3-Day Year 9 Postponed

In October I was scheduled to walk in Philadelphia for my ninth year walking in the Susan G. Komen 3-Day for the Cure.  I  won't be able to do that this year however because of a battle with Anemia that I had earlier in the year.  I did not really recover from the Anemia until the beginning of June and between that and a very hectic work and home schedule I am just not going to have time to train to get ready for my walk this year.  I did contact the Coaches and will be able to roll my fundraising into 2016 so that I can walk next year for my ninth year.  I was looking forward to walking in Philadelphia as a new city for me this year and will miss my teammates but I will be back next year.  I just don't know in which city yet.  Once again thanks to all of my supporters that continue to believe in this fight.

AYOP 2015 - A New Start

This past week I spent the week with my daughter at Notre Dame University for America's Youth on Parade (AYOP).  We had been to AYOP four years previously but this was a year of firsts us anyway.  In past years I had attended with both daughters but now my older daughter is getting ready for College and had to work this week.  This was also the first year that we attended with our new Twirling Family, Revolutions Twirling Club.  My daughter joined their Competition Team last September and had spent many hours preparing for this.  It was a new challenge for her as it involved much more work than previous years.  In the past she had been part of a Corps that concentrated mostly on Flag Corps so that and Solo were where most of her practice time went.  This year she was part of teams that competed in Half Time, Twirl, Poms, and Dance.  There was a lot more to remember and prepare for but the girls did an amazing job.

The non competition side of the week was different too since we were the new family to the Club.  Most of the other girls had been here for several years together.  We had spent time with the other families at other competitions and practices all year but this was different since we would all be together for the week.  Things worked out just fine.  My daughter got to spend time with her teammates and they got to know each other a little better and that is always good for a team.  I spent time with other parents and got to know them better also.  We have a great bunch of families in the Club and I hope we can continue to add to that to help the Studio grow.

All in all the week was pretty successful. The team placed in the Top Ten in most of the events that they entered.  The highlight of the week for teams was the 2nd place finish in Junior Dance Line.  They did a Contemporary Dance piece that was much different than any of the other routines and the judges seemed to like it.  It was much slower and more somber than the other routines because it was based on the song the Via Dolorosa.  We had a number of positive comments after the performance.  The link to the video is below.

It was a great week and we are looking forward to starting a new competition season in September and a return to Notre Dame next July.