Pushing Through the Bad Luck

As most of you know, from a previous post, the St. Anthony cheerleading squad has been working extra hard in preparation of the upcoming competition this Saturday! Though, besides all this hard work, the squad has also been forced to deal with a number of panic attacks and tragedies. From the start the squad was already gathering some nerves in realization of how far behind we were according to the amount of time we had left to prepare. After finally hitting practices extra hard, some other obstacles got in the way of our success. Our first dilemma began when one of our main fliers came down with a random sickness, causing the possibility of mono to pop into our heads (if you aren't aware because of the effects of mono you are forced to sit out of all physical activities for possibly a month or more), which would mean a replacement flier, and in other words re-teaching a crucial ability to a completely new person. Much to our relief the flier's sickness subsided and she returned healthy and ready to go. As soon as we had everyone back and ready to go, another tragic event occurred. One of the bases in a stunt group caught her flier, luckily, but on her head, unluckily, resulting in a concussion. We all hoped for her to get better soon and lucky enough, the doctors informed her that she would be ready to go in only two days. After she came back healthy again yet another tragedy occurred! Another base caught a stunt only to find her finger stuck behind her partner base's arm bending her finger back and of course, breaking it. But no fear, to compete we need only 12 cheerleaders and our squad has 13, so there was another girl ready to go and take her spot. Only to our dismay another unfortunate event kept our alternative girl from competing as well! Now down to 11 cheerleaders the squad works hard to completely rebuild the routine incorporating new stunts that are legal with only 2 bases instead of 3. Finally after everything was falling into place, another tragic event occurred, of course! One girl rolled her ankle while tumbling, which worried many of us. Though, we think she will be okay, and we hope to compete Saturday and advance to state! Despite all our misfortunes the cheerleading squad managed to stick together and worked through it for the best!

Liz Wortman