Northeast Pom Strikes Again

Hey guys.

Alright, so not to be confused with Regionals or States - both of which are through the Mid-American Pom Association - the Michigan Pom Association doesn't assign points to pom teams' performances, but instead simply rank them within their own classes and divisions (Middle School, JV, Varsity, College, etc.) This is the 'less' important of the two organizations, so there's less stress on the kids and, consequently, it ends up being much, more fun for them.

The table snagged (Kris and Courtney sat in the back row in front of us.) 

Today Northeast Pom competed at this year's annual event, once again (as always) at SVSU. Erik and I were able to snag our table without difficulty, as we have in previous years, that totally saved our backs this morning (sitting in stupid bleachers for hours and hours watching pom teams compete is far from fun.) Makes the half-day spent in a gymnasium much easier to stomach. In the end, the girls did okay - there's a kid on their team that keeps torpedoing 'em - but at least they didn't end up in last place (that's Jefferson's spot every year.) 

Anyway, I'll leave you now with some pics and video of the girls' performance today at SVSU. 

Check it out. . .

Backstage selfies while they did a few more last-minute rehearsals before the competition kicked off.

The team on the sidelines, checking out the floor.

Northeast was a few teams into the first bracket of schools this morning (they're a smaller division middle school, so fortunately they weren't going up against my school, or some of the downstate heavy-hitters.)

Battle formations.

A few shots I was able to get while taking video with my phone (while not the case this time around, some competitions they don't allow you to take video or pics, and your team can lose points if audience members are caught doing so.)

See if you can spot Abby in there (it's always hard with their hair all pulled up and their features hidden behind tons of make up.)

Hours later, after we had sat through over two-dozen performances, it was time for the panel of judges to tally all the team scores and rank the teams within their brackets. All the schools present came down to the floor and assumed the usual circles (no idea how a trend like this even gets started.)

Not as good as we were hoping (I thought they would have gotten 4th out of the seven teams, but whatever.)

After the scores, as folks were packing up and ready to head out, a bunch of the girls from the team found their Northeast Spanish teacher (forget her name) in the audience and got a pic taken with her. So that's the closest thing you have to a team picture this time around, folks. 

- Brian