Pre-State Dinner Party and State Drill

On January 28th, we had a pre-state dinner party for the drill team. It was held at one of the team member's house. It was so much fun! I thought I had taken some pictures of the table decorations, but I guess I didn't? I think I have it on video, but no still pictures.

The tables looked awesome--all decked out in maroon and gold! The utensils were gold, gold trimmed glasses, gold trimmed plates--it was so nice! The moms put it all together--we had pasta, salads, streamed veggies, and then yummy cinnamon pull-aparts for dessert.

When the girls arrived, the moms had got the team pillow cases with their names and a crown on them. Then each girl signed each other's pillow cases. Here are some of the girls signing their pillowcases:

We gave the girls "Region Champion" t-shirts to wear to State. Marci's husband, Chaden, designed the artwork and then the place that my friend Cheri works at took care of the screen printing. This is the front:

and then this is the back:


The team loved their shirts!

They also received a cute tile with the saying, "One Love, One Team, One Passion!"

So, the next day was our first State Drill Competition! We had excellent placement, since we were going in as a first place region seed. I actually woke up sick that morning! I had kinda been feeling a little ill all week--I just thought, here I go, the usual, I always get sick when the drill team competition ends. It was just coming a little bit early this year!

I made it through the day--a few trips to the restroom and I was ready to go! I couldn't miss this day--all we had worked for--I had to be there!

Marci made these cute candy bar wrappers that she put around Symphony candy bars. She told the team that every member is important to the orchestra and that the symphony wouldn't be complete without each and every member. They looked so cute! She is so creative!

Well, it was a great day again for the MMHS Elleves! We ended up placing 5th in Military, 4th in Dance, and 4th in Kick! Overall we were 4th in the State in 4A! That is huge--monumental in the drill team world. I have been striving to do that for 20 years and it finally happened the first year with a new team! I could not have been prouder--what a year! Now the fun really begins!

Here we are with our awards:

Also, Halie Bingham, my only senior and the President of the team, won the State 4A Drill Down! It was so cool how it happened! It got down to the top 4--three Bountiful girls and Halie. Well, the caller did some marching commands and one of the Bountiful girls was on the wrong foot, so she got called out. The very next call, the caller did what I call a "cheap" call. She said, "A ten" and didn't finish the word (atten hut). Well, Halie didn't move and the two Bountiful girls flinched! So, Halie was the winner! So cool for her--I was so happy for her.

Halie was also named to the 4A Academic All-State Drill Team for her awesome grades. She has a 4.0 GPA! She was also our school's nominee to the All-State Drill Team. She definitely had a great day!

One of the best compliments I received that day was from one of the girl's grandparents. After the awards were given for Coach of the Year, the grandparent said to me, "I think you should have received the Coach of the Year award for what you have done with this first-year team!" I said thank you, but really, I could not have done it without the talented girls that I have worked with this year! They really are great!

After all the celebrating at the competition, Mr. Penrod, our Principal, took the team out for dinner at Brick Oven. It was so nice--the girls loved it. We are so lucky to have such great administrative support at our school! Here are some pics of dinner:

While at dinner, we were complemented twice by two different servers on how great our team was--behavior-wise. They had served two other drill teams that night and said that our team was so well-mannered! This is actually the second time this has happened. When we were eating at the Olive Garden in Salt Lake City on our over-night competition trip, the servers there also commented on how well behaved our team was!

They really are a great bunch of girls to work with! I only have one senior, so I hope I get the opportunity to work with them all again. They all better try out again--we have so much more to accomplish!