Since my last entry, I have moved back to Sydney and accomplished a goal I had set out about a month earlier to do. I was poking around on the Australian Cheerleading Association website and found out that UCA was holding a cheerleading camp in Sydney from April 9th-12th. I was fairly determined to make this happen so to make a long story, short, I found a way to attend and flew into Sydney from Melbourne on the 7th.
I hooked back up with Calvin and Sarah (who I did gymnastics and cheerleading with in Vancouver) and spent Sunday with them at the Aquarium. The Sydney Aquarium was pretty cool although it doens't really compare to the Vancouver Aquarium. I also am starting to have a hard time seeing animals in captivity because I am going to be scuba diving at some point and hopefully will see all these animals them (except for the deadly ones.... oh wait, they're all deady.... except nemo). We enjoyed seeing fishes, crodiles, sharks, seals, Nemo and Dorey and tons of other sealife. The day wasn't so nice but perfect for the Aquarium.
After the Aquarium, we had a nice dinner on the Harbour. It was gorgeous. Jayson and Dominika are 2 of Sarah's friends from her program at school. They came over to Sarah's house that evening and we had some drinks while listening to some tunes. We were going to head out but that got cut short and sleep became more important.
The next morning I had a lazy one before heading to north Sydeny for the cheer camp. I wasn't sure what to expect because I was attending alone and commonly at cheer camps it is only large teams and individuals get pushed aside. There was about 18 individuals at this camp so we all combined to make one team while the 2 other teams obviously stuck together. I helped with registration a bit before we got started. Stunting was basic and we did so many Double Bases, I was about ready to shoot myself. Regular Load, 1/4 up, 1/2 up, 3/4 up, 1/1 up, 1/1 down, handstand up, staddle sit up, walk in, sponge, retake.... it was a little much for me but so essential for the rest of my group. Cheerleading isn't at the level it is in Canada (and in Canada we are way behind the states) but clearly with events like this camp, steps are being made in the right direction. My stunt group consisted of a fellow Canadian (what are the chances), Steph, who used to cheer for the U of S Huskies, Nicole (a coach from here in Sydney) and Becs (Nicole's athlete). We made a fairly solid group with everyone having some cheer experience.
Day 1 was absolute basics in stunting although I did hold a couple of shoulder stands which I haven't done since McGill (for once, I can say thank good for the guys!). We also learned our Xtreme Routine Dance which was complete cheer dance but fun. We also learned a pom dance which I had never officially done but it just cheer dance again but longer. All the dancing paid off as I received "Dance Diva" of the day award. That was a nice recognition and I got a t-shirt! We also put together a stunt sequence for our Xtreme Routine before calling it a night. I had just one roommate, Sarah, from Sydney. She was super nice but ended up hurting her ankle and had to lay low for day 2.
Day 2 was tough because we started stunting at 8am and kept on until 8pm. We started with review of the dances from yesterday and I felt I had them down so I went with the boys to partner stunt class. Leanne was the instructor in the class and she is tiny so I knew I could have at least a little success putting her up. I did some walk in and toss hands with her as well as some extensions. It was tons of fun to get to do that again. The BEST part of it was as soon as I had her up, she said I could get a scholarship to the US for cheer. CRAZINESS! I would die to go! She goes to Morehead State University who has won the UCA Nationals for the past few years. Very cool and so awesome to hear that. I am going to work on that for sure when I get back. I need to go!
We learned a hip hop routine which I really enjoyed and worked it out quickly enough that I could add some style. It was fun! We had pyramid class as well that didn't really get anywhere considering that our hardest skills were liberties that weren't stable. After that we worked with Tara (one of the instructors) to put together a formation for our dance and a final pyramid section for our Xtreme routine. It was nice to be cheering and our team was having a great time working together. We did a jump competition at the end of the day. I made it to finals but unfotunately was beaten by an Aussie named Kim. Bummer. That evening, I went out for a drink with a few of the people from the camp. We had a great time and laughed up a storm at a balding man who needed to cut his hair (if you are a male who is balding and ready this, you need to accept bald-ness, embrace it and shave your head!! It is much more attractive than patchy hair on your head!).
Day 3 was painful! I was sore and hadn't used some of these muscles in forever.... I was a third for the entire camp which wasn't my ideal position but I still enjoyed it. We reviewed what we had worked on earlier in the camp for our Xtreme Routine. UCA is huge on giving out ribbons for performances and such. My team got top honors for all of our performances! Sweet! We had dance evals in the evening, those went well. I love cheerleading! We had some chats on routine composition. We also learned some sideline cheers which I hadn't done once again since McGill. I don't miss those. So many blank faces looking back at me in the McGill Crowd. It was fairly sad. Ah well. Not if I go down to the states! We did final routine practice as well as some jump and basket work. It was a long day and I was happy to be done just so my muscles could have a break. We all good dolled up to head out on the town and off we went back to the same bar as the night before. It was a nice night but the bar closed at 11:45pm! Who does that?!? We were all shocked but being the resourceful people that cheerleaders are, some booze was picked up and the party continued on into the night. Many hilarious moments including Jono (one of the instructors) cutting his toe open, Mel and Cooper rapping out to "Baby Got Back", Carlos speaking his bit and wacky toasts to all. It was entertainment. Before we knew it, 3:30am rolled around and I thought, bed might be good!
Day 4 started a half hour later (woo hoo....) with warm up for our Xtreme Routine Final Evaluations and Awards. We got everything down and ended up being awarded top routine in the camp! A rare event for people who just met and were thrown together just a few days later. Everyone was so pumped it was great! We gave the instructors flags from Australia and then had some fun stunting time before it was time to go!
All in all, it was a great time. I would have loved to do some harder stunting but Australia just isn't ready for it. Better to be safe than sorry! I got a bunch of e-mail addresses from the folks on my team so hopefully I can hook up with them in my travels!
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