AYOP Day 1 and 2

The first two days of AYOP are done and I am exahusted.  Monday saw us at Notre Dame at 8:00 for the start of the dance/twirl team competition.  My daughters were in two of the three events that our corps had entered.  The girls on the teams did a really nice job but came up a little bit short and did not place.  The competition is stiff here and they placed 11th out of 30 in one event and 15th out of 30 in their other.  After they were done competing we headed over to our practice facility to finish preparing for the Flag Corp and Half Time show events for Tuesday.  I would like to thank New Creation Fellowship for allowing our team to practice in their gym.  The kids were able to practice out of the sun and heat and we had excellent practice.  After practice it was time for the team to exchange good lucks before heading to bed early since Tuesday was a big day.

We were up at 5:00 this morning to get everything ready to be at Notre Dame by 7:00 to prepare for the Beatles Flag Corps routine.  The kids worked so hard on this routine.  The performance went very well and it was torture having to wait for results all day.  We were actually speachless when they announced the results and we came in second and would not quaify to travel as part of Team USA next spring.  I felt so bad for all the kids.  They had spent so many hours in preparing and went and had a good show.  I don't understand how we did not win.  I don't understand how five of six judges can score had our team either ahead or within a half point and then once judge scores our team as down by 3.5 points.  We ended up losing by a mere 6/10 of a point.  I would like to thank the Modernettes for helping our Corps make some noise during the competition.  We are a small group and don't have as many bodies along to support our group.  It was a pleasure returning the favor and watching you compete.