One more day to Thailand(: Captain Edward just sent all of us a really encouraging, heartfelt email and i decided to copy it here to show how much effort and emotion we invest in cheerleading. Thanks Edward for the really touching email, and thanks for being there for all of us and being such a capable leader!(:
His email:
I was suppose to give a speech together with the photo the other night,but I totally forgot about it. I will try and recap what I wanted to say and keep it really short.
I wanted to give you guys the photo because I believe that this journey will be something meaningful and I think it will mean a lot to everyone of us. At the end of the day, I am sure that the journey will be somewhat important and definitely memorable to everyone of us in their own ways. I couldn't decide what I should do to ensure that we remember the journey, but I felt like a picture can speak a thousand words,so I decided to just make a simple gift for everyone of you.
As I said,I think the journey will mean a lot for us in their own ways.
Billy. You were in the same batch as me. We can in together and we stayed on together. I know cheer has never been a comfort zone for you, and I believe you never really felt that you could go far in cheer. Now looking back, I think even Jia Hui and Shiqi will agree with me that you have improved so much since the day you stepped on the mats. Now you are doing things that I am sure you will never imagine you will be doing. I hope that after this journey, you will stop doubting yourself and understand why I pushed you and nag at you to ask you to continue on.
Weeps. I think you have seen more of the cheer arena than most of us. I sincerely just hope that, throughout this journey, you've learn new things to keep that passion of yours for cheer burning bright. I think after four years of cheer, there is nothing much that you have not seen, but at least I know, the experience of competing with us will be a memorable one for you. I hope that, at least the journey will further ignite your passion for cheer.
Jingjie. If you were to look back at where you started last year, from mostly doing just shoulder stand to what you are doing in the routine, you deserve a cheer. I think it was pretty unfair for you for us to expect you to progress so fast and learn to be a main base in such a short time. But honestly, I don't think it was a bad thing after all. I hope that this journey will open your eyes and let you know that there is really no boundaries in cheer. The only thing limiting a person's advancement in cheer is their lack of faith. It was 'ume' that you joined Steppers and since it was 'ume' , I know that you will go far in cheer.
Eden. I remember what you told me after nationals, and I always remembered it. I hope that through the preparation for the competition, you got to learn something new and got to improve yourself. Although we end up not using double cupie for the routine, but you are the only one who has done double cupie in the team. I am sure that you learn something new through this competition because you are doing backspot for the first time in a routine. =).
Kathleen. Don't be sad that we had to change a lot of the stunts and we had to lower the level. At the end of the day, how nice the stunt is, is not purely based on the difficulty level of the stunt. I think it is really brave of you to still persist on competing despite the fall and the sprained neck. What is left for you to do now, is have faith in yourself and to believe that you can do it. I know you are always asking us to have faith and smile on stunts, but you, yourself must believe that too. Remember what faith in the size of a mustard seed can do?
Elvina. I hope after this journey, you won't think that being a mid flyer is boring and that there is nothing new you can learn in cheer. I remember what you told me and I remember telling you that there is so much more in cheer than you know. Fast forward a few weeks, you got your dream stunt ( Toe-touch basket toss) and you are doing heel-stretch twist cradle and fly bird. These are things that I think our senior flyers would die to do. I hope the journey at the end of the day, will make you realize that there is so much more to just shoulder stands and that you will continue on loving cheer even more and stop feeling that you are at a dead end in cheer.
Xxy. Thank you for agreeing to join us at such last minute! I think it is really selfless for you to join us even though it was so last minute. I hope you will enjoy the trip. I think it was fated for you to join us at the end of the day. I know you were suppose to join us in the beginning and we had to go through a huge round and now you are back in the team! Plus, I think your front spot is very zai. The basket toss is so much higher! =). I know and I think your passion for cheer has dried slightly..I hope after this trip, somehow,somewhere, your passion for cheer will burn bright again. I think you deserve the chance to go for the competition, because of most the senior flyers, I think you have not been to any international cheer competition yet. I hope that, you will enjoy the trip and hopefully fingers crossed, come back to train with us more often. =)
Jian Long. I appreciate and we are all very grateful that you still come down and train with us despite your hectic IBG schedule.It must have been very very tiring for you to balance your studies,gf,trainings and ibg. I don't know how much you feel for cheer now, especially it is just your first few months into it, but I hope that the trip will make you understand cheer more and love it more. I always felt that you had a flare for it. I think it is quite amazing of you to learn so fast. One minute you are doing backspot for elevator and extension, next you are doing backspot for backtuck basket toss, flybird, tick-tock and etc. I hope that after the trip, you won't feel like the whole journey was just a waste of time. =)
Chee Ling. So Farnee. Thanks for coming down for trainings even though sometimes you are not doing anything at all.I hope that the trip will be a fun one for you and also an eye-opening one for you. I am sure that you have never really seen how the cheer arena is at an international level. Hopefully, after the trip, you will be more interested to try new things and get inspiration from the flyers from other teams, because, honestly I think you have a lot of potential to be a really good flyer.
Yod. Thank you for choreo-ing such a nice routine for us! I think we would never imagine ourself doing the stunts in a million years. Thank you for always believing in us even before we do. Thanks for assuring us that we can do it even though we doubt ourselves. Thanks for always being so patient with us too.
Hopefully you guys appreciate the journey we went through to prepare for the competition. Yes, it is not a perfect journey, but because it is imperfect, it will be even more perfect at the end of the day.
Okay.It was longer than I expected.
=)
