I thought I knew what I was getting into when I became an all star cheer mom. I mean, how much different could it be from the little loop hoopla I was used to? My first experience at a national competition opened my eyes to a brand new world – a world I never knew existed!

Walking into the convention center nearly blew me away! First, the size alone was nothing like I had expected –and I am talking about the number of teams competing! Now I know why the competition started at 7:00am and the last awards ceremony of the day was at 8:00pm! There had to be hundreds cheer and dance teams competing, on two different stages in different parts of the building! Everywhere you looked there was a cheerleader or dance team member fixing hair, re-applying make-up & practicing. Then I walked into the performance area & what a shock it was for me! The flashing lights surrounding the elevated performance area (elevated performance area? What was this?), the dj blaring music from one heck of a sound system that made your heart nearly thump out of your chest and those crazy cheer moms and dads! Not at all what I expected!

I thought I would be seeing parents wearing t-shirts supporting their children’s teams. What I saw were cheer moms wearing glitter eye make-up to match their daughters, ‘blingy’ cheer bows in their hair with a death grip on those sparkly signs! What a sight that was for me! Of course, nothing could compare to some of the crazy cheer dads I saw. I could not believe the lighted signs they walked around the venue with, shouting for their team! Let me tell you, little loop never had cheer dads like this!

After my initial shock, I got right into it with yelling my support for my girls! Now, I am proud to say I am one of those glitter make-up wearing, bow carrying, sign waving crazy all star cheer moms – and I wouldn’t have it any other way!!!