugar cookies for me to give the team for good luck at State.  Look how cute they are:

 Camille had given me the Utah cookie cutter for Christmas and we used the key since our theme is "Unlock Our Potential and Soar!"

 Team Lunch at State Drill.

 In our lovely pink t-shirts to show our support of breast cancer.  They had all of the teams parade out this year at the end of State Drill.  We had to buy a shirt for $10 and part of it goes to cancer research.

 

Our day went well.  I was pleased with all of our performances and we didn't step out of bounds this year!  The only thing that wasn't so great was that during our kick performance there was a rubber bracelet on the floor and I kept thinking someone was going to step on it or fall because of it?  I believe it was from Bingham who had performed just before us?   I made sure we weren't going to get a penalty because of it.  It wasn't ours--and I didn't want to get in trouble for it!

 

They started the awards and military is first.  They read the 5th, 4th, 3rd, and it was down to the top two.  I was thinking maybe this was the year  . . ., but then 2nd place, Maple Mountain!  I was still very proud of the team.  Then on to dance, They read 5th, 4th, 3rd - Maple Mountain!  Yes, so happy!  Nothing like last year!  Then, on to kick.  5th - Maple Mountain!  I was a little bit disappointed!  We had beaten all of the teams that placed ahead of us, except two--Hillcrest and Bountiful.  Oh well.  We still would be in the top five overall.  In fact, we ended up 3rd in the State overall! 

 

I handed my phone to one of the moms to take pictures of me and the team and she took a few of me celebrating with the team as well.

 I was happy, but also tearing up!  I just was so proud, but also a little bit heart broken.

 I really thought this year was going to be the year that we took State!  Oh well, there's always next year, right!

 They were doing their team cheer.

 New Year, New Team, Same Dream!

So happy and proud of what they have accomplished this year!

Seniors!

Me, Shalee - she is our President this year, and Camille, my assistant

 Shalee - named to the Academic All-State and All-State Dance Team and Jamie - named to the All-State Dance Team.  So proud of them both!

 After state, the school took us out to dinner at Brick Oven.

 We had a great time celebrating and eating!

So, another competition year had come to an end.  We still had Nationals, but as far as competing in Utah, we were finished.  I really was so proud of this team.  We had two girls quit back in the very beginning (May) and we had some students and even some of our own tell us that we were going to not be good this year because we had lost all of the original Elleves and that we kept everyone that tryed out, etc.  Well, I just want to let everyone know that when a team of individuals put their hearts together and have a good attitude about everything they do . . .the sky's the limit!

Region Drill 2013

Well, one of the big days was here, Region Drill Competition.  We were excited, ready, and nervous!  We headed over to Springville High School at about 1:45 p.m. that day for our practice time.  When we arrived, the Springville drill team had left us a good luck treat on the floor.

 Here's our good luck treat from Springville.

 The team with their treat!

 We practiced and then went and had dinner that the school provided for us and the moms put together and delivered to us.  It was yummy!  I'm so glad to have supportive parents that help out when we need it!

We headed back to our dressing room to get ready for the competition.  We needed to braid our hair and get our makeup on etc.

 Braiding hair -

 Fake eyelashes and makeup!

 More braiding!

 I asked Coach Hall to come and do some visualization with the team.

 Visualizing perfect performances!

 

The night went well!  I was a little worried about our military, we had a few small "bobbles".  But, hopefully it wouldn't be enough to matter.  I felt like our routine was solid as far as choreography goes.  We always received 20/20 on the routine score.

 

Dance went really well!  Then it came time for Kick.  The sound system wouldn't read the disk!  The girls sat there in their starting position for what seemed like FOREVER!  It was probably at least a minute, but the sound technician had to finally get his laptop out and then it read our disk!  Funny thing was, that during our practice time, it read the disk with no problem.  Weird, but we still pulled our routine off fine!

 

When it came time for awards, I felt like things were going to be ok.  I always go with what I call my gut feeling.  And my gut feeling was that we had it! 

So, sure enough, they started announcing the awards and with military, 3rd was Springville, 2nd was Salem, so I knew it, we had it--1st place, Maple Mountain!  Yeah!  It felt so good!  I don't know why, I think it was because of last year!  It was sweet redemption!  I was able to feel it two more times--we won 1st in Dance and 1st in Kick!  So I knew it, we would be REGION CHAMPIONS!  We had swept it!  Redemption, sweet redemption!



 One of my team moms had this picture done for us--I love it!

 Lindsey Bagley, one of my seniors, was chosen as our "Hero" award!

 Melissa Durtschi, Lindsey Bagley, Shalee Hiskey - All Region Team

 Lindsey Bagley, Shalee Hiskey, and Catherine Bladh - Academic All-Region Team

 Drill down winners - Brittney Peterson, 5th;  Jamie Topham 2nd;, and Melissa Durtschi 1st!

 The team received these cute cheetah print fleece blankets from the moms!  So cute!

 They recognized the coaches of each team before the awards.

Here we are with DeAnn Nielson, our assistant principal.

The next day at school, the TV Broadcasting class came in to interview the team.  Here we are posing for a picture after they came in to do the interview.

 

Region Drill was a success!  It is such a big relief to have over and even better to have it go so well!  It was so worth all of the stress and time!  It was especially fun because no one expected anything from this team.  We had kept everyone who tried out, they had received bad, rude comments from students that they were not going to be good this year, etc.  Anyway, it just goes to show that when a team is committed and they have great attitudes and they work so hard, good things can happen!

 

Preparing for Region and State

Well, like I said in my last post, I didn't want to let up on practices or working hard.  Region and State were just around the corner, and I wanted to WIN!  Sometimes I hate that I'm so competitive!  I wish I could just be content to do ok, but then, why would I coach a competition team?

 

Anyway, we had extra practices on Saturday and on Monday, January 21 when we didn't have school.  Well, for the Saturday practice on January 19, I don't think I set my alarm.  All I know, is that my phone was ringing at 6:15 a.m. and I saw that it was Madeline Froerer, the secretary of my drill team, and I thought, oh no, I've slept in!  Which I had!  Then I thought, oh no, are they all outside freezing because no one would be there on a Saturday!  But, just my luck, a custodian was there to make sure the walks and parking lots were cleared of snow, so he let them in!  I got up fast and brushed my teeth, threw on some clothes and a hat and headed to the school.  This is the site I walked into:

 Laying in the hallway waiting for me!  I'm just glad it wasn't a school day and that they were able to get inside the school!

 

Well, I had been thinking of taking them something for breakfast that morning, just because we had been working so hard.  But, when I slept in, I said to Scott, we need to make them breakfast this morning!  So, he came over and we made them waffles for breakfast.

 Breakfast for the team--especially when the coach sleeps in!

 They were very excited and happy for breakfast!

 They deserved it too--we had been working hard!

 

Our next practice was on Monday, January 21, Martin Luther Day, so no school that day.  Kneaders had just opened recently in Spanish Fork, so the girls decided to all meet for breakfast after our practice that day.

 Kneaders!  It was pretty busy--the french toast is delicious!

 Another fun breakfast after a great practice!

 I had been doing my annual Region/State countdown.  This year I used keys.  Each day was a new key to help them be successful at Region and State. 

 Teamwork was the key today--they had to work together and figure out what the sugar cookie letters spelled!

They did it!  It spelled MMHS Elleves Unlock Our Potential and Soar at Region!

 

We were ready and Region was in a few days!  

Murray Classic Drill Team Competition

On January 12, 2013 was our last invitational drill team competition, the Murray Classic Drill Team Competition.  It was a big competition and a long day! 

 

The team did good!  We placed 1st in Hip Hop, meaning this routine had won 1st place at every competition this year!  We were 3rd in Military, 3rd in Dance, and 1st in Kick.  When it came time to announce the over all 4A winner, I thought for sure it would be Mountain Crest because they had taken 1st in Military, 1st in Dance, and 2nd in Kick.  But the announcer said, "and the overall 4A winner is, Maple Mountain".  I looked over at the Mountain Crest coach, because she was sitting down a little bit from where I was sitting, and said,"I think they meant Mountain Crest?"  "Do they have the wrong mountain?"  :)  My team was confused too!  I think the audience was a little bit as well.  So the announcer had to let us all know that the award is based on your three highest scores, so we must have had higher scores than Mountain Crest!

 The team with our trophies!

We also had three girls place in the drill down--Bryn Starkey won 4th place, Jourdyn Reid won 1st place, and Shalee Hiskey won 2nd place.

 

We had beaten everyone in our region again.  All of the teams (four of us) from our region competed at the  Murray Classic.  So, I felt confident as our next competition was Region.  But, this is how I had felt last year, so I didn't let up.  We kept working hard and pushing ourselves to the limit!

Back to School - New Year

Well, Christmas Break was over.  It was so short this year!  Oh well.  All good things must come to an end right?

 

We only had two weeks left in the first semester.  I sometimes wish the semester ended before Christmas because it is hard to come back and try to "pick up" where we left off.  It would be easier to start fresh, but the schedule doesn't work that way.

 

On January 7, 2013, we had our annual Social Dance Parents Night.  This year I held it in the auditorium just because there were some conflicts with the main gym.  It worked out pretty good.  I like being able to use entrances and exits and the stage lighting. 

 

My classes did great and I had the drill team perform their kick routine.  They looked great too!  I was very proud of my classes. 

 

We ended up having more "b days" than "a days" after the parent night show.  So, my b-day social dance class asked if they could make waffles.  I thought, waffles?  But there was a couple girls willing to plan it out and class members offered to help bring all of the ingredients.  So, I said sure, since that class was having to meet in the cafeteria.

 Making waffles!

The two girls that offered to plan it all and they cooked too!  Their names are Summer and Madison.

 

It ended up being a lot of fun and everyone loved the waffles.  I was glad I gave them the "ok" to do it.  Maybe it will become a tradition--I guess as long as I have students that want to do it and help!