Monday 10 February 2014

5, 6, 7, 8 and 1.........

I was rather excited towards the end of last week as a month or so ago I booked myself on to a course to teach cheer leading - 'Cheer' as I now know it to be referred in the industry.
This new venture was not my idea......no, no..........my children.... (the girls mainly) decided that cheer would be something they would like to try. Now I know I could have done what most sensible, 'normal' parents might do and simply have taken them to the nearest group, but no....my life just doesn't work like that. As I have already unintentionally pointed out, I tend to lean on the side of doing the ridiculous. So here I am (written on Saturday) lying on the bed in my hotel room (of course taking full advantage of my weekend away ;-)) post wonderful shower, having just completed the first day on a two day course on a subject, I honestly (until today) knew absolutely nothing NOTHING AT ALL about.
Now I have to be honest with you, I thought it would be pretty easy this world of Cheer, I mean I've taught gymnastics to a pretty high standard, competed myself and was a fitness instructor and dancer in a previous life.....how hard could this actually be??? That was my thought, until whilst lying in bed on Friday night it suddenly occurred to me that if someone was venturing onto a gym coaching course with NO knowledge or experience, how hard would it be???!!!!

Oh heck! What have I done?

So racking up Saturday morning at the venue, the nerves suddenly started to set in. I could honestly only laugh at myself when it came to the introductory bit of the day when we went round the circle introducing ourselves, all 25+ of us.....I was last and had to follow all those High School cheerleaders and club leaders with 20 odd years experience........'I'm here because my children sent me!!!!!'

Oh crap!!!

Well now what can I say? Well the gym was nice...apart from being ridiculously cold. In that sort of environment I always feel a little bit of inner life within me shouting to get out and tempt me with a few skills....temptation and shame of potential embarrassment, resisted!

I felt like a really dim student having to question the simplest (OK virtually every) matter and the shame of having to stand count and perform jumps to a count were whoop whoop, riiiiigggghhhttt over my head. What could I do but chuckle....IDIOT!!!!

The tumbling section was in the afternoon. Finally an area in which I do have previous experience and suddenly I'm no longer the fool but the 'pro'....Oh yeah!!! Hehe, finish on a high :-)
Well I say that, but we ended day one with a 45 minute written test. How could I have failed to have notice that there was a test?? Hmmmm could be interesting!!

Day one complete, too late to worry about anything now, time to relax in my hotel room. So what does a Wyld Woman do when she has a night off???? ;-) now that would be telling.........

Day two......after a night with very little sleep....(not used to heat at night and stifling stale air)...oh and a slight headache from the bottle of fizz I sampled.....I enthusiastically jaunter down for breakfast.

Course starts with the results of day one test.....'Well I'm please to say that you have all passed, level one'.....I wait anxiously for the instructor to point out that that was in fact accept me...but NO, YES YES YES....me too!!! Woohoo!! (head starts to swell)....

So day two wasn't as bad as day one. Despite the fact that I consumed a little bubbly and read through not a single word of the course book last night, I actually managed to digest quite a bit of the information from the first day and approached the second day more confidently. I'm still awaiting the results of my second 45 minute exam....

What an exciting weekend! Now to decide what I'm actually 'do' with my new skills.......

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