13th Annual Garnet Valley Cheer Challenge

(Back on Saturday January 24...)
It's that time of year again. After weekly practice sessions throughout the Fall and Winter, the Brandywine Youth Club Spirit Squad of special needs girls, with Julia cheering (and Grace as an assistant coach!), performed in their first event of the season.

Julia (back row nearest) and Grace (front leading nearest)

As usual, they started off with the home event, which is the Garnet Valley Cheer Challenge (the 13th annual) at our own high school. Attendance was down due to a few teams pulling out because of an overnight snowstorm, but it was a great event as always.

As has been the case in prior years, our squad performs first, gets medals and a trophy for being first in their "division", and then gets to hang out and watch other squads perform.

Julia and Grace (end of back and front rows)

The sequence of events, no matter how routine it has become in the several competitions that our girls perform in every year, never fails to choke me up; a gymnasium full of cheer squads and parents from all over the area giving our girls a standing ovation. Some total strangers, in no way connected to our girls, having tears running down their cheeks.

It reminds me of the Special Olympics motto: Let me win, but if I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt.

If ever there was something to lend credence to the old adage "winning isn't everything", well, I guess this is it. Sometimes winning is just showing up...