Nationals - Karlee

This year's cheer Nationals were tainted with drama that we SO wish hadn't happened! We were really looking forward to a fabulous girls weekend in California together and enjoying Nationals together. Karlee even got to go on her first plane ride (which she thought was awesome). But, this season, which started out fabulous for Karlee's team started going downhill mid-season. After the girls had taken 1st and 2nd and their first 2 competitions the coaches started to make major changes to the routine and started to pull Karlee out of her stunts and jumps. She was disappointed and the team's scores really took a hit. Then 5 days before Nationals they took her out of her last major stunt and replaced her with a girl who had not proved herself in competitions...but her Mom had funded a new gym for the coaches for the next year. Karlee and I had never been so upset and felt so betrayed. We tried to cancel our trip, but the cost was too much. We decided to finish out the year and that she would just kill it at the parts she had, which she did. We tried to have a good time together and we enjoyed hanging out with Grandma. It was a real bummer and caused many sleepless nights. We also had to decide what we would do for the next year...we have chosen a new gym and are excited about the future. Karlee really did look amazing and perform like a champion!! Their team ended up taking 12th out of 13, which didn't surprise us...it was all coaching, the talent was there...oh, well...we are just looking forward to next year!