Hello everyone!
Today I will be sharing the last of my cheer camp coverage. This post will cover my last day of the camp I attended with my high school cheer team at Knott’s Berry Farm and our arrival home. The camp went by slow in the moment (it felt like we had been there for a year by the last day) but in retrospect, it was a blur. There were definitely some long days and nights, but going to an away camp and the bonding that ensues is an important tradition within our program. Keep reading if you want to find out what goes on during a half-day/wrap-up at a sleepaway cheer camp!
My roomies and I woke up at 6:15 in our hotel room overlooking the theme park for the final time. We got ready, changing into our cheer uniforms (we had to wear our actual uniforms since it was the last day and we had our last evaluation) and putting our hair into another high ponytail with our bows. By this point we kind of had a set routine, so it was the fastest we had gotten ready all of camp. We had to be packed up and put our luggage (not including our cheer backpack) downstairs in the lobby when we went down to breakfast, so we took the extra time to pack up everything nicely and check that nothing was left behind. Once the room was wiped clean, we lugged our bags downstairs, left them in the designated space, and headed to our last camp-provided meal.
Breakfast was refreshingly the best this day out of all the days- there were waffles and croissants. We all filled up on food quickly and then met up with everyone else in the lobby since there was no longer any point trying to go up to our rooms. Our coaches made sure everyone had cleared out their rooms and put their luggage downstairs before we walked to the camp set-up. We did our dynamic stretches and you could definitely tell our energy levels were dropping. After the stretching, we quickly broke out into another practice session with our staff teammate to run through our cheers and band chant before the evaluation. I could tell we weren’t doing our best which was a little frustrating, but understandable considering how exhausted we all were.
Soon they announced it was time for the Game Day evaluations, so we sucked it up and got ready to perform. It definitely wasn’t our best; we did okay on the band chant but we weren’t as clean or in sync as we could’ve been, and the cheer wasn’t as loud or sharp as we had practiced in the past either. Varsity and Freshman teams killed it though, so we were proud of them. The staff played music while we waited for our results and ribbons- we ended up getting an Excellent (the rank below Superior) which was a bit disappointing since we were so close to getting straight Superiors, but we knew it was what we deserved. Varsity and Freshman both got Superiors, so that was a plus.
Once the evaluations were over, it was time for the Stunt Challenge finals. My group knew we weren’t going to make it too far, especially with the low energy we had that day; however, we didn’t expect to get out of the competition so soon. On the first stunt, they explained it as a two man extension when it was really just a normal straight-up extension and we didn’t know what to do so we messed up on the counts and were automatically out. It was disappointing but not too much so, and it was fun to watch other groups pull off some amazing stunts! After the stunt challenge, the next competition was the Spirit Star top 10 finalists. We cheered on the varsity cheerleader from our school that was in it and she did amazing on her cheer, jump, and tumbling, but sadly she was not selected as the final winner. All of the Spirit Star semi-finalists (the original group of people who competed to make the top 10) were then recognized and got ribbons for being USA All Americans. The staff instructed everyone to go up and perform the camp dance and the cheers just for fun as a little showcase, and we all did before sitting back down again.
The Jump-Off and Tumble-Off were next, and my school was again well-represented. A few of our cheerleaders made it to the finals in both competitions, but sadly again were not selected as the winner. Everyone did SO well though, and I honestly think one of the girls from my school should have one because her jumps are INSANE. The staff then called for all the Pin-It-Forward recipients to find the person they wanted to give the pin to and bring them up to the front; another two people from our school got picked by some people from other schools, and the 3 people that had gotten picked yesterday passed the pin on. It was a really cute ceremony. Last came the actual camp/team awards. All of my school’s teams received a Superior plaque (meaning we got at least 2 Superior rankings out of 3), my team specifically won the spirit points challenge (by taking pictures and doing other various spirited tasks), and our school got another spirit award which meant we got a spirit stick to take home.
Pleased with our awards, we were all satisfied and ready for camp to end. They closed out the ceremony by having each team take a picture with and say goodbye to their staff teammate, and playing one last song. We picked up all our trash and gathered all our stuff, and most people decided to change out of their uniform into some comfier clothes. I changed into some cotton shorts and a t-shirt- taking my bow and ponytail out never felt so good! The coaches and a couple parents who had driven up surprised us with Subway sandwiches for lunch since there was no lunch provided, so we sat at the picnic area near the field for a little bit and ate. Once everyone had finished eating, we walked back to the hotel, taking in the Knott’s scenery for the last time. Everyone grabbed their bags and we headed outside the hotel to load the bus!
We left a little before 2:00, and the ride was a little over 2 hours since we hit some traffic. I sat next to my close friend/the same person I sat with on the bus ride there, but we didn’t chat nearly as much. Everyone was so tired, so we all caught up with social media or watched Netflix and YouTube on our phones. I even took a mini nap. The bus was super cramped and uncomfortable but I was satisfied knowing we were so close to being home. We arrived back at school around 4:00pm and I immediately grabbed my bag and ran to my mom’s car- sitting in the front seat of her car had never felt so roomy and good! When she picked me up she had pizza for me in the car, so I gorged the whole ride home. Returning to my room was a breath of fresh air- I started unpacking and just fell into my normal night routine. It felt good to be home!
I hope you guys enjoyed reliving my camp experience with me. It was definitely a crazy week and I’m lucky to have had such an experience with my team, but I’m also glad it’s over. Let me know if you want more cheer-related content since football season is about to start and there will be lots I can cover! I’ll be coming back with more back-to-school content as well, I know it’s getting super close. Make sure to enjoy the rest of your summer!
-Brooke
adventures of a typical high school student 