walk down cheer camp memory lane

tomorrow morning, i am to rise at 4:15 AM in order to be at the highschool and loading in the bus with 32 other girls by 5 AM to embark on my final cheerleading camp. yes, cheer camp has some fun parts, and yes, overall its a good experience, but i am slightly ready to never have to go back to another UCA event. nothing screams "i hate everything and everyone" quite like being up at the crack of dawn while having tiny and overly muscular cheerleaders trying to get you pumped up for a long, hot day of having people fall on you, going through excessive repetition of dances/cheers/other routines, and of course, listening to a thousand girls screaming and getting emotionally attached to a bunch of plastic pipes (spirit sticks) and an inflatable fruit (THE banana). so you can definitely say this is a bittersweet moment.


don't get me wrong! i've definitely had some great times at cheer camp. mountain brook dominates everything at cheer camp and its lead to many great bonding experiences. like 9th grade cheer camp. an experience in of itself. if you're reading this and have been to a mississippi state cheer camp in the past 15 years, you probably remember mountain brook as the squad with the pig tail braids with pink and white polka dotted ribbons. and i am here to say that i, along with most every cheerleader in the mountain brook system, used to be one of those girls. other cheer camp memories from this year involve laine, hannah, and i having to walk back to the dorms (ALL THE WAY ACROSS CAMPUS) in the scorching heat to get flip flops. yes, you heard me. flip flops. they were used as a "squad present" for another team and we had to have them that night or whatever. but its ok, we got a ride back to the camp center with a hall fellow i guess you could say(?) in his sports car. of course we didn't know him and yet we still willingly got in his car to ride along, while dressed in a cheerleading uniform and pigtails. needless to say, ninth grade was not my best year in the thinking arena.

respect the braids. fear the braids.

10th grade cheer camp was a winner too. i got so delirious that i climbed (and got stuck in) a tree after lunch one day. if you need a visual picture to fully capture this, then here ya go.

i also blew a bubble so big on the bus ride over that it popped all over me, while shattering a world record for biggest bubble known to mankind.

and finally, on the way back to the dorms one night, i attempted to do a bellhop jump and busted on my back in front of all the mountain brook high school cheerleaders. this was particularly terrifying because i was on jv and everyone was older and it was one of the most embarrassing moments of my life. thankfully, there is no picture in existence to capture this description so you'll just have to use your imagination on this one. 

then 11th grade whomped because we stayed home and used a weird company. i wouldn't recommend anyone to attempt that EVER.

and now senior year. were going to the beach for camp, we are actually prepared for once in our lives, and i'm in a condo with all my friends. #winning. but were still going to cheer camp and its going to be exhausting and stressful. #losing.


oh yeah, did i tell you that i, allison ingram, am officially a SENYA? this would be the girl who still considers herself to be a sophomore and possesses the majority level of a 12 year old. and this means that i will be having a lot of "lasts" this year and therefore will probably be bawling my eyes out 65% of the time. be prepared, reader, if i don't think i can handle this, then you probably won't be able to handle me blogging about how i can't handle this.


ps...i'm still seriously PUMPED though. seniors12.


to the moon and back, 
ali



"The worst calamities that befall an army arise from hesitation" ~ Sun Tzu