Pay offs and ReFLecTioN~

I love living in a small little town, where everyone knows everyone (pretty much) and the little things that happen in our town...are the BIG things to us. I had the privilege of attended the Region 16 Drill Team competition this week, (which was held at our high school) where our little home town high school team took 1st place for the seventh year in a row. It was thrilling to watch as the girls got out on the floor and gave it their all. I was impressed by the talent and

abilities that they have. You have to be a dedicated team to get the pay off in the end.

Congratulations 2010 Talons!!!

My love for the drill team started several years back when my oldest daughter, Daynalee, was just starting her freshman year in high school. She had worked her tail off and made the drill team just to find out that they might cancel the program at our school because of the lack of a coach. She begged and pleaded that I go in and apply for the position. I laughed...and then laughed some more. I didn't know ONE THING about drill team, let alone coaching. I grew up playing basketball...not dancing. ALTHOUGH...I always wished I could have done dance...(but that's another blog post). SO, because I loved my daughter so much and wanted to see her have the opportunity to do something she had wanted to do for so many years, I went in to the principle and applied for the job! (which still surprises me that I had the guts to do that!) After talking for awhile, and having the principle ask me about what kind of experience I had with dance and coaching and what I expected (money wise) to make...I told him that "first of all, I was shocked to hear that I would/could make any money at all...I thought it was completely volunteer, second..I didn't have any experience coaching or dancing- but I would be willing to learn and I would work hard and do what it took to have a good team.....and THEN, he said that I had THE JOB! After having "bravery remorse" and coming to grips with what I had just taken on, I jumped in feet first with my eyes WIDE OPEN. The girls were very sweet and patient as I learned the ropes of this new job. Over time it got a little easier and alot more fun. We started out having practices after school for 2 hours, but I later moved the practice time to 5:15am. We started out having 8 girls on our team and later ended up with 12-14... and other years even up to 18 girls. We started out with girls who only came to practice when they wanted to and later ended up having every girl to every practice....It was definatly alot of trial and error. The first year was tough and I wondered how in the world I was going to be able to coach when I didn't know anything about what I was doing but I studied alot, read alot and watch alot of DANCE! I had some awesome girls on the team that also wanted to have a coach that knew what she was doing...so they helped me out immensely. After 3 years of coaching and seeing improvements every single year...alot more winnings at our competitions (than losses), much more commitment and dedication from the girls and alot more excitement from new and upcoming girls about wanting to be on our team...we finally hit the jackpot in January of 2004. We won our (my teams) first Region Championship. We had worked tremendously hard and I think we deserved to finally win it. We went into the State Competition with high hopes and alot of enthusiam which carried onto the floor as they performed each and every routine. I was THRILLED BEYOND MEASURE as they announced the STATE 1A Drill Team Champions for 2004 as...DHS, our little home grown, home town team, where most of the girls hadn't even

had a stitch of dance experience before coming

onto our drill team. This was the first time that DHS drill team had EVER won a STATE CHAMPIONSHIP. It was so exciting for the girls as well as myself!!!! One win led to yet another years win, and then another...the so the story goes- the drill team has gone on to win every single year since then.

I retired after 6 years of coaching because of some health problems that I was having at the time. The only thing that made leaving my team even a "little bit" okay with me, was that the girls were getting a awesome coach that would work hard with them and continue to strive for a winning team. Our wonderful choreographer has also continued on with the team and has continued to choreograph championship dances for the team as well. I miss coaching, when it comes to the close of the year where the team is competing and all of the hard work is finally paying off. I miss the close relationship that I had with each one of the girls as team members, but also as individuals. I miss their laughs, their smiles and most of all their friendship. I miss them coming over to my house to sit and visit. Coaching, for me, was more than just "morning practices, performances and competitions"...it was a lasting friendship and relationship with the girls that I coached. I loved them like my own children.

As I watched the 2010 DHS drill team win their 7th Region Championship in a row..

I reflected on the feeling that I felt as a coach those many years ago when we won.... the wonderful "HIGH" that comes from the WIN....It's the pay off for early morning practices, hard-VERY HARD- work, stress that seems like its going to last forever and best of all... a whole lot of fun.

That experience in my life is one that I look back on with a smile. I don't know how I ever did it..I don't know how I managed to stay sain...but it is an experience that I enjoyed and wouldn't trade for anything.

Good Luck at STATE this weekend

2010 DHS TALONS!