An Amazing Experience...

This was a tough one for me...just writing about anything we want because there are so many ways to go. Since its Superbowl Weekend, I thought I'd write about an experience I'll never forget. When we did the four sentences icebreaker in class, one of my truths was that I cheered at the ProBowl in Hawaii, so I thought I'd share my story of the wonderful opportunity. When I was 15, I cheered for a competitive cheerleading squad near my hometown in Montville, NJ. We had vigorous 3 hour practices 4x a week and would prepare for competition season until we were flawless. One of the big competitions we were invited to was in Atlantic City, NJ. During one of our pep talks before taking the floor, our coach had a few ribbons that he said he was going to hand out for us to tie on our shoes. He told us they were from a cheer association called ECU but didn’t explain. He said he only had 5 and that he would hand them out randomly and I was lucky enough to get one :). I thought, “Hey, this is cool…maybe I’ll get some free cheer stuff,” but didn’t think much else. He told us to tie them to our shoe laces before going on the floor. Later, during the trophy ceremony, an announcer from ECU explained that the ribbons were for an opportunity to cheer at the Pro Bowl in Hawaii that coming January. I thought that was pretty cool but didn’t get too excited because I remembered seeing a LOT of ribbons on other girl’s shoes! She explained that they watched each girl during their team’s performance and that they were going to read off names of who was invited. As she was reading down the names, I heard my own! I was so excited but didn’t think it would happen with all of the costs and worrying about missing school, so I was just happy to be chosen at all. When I talked to my mom right after, she told me that of course I could go…it was an experience of a lifetime that I just couldn’t miss out on! So, at the end of January I flew with mom, her fiancé and 2 other girls from my team. Hawaii was absolutely GORGEOUS! We had practice everyday right in front of the Diamond Head Volcano…that was pretty amazing! Come the day of the ProBowl, I was so excited to be a part of it all. We were a human flag during the National Anthem and did a routine with hundreds of other girls for halftime. It was really cool! I got autographs from many players and got a video of the whole show. To top off the experience, my Mom and fiancé hadn’t picked a wedding date yet so decided to plan a small Hawaiian wedding that was absolutely wonderful! This experience was one of many that I will truly remember forever. Oh, and back to football….GO CARDINALS! :)