DANCE DIVA or BASKETBALL BABE?

I am a little behind in my posting so I am finally getting to a few things that have happened in the past month for Alyssa.

Alyssa tried out for the HS dance team. Actually it was a double tryout....for both dance team and dance 3. There were about 150 girls that tried out and 25 would make dance team and about 60 would make the dance 3 class. They started out with a clinic on Wednesday night. It was brutal! They were told the dance combo would be pretty easy.....first of all it was not a "combo" it was a full 30 sec routine that felt like 30 min and it was pretty technical. By the time the 2 hour clinic was over, our usually calm, cool, and collected Alyssa was a mess! She felt like she had the beginning and the end of the routine but not the middle. We headed for her basketball banquet and then returned home around 9 PM where she and McKilee practiced for an hour together and then she practiced another hour after McKilee went home. I went to the clinic to video Alyssa and ended up videoing the teacher so they could watch the routine back that night. That proved to be a lifesaver. By the time she went to bed, she felt much better about the whole thing! The next day was tryouts. The first round began at 3:30 PM. The girls would go into the tryout in groups of 4 and perform the routine. The teacher said she really did not care if the girls new the steps as much as she wanted to be entertained. Alyssa was one of the first to go and came out feeling pretty confident. After all her practice the night before, she had the routine down! Then the wait began! They would make a cut after everyone preformed the dance. It took 4 hours! We pretty much just sat there all evening. When the time came for the announcement I think I was more nervous then she was! Both her and McKilee made it!!! This meant they were for sure on the Dance 3 team. The second round was to decide who made dance team. McKilee really wanted to make dance team....Alyssa would prefer Dance 3. They went into the tryout in groups of 15ish and preformed a technical run and then the wait began again. This time it went by pretty fast. They did ask 3 girls to come up and do it again....how nerve racking! Then they came out and said "go home" . They were not going to actually announce who made dance 3 and who made dance company...they would post it online by number. We heading home. McKilee and her mom came over and we got online to read the announcement together. Alyssa made Dance 3 and McKilee made dance company. They each got what they wanted! Congratulations girls!

this is what dance does to your feet......they both had to be wrapped pretty heavily for the tryout. Boy were they hurting.

The same night as the dance clinic, Alyssa had her basketball awards banquet. I have always loved these banquets but this year was extra special. She had been with this team for 3 years but in Utah you cannot play school ball until 9th grade so this was the first year she actually got court time on her school team. (She had been play in a private league for 3 years so she did get playing experience) You really get to know these girls and their parents when you are with them twice a week for 3 months! It was really neat to see how they all grew in the game! Alyssa was awarded the "Most Outstanding Player" We are really proud of her! The HS coach came to many of the games and has approached Alyssa and I about her being on the team next year. We are both looking forward to a new basketball season but we will miss Coach Rawson!