Regionals: The First Trial

Heritage High School

What's up, readers.

Well, here we are again - yet another pom shin-dig. Competition Season has been in full swing for about a month now, with Abby attending pom practice with hear team like six days a week (she gets to rest on the Sabbath, that's about it.) Kicking competitions off is the annual Regionals showcase, once again at Heritage High School in Saginaw, where teams compete not against one another for scores or rankings (like they do at the MPA) but instead to qualify for next month's States showcase down at Eastern Michigan University.

Kris spotted Abby getting her hair fixed. 

Now that Abby's on the varsity team, qualifying for States is pretty much a guaranteed thing. Their team is super tight and polished, so nobody there doubted their inclusion in next month's competition, and as such Abby wasn't nervous about performing today at all. Since she's now in the older brackets of the day's competition, we didn't have to show up to the high school today quite as early as we've done the last four or five years - no more waking up at 5:30am just to stumble into a packed gymnasium at 7am - which was awesome. No, we rolled in around 10:30am and caught the land few JV teams before the break kicked off for judges to tally up all their scores.

The afternoon session lasted about two hours, which was much more manageable than the five-hour days we've stomached in the past. After Abby and her team were awarded their rankings this year (they qualified for the Division 1 Bracket, which will pit them against the ten other best pom squads in the state, which should be interesting to say the least), us and the Johnsons headed over to Timbers, a local sports bar, for our tradition food, beers, and debriefing session.

Now we all get to look forward to the epic conclusion of the Competition Season next month, down in Ypsilanti. Stay tuned for that adventure in a future installment.

So here you go, folks - Regionals '26. Enjoy. . .

This is what Kris took a pic of from across the gym - Abby's hair had come loose and one of the coaches had to fix it before they went on to perform.

While the girls awaited their turn to take the 'stage,' they distributed the portraits the All Star pommers had taken back at that Thanksgiving Parade they marched in. Abby had about two pounds of make-up on at the time, so she wasn't thrilled with how it turned out.

Kris, Courtney and Alayna (waist-deep in college homework) awaiting Midland High's turn to perform.

Midland Varsity Pom marches up, with Abby at the front of the line.

The routine was pretty snappy, and we didn't see any weak points in it throughout the song (though I'm not the best at spotting that sorta thing, even after all these years of going to pom competitions.)

Nailed the Kick Line.

(From the MHS Varsity Pom's Instagram account.)

(Abby is third from the right in the front row.)

The official video that was released to the coaches.

After all the teams had performed, the teams - as always - went down to the court and waited patiently for the judges to announce the results.

Midland High is in the back there, in blue.

Always with the bowed-down-praying-in-a-circle thing. . . .

Bam.

After all the teams had received their qualify/not-qualify results from the judges, kids began mingling about with parents (who all came down from the stands at the same time to collect their kids) and coaches scrambled to get some team pictures in. Here's the squad with their Regionals ribbons (Abby is third from the right in the back row.)

Brooklyn and Abby (as usual, Abby had to walk around and get pics with multiple combinations of people before we were able to get the hell out of there. . .)

Abby and some other random pommers (whose name escapes me.)

Abby, Harper (who's still on the JV team), and Ella (who was recently promoted to Varsity at the beginning of Competition Season.)

One with Grandma, who came out to watch Abby's performance.

Abby and yet another pommer who I don't know the name of.

Abby's boyfriend, Logan, came out to support her as well. I assume this is her shirt he's wearing, 'cause that'd be weird otherwise if he owned a pom shirt with her name emblazoned across the back.

Logan had arrived with a buddy of his to watch their respective girlfriends perform this afternoon, but his friend ended up ditching him to catch a ride home with his own girlfriend, so we ended up taking Logan along with us out to lunch and then home back to Midland.

We managed to get a family pic in, much to Abby's chagrin - she was funned out with pics at this point.

Ordering up some lunch at Timbers, after the competition. Everyone was starving at this point so food - and a couple beers - hit the spot.

Later that evening, the victorious Abby and her sister made a run to Taco Bell for even more food. . . because there's always room for Taco Bell around these parts. Stay tuned for Abby's climactic showdown in mid February. . .

- Brian

Regionals, Nephews, and Lions

Hey gang.

Teams begin to assemble in the Heritage High School gym for Regionals.

Well, today was busy as all hell. Now that we're kicking off Competition Season with Abby and her Midland High JV Pom Team, pretty much every weekend for the next few weeks is filled with pom performances. This morning saw us heading out to Heritage High School in Saginaw Township for Regionals, the determining factor as to whether or not teams advance to the epic State Championships down at Eastern Michigan University in a few weeks.

Abby rode with the Johnsons to Saginaw this morning. 

We made sure to get there early this morning in order to be some of the first people through the doors when they opened up admission to the general public (pommers had to be there a half an hour before.) Abby had her sights set on a Regionals exclusive hooded sweatshirt (to the tune of $50 - ouch), and they always sell out of the popular sizes. I had to crack the whip a bit with my roommates to make sure we were there early enough to pounce on the merch table when they first opened up. Due to my valiant efforts, we were able to get Abby the desired hoodie in her size, and the day was saved.

Did anybody acknowledge my efforts? Hell no, of course not.

Abby nearly lost her AirPods, but I found 'em.

Anyway, Midland JV did awesome, as we knew they would - Abby and her team are a lot tighter than they were during their years at Northeast. They advanced on to States, so keep an eye out for a future post about our trip downstate in a few weeks. Following the Regionals showcase, we headed out to Timbers for some lunch with the Johnsons (like we usually do), then eventually ended up at the Bos residence for the kick-in-the-f***ing-nuts game that was the Lions vs. Commanders.

From start to finish, another jam-packed Saturday for the Houghs.

Check it out . . .

When we first got into the gym, we were some of the first people there. Kris stepped out to check out some of the local pom vendors, so Alayna and I were tasked with saving seats for the Johnsons and my dad (who were all still in line.) We had to spread out with our coats, hats, phones, etc., and at some point Alayna thought it'd be hilarious to take a pic of me looking like some kinda weirdo in the stands.

Midland High JV, right before their performance (Abby fifth from the bottom.)

Now that they're performing at the JV level, we had to sit through like a dozen middle school teams before getting to see Abby and her team perform.

(They did some kinda 'fire'-themed routine this year.)

This is the 'official' video that was shared by. . .  whoever the hell recorded this.

Following the conclusion of the morning performances, there was an hour break during which time the teams all mingled on the gym floor, some folks left, people got snacks, and teams posed for pictures.

Abby and some chick.

I have a lot of current and former students at these things, and they usually find me while everyone's out on the floor. This kid posted a set of pics to one of their socials (that Abby follows) featuring Yours Truly.

Abby always gets lots of team pics at these things. . .

After an hour or so, they started naming off the teams that qualified for States next month.

The Gruesome Twosome

. . . and one with her Fam.

Alayna took this one of Abby and some of her teammates, hanging around in the bleachers across the gym during the afternoon Varsity performances. Because Abby is on the JV team this year, she had to wait until after the Varsity team performed (it's some kinda pom tradition where schools' various teams have to sit court side and show support for their sister teams.)

They threw in a free t-shirt when I purchased Abby's hoodie in the morning (you spend over $50, they throw in a randomly-sized shirt from some random pom competition in years past, but whatever - it's free.) Abby got some Large shirt from a 2022 competition, and to prove how big it was I wore it over my hooded sweatshirt (I'm a Medium) and it wasn't even tight.

We didn't stick around for the Varsity award showcase, because we wanted to be able to get a table at Timbers, a restaurant about a mile from the school. None of us had eaten much in the morning, and so by 2:30pm - when we finally got seated - we were famished.

(Alayna got some pics of the other side of the table.)

Abby and Ella taking bathroom selfies at Timbers (featuring Abby's new, over-priced hoodie.)

The food at this place is awesome, but I ordered a gyro and it wasn't my favorite - wouldn't order it again, it was pretty plain.

Second bathroom selfie in an hour. Not sure that's an ideal background for a pic, but whatever - I'm not a teenager, I don't know what's 'cool' these days.

Kris and the girls were pooped from an entire morning and afternoon being out of the house doing pom shit, but Yours Truly had a few more things on my daily calendar. My nieces and nephews have been wanting me to come hang out with them at my brother Jeff's house for awhile, but due to split custody he gets them every other weekend. I was able to squeeze a three-hour visit in with them over at Jeff and Carissa's house from like 4 - 7pm-ish, during which time I played Foosball, ping-pong, Twister, and pool with various kids, took about two-dozen darts to the nuts during a Nerf war, checked out all their new Christmas presents from the Holidays, and - as you can see here - enjoyed a few Old Fashioneds. These mixes my brother had lying around were pretty awesome.

We played a few board games and card games at the kitchen table once the kids had wrapped up dinner. Levi dominated this game.

 Meanwhile, across town, Alayna and her friends spent the night at Amelia's house to celebrate the kid's birthday (I got this one from Alayna's phone.)

Around 7:30pm, I said farewell to my brother and his fam and headed over to the Bos residence, where Mitch was hosting a low-key watch party for the first NLF Playoffs. Wish the day would have ended on a better note - with the Lions beating the Commanders and advancing on in the Division Playoffs - buuuuuut God hates Detroit. Maybe next year will finally be our year. . .

- Brian