Don't stop believin'... A guest post

Hey lovely ladies! My name is Jenny and I blog over at Strickly Stricklands! When Rachel asked me to guest post for her while she was on vacation, I was honored and of course I said yes! Rachel - We all hope you are having a great time and enjoying your vacation! We can’t wait to read all about it!

I do have to admit that I didn’t really know what to post about when she first asked me. I not the best blogger. I'm not great with words or punctuation. But I thought about it for a few days and decided I would post about when I tried out for majorette in high school!

I have lived in the same small town in SE Alabama my whole life! High school football was a huge thing in our small town! Everyone went to the games to support not only the football teram and cheerleaders but also the marching band. I was always loved the band. While most young girls would watch the cheerleaders and dream of being one one day. I was memorized by the majorettes! They were always so beautiful to me! I loved the sparkly uniforms they wore, their big hair (this was in the late 80’s and early 90’s) , their white boots, how talented they were and the pretty makeup! I loved it all! But I remember the main thing that stuck out to me was how confident they were! I remember telling my mom that I would be one of those girls one day!

Fast forward to my 6th grade school year. In order to try out for an auxiliary - majorette or color guard - you had to first play an instrument in the marching band for 2 years! You couldn’t start marching until 8th grade, so at the beginning of 6th grade I decided I would play the flute! I’m not gonna lie. I HATED it to begin with! Concert band was so boring! But I knew in order to be a majorette one day I would have to suck it up and play it! I made it through 6th and 7th grade and was so excited that I would finally be able to march in the band the next school year!

I learned quickly that marching band was hard work! For the first time I wasn’t able to walk around at a football game. I was sitting in the stands in a super hot uniform playing the flute! But again, I knew that I had to do this in order to be a majorette. I should say now that my mom had bought my sister and I some batons a few years earlier. Somehow during band practice I would watch the majorettes and would learn the routines, although I was not a very good twirler at the time. But that didn’t stop me from practicing!

After football season ended during my 9th grade year my mom hired a family friend, who was a former majorette, to teach me the basics! Tryouts was in April so I had 6 months to practice. We met twice a week for two hours each time! She taught me so much! By the time tryouts got here I was ready! There were 6 of us girls that tried out! Only 4 made it... Unfortunately I was not one.

I didn’t understand! I did everything perfect! I had no drops, my hands and feet were perfect, and I aced the group routine. I didn’t understand! How did my best friend, who I taught all the basics to just 2 weeks before tryouts, make it and I didn’t? I was broken hearted!

After tryouts my band director met with me and my mom. I remember his speech like it was yesterday! He told me that the judges were very impressed with me. And I did have a very high performance score. The only reason I didn’t make it was due to my teacher evaluations score. Of course the highest teacher evaluation your could get was a 100. My teachers average was a 72. It was the lowest teacher evaluation score of the day. Out of all 6 trying out for majorette and all 8 trying out for color guard. I never knew that I was acting so horribly in class until then. But I admit, I hated (and still do) being told what to do! And honestly I had a bad attitude! I sat crying in his office so upset with myself. Especially after seeing how high my performance score really was! If my teacher evaluation score would have  just been an 80, I would have made it! It was very upsetting, especially since it was my fault! I couldn’t blame anyone else! My band director told me he knew how badly I wanted to be a majorette. He told me not to give up! He said I want to see you try out again next year! He told me he knew I was a good student, I just had to believe it! Because he did!

The very next day I picked back up my batons and continued practicing! The following Monday I had a completely different attitude during school! I started listening to my teachers and my sour attitude was gone! I was starting to believe it!

Football season of my Sophomore year started and it was very hard watching the majorettes and knowing I was so close! But that made me want to try harder!

This time I didn’t get help from our family friend. I knew all the basics and would learn the group routine the week of tryouts! But I was so nervous when tryout day came!

Again I had no drops and aced the group routine! Before we tried out my band director let me look at my teacher evaluation score. I had a 98! What a huge differeance! I was so proud of myself!

4 of us made it that year. I was finally a majorette! I was over the moon excited!

I am sorry for the quality of the pictures. I took pictures of pictures with my phone so they aren't that great!

 I am on far right - Junior year

Twirling on that field in front of hundreds of people was a wonderful feeling!

Tryouts came again in April 2002 I not only made majorette... I made head majorette! Just 2 short years before my heart was breaking because I didn’t make it and I didn’t believe in myself. And there I was reading the results seeing my name on the top of the list as head majorette! Just in time for my senior year!

I'm second from left - Senior year

People couldn't believe I picked black uniforms with black boots! It was the first time ever for our schools majorettes to have black boots! But I think it fit us so well! And every competition we went to the judges would always say how sharp we looked! I had such a good group of girls! We were such good friends that year!

Some of my best memories were on Friday nights. Twirling in front of hundreds of people!

So the moral of my story is... NEVER give up! Like one of my favorite songs - Don’t stop believin'! You can do anything you dream of!

Thank you again to Rachel for allowing me to guest post!