Thursday, February 17, 2011

2011 DI Regional Awards Ceremony

Here are some pictures of the teams just after they finished their Main Challenges. They were riding so high! Both teams knew they'd done so well in their performances. We knew their positive vibes and enthusiastic mood would be impossible to capture in a photo, but we thought we'd try anyway.

THE SUPER SMART ALAKAZOO AIRHEAD OF DOOM: serious first then a little silliness



THE SEVEN DI WARFS: serious with a side of silly



I don't know about you, but I think I prefer the silly pictures!

Fast forward to the awards ceremony...

Trevor's event was announced first. Now remember, these guys took first place at Regionals and State last year - they went to Tennessee to compete at Globals! AND our elementary school kids were up against all middle school teams because they are in 6th grade. They announced 6th place. 5th place. And a 4th place tie - The Super Smart Alakazoo Airheads of Doom and some other team tied for 4th. The team was shocked. It was the most difficult moment to watch them stand and get their applause knowing that their DI adventure was finished for this year.

Logan's team had the opposite experience. They placed first in their event! FIRST! They were so happy! It was an amazing overwhelming moment - so much so that Aubry started crying because she was so happy! These guys were stoked to wear their fancy new medals AND got to walk away knowing that they'd be moving on to compete at State in April. After seeing the scores the next day we found out that they'd scored highest in their IC and highest in their Main Challenge. Their structure held the most weight and their performance was top notch.

Are they looking proud or what?! It really was an AWESOME moment.



This picture is so out of focus, but it really captures the moment. It was surreal and joyful - do those coaches look happy or what?


This awards ceremony was a most challenging experience as a parent. To watch the older team feel like they lost the competition. Which, of course they did not lose. They took 4th out of 12 Jr. High teams! That is an amazing accomplishment. No matter how many times we try to convince them that they did so well, it still does not give them that 3rd place they were after. And in almost the next moment we had to be enthused and excited for the other child that took 1st place. Talk about a strained moment. We didn't want to rub it in the older team's faces, but we also didn't want to diminish the younger kids' win. Boy, it was rough.

We are so proud of both teams bringing their best to their performances and placing so well in their events.

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