I’ve Gotten Myself Into It Again

It’s official.  I will be a full-fledged cheer coach at Carroll High School…starting…NOW!  Well, not right at this very moment; but try-outs are April 1^st and I’ll be making my debut with open gyms for a couple of days a week in March and clinic is the last week in March.  All my former cheerleaders better get the numbers of the Carroll girls and give them a heads up…Mrs. Maness doesn’t play.  J  Fortunately, I’ve kind of got my foot in the door with some of the girls.  I choreographed their competition routine this year, and might I add, it was AWESOME!  I was very disappointed that they decided to only participate in one competition.  There is a lot of cheer talent at Carroll and I am super excited about jumping in head first very soon!  I have lots of big plans for my new girls!  We will have 3 squads…varsity spirit (football and basketball-grades 10-12), freshman spirit (football and basketball-grade 9), and competition (grades 9-12).  My goals for us this year…raise some major funds and take home a state championship in 5A!  That’s right; I’m going for the gold the first year!  And they’re very capable!  I hope to take at least 16 for the competition squad!  Standing back-hand-spring required of course.  Let’s see…off the top of my head we’ve already got 5 standing back-hand-spring-tucks, lots of back-hand-spring “rows” (as they call them…that’s a row of back-hand-springs…I thought it was weird at first, but I like it now J), 5 or 6 rows with a tuck at the end, at least 3 layouts, 2 X-outs (although none are as high as a former squad member of mine…Fran Renfroe Holmes could tuck or X-out over a full grown man in her day!), and a full twist.  They are a choreographers dream!  And the best part…I love them all!

Now, I can’t brag about my future without bragging about my past as well!  My first experience as a cheer coach was at Zion Chapel in 2007.  I walked in to a situation that needed some mending.  In the end, my very first squad taught me a lot.  I had to, as they say, “rule with an iron fist”, but I loved each one of those girls!  Each year after that, my girls started meaning more and more to me!  I would go home some nights and want to pull my hair out but the next day something would happen to remind me why I love the sport and my Zion girls so much!  They went from being “rah-rah” girls to competitive cheerleaders.  By the time I left, the Zion girls had become the squad to beat at summer camp and the Pea River Valley competition.  When I left Zion last year a good friend took over my girls and has continued the tradition of excellence.  Thanks to Hope Bowers and Chelsi Jones for keeping the program going!  It really means a lot and I know the girls appreciate you too! 

It’s nice to look back on the past with a smile…and great to look to the future with tons of excitement.  That’s what cheerleading does for me.  I know, most people just don’t get the infatuation with cheerleading…but for me…I just love it!  And don’t we all need something to be passionate about?  What’s your passion?

Three Day Weekends are the Bomb!

So, apparently we were supposed to have an ice/snow storm.  Not so much!  However, we will gladly take the day off to celebrate our AU Tigers taking on the O Ducks in the National Championship game tonight!  What a great way to start off 2011.  And below you will find some other great updates from our first couple of weeks of 2K11!

On the basketball front…Coach Maness’ JV boys are now 8-2.  We had a very unfortunate lose to Eufaula Friday night.  Allen says he was expecting to lose because of the way the boys have been practicing the last couple of weeks.  Evidently they had “gotten the big head”; as Allen says, and had grown to think that they couldn’t be beat.  They seemed to think that they didn’t need to play defense and the E tigers ended up taking advantage.  Hopefully this was a lesson learned for them and we will come out strong tomorrow night against Rehobeth.  The varsity on the other hand is beginning to step up right on time.  Their record is now 11-8 and 2-0 in region play.  We beat both CHHS and Eufaula without much problem.  Tomorrow night’s match against Rehobeth will be a challenge.  We played them earlier this year in our Thanksgiving tournament and lost by 18.  However, the boys have been playing MUCH better basketball and I have a feeling it’s going to go our way.  That would put us #1 in our region through the first half of match ups.  Man it’s great to be part of a winning team and no one deserves it more than my hubby!

On the social front…we had a very nice surprise this weekend!  Some of our best friends from GA, The Hanners, came to visit Saturday and Sunday.  My mom was selling her pathfinder and Jeff needed a work vehicle.  They were going to come and look at the vehicle and we convinced them to just plan to stay the night.  We had LOTS of fun playing ping pong and breaking in Jeff’s new ride.  We always have fun with Jeff and Julie!  We will definitely be planning a trip to Hannerville as soon as bball is over to enjoy their company again!  We love y’all!

On the school front…so I was NOT looking forward to my new classes this semester.  It seemed that one of my classes was going to be really tough with kids who “don’t do well with authority”.  The first 20 minutes of that class on Wednesday was HORRIBLE.  However, the Hobbs came out in me and we quickly came to an understanding.  Within the 4 walls of my classroom…I AM THE BOSS!  Period.  The rest of the week was wonderful.  I’ve been told that this group of kids will set you up for a major let down…some of them wear home-arrest bracelets…but I’ve really taken to them.  Some of them are really smart.  Others not so much.  But one thing they all have in common is their need for someone to love them.  And that’s what I intend to do.  Even only 3 days in, I’ve learned that they all have their own unique personality and deep down they are eager for approval.  I’ve been known to come home and ask Allen if I can bring home a thug…he always tells me no but we’ll see how the rest of the semester goes. J

Alrighty…I need to go finish my preparations for tonight’s big game.  Allen’s coworker and his wife are coming over to enjoy the festivities with us.  I’m looking forward to a great night.  Let’s gooooooo tigers!  As one of my high school classmates said earlier on Facebook, the cheerleader is coming out in me.  My response…I’ve been practicing my moves in front of the bathroom mirror all morning!  She probably thought I was joking…I wasn’t!  Hope everyone enjoys the game as much as we plan to!  War Eagle!