Little Victories

This weekend, the Colorguard was down.  We had one girl in a boot and could only perform half of the show. We had another who apparently enjoyed Colorguard breakfast too much and was busy vomiting during warm-up and couldn't perform.  The last straw was our captain who sustained some sort of injury during the week and decided not to perform.  So, we were down to 5 1/2 girls out of our already-small group of 8. We typically have 15 girls in our guard, so you can see how we were at a disadvantage going into the season.

Being that the leader was m.i.a., Em was asked to step in and do her solo as well as her own.  No pressure--this only required Em to do a huge rifle toss before the music started--with the downbeat of her catch the start point of the show. Em was a wreck--dropping that toss would start the show on a negative. Ugh.

Poor Em was a wreck and no encouragement or coaching could put her mind at ease.  It was up to her and her only. And while the other girl sometimes drops the rifle, Em really couldn't do much worse--but she wanted better.......for herself.

Em came through--she flew that rifle in the air and caught it. It was very dramatic. And you could hear my "YEAH!" reverberating off the stands in front of us.  I swear I willed that kid to succeed--not for me, but for her. Parents do that sort of stuff--we're downright silly.

Not only did Em succeed in her moment of pressure, but those other girls pulled together, gaps and all, and took first place in their category for Colorguard. 5 1/2 girls rocked it. They beat full teams of colorguard and they did it by teamwork.

Sometimes it isn't the big things that matter as much, but the little victories instead.  It is the little triumphs, the personal goals, the succeeding in pushing yourself and achieving.  It is overcoming the odds and then, perhaps, winning.  It was Em nailing that toss, the remaining guard girls pulling together to compensate for the loss of team members, and then winning the category. It's those little victories that are so very sweet.

At the end of a long day competing, all of the Drum Majors from the various bands line up along the football field to represent their school at the awards ceremony.  Typically, the Drum Major is accompanied by the Colorguard leader and they do this little Drum Major/Colorguard salute when their school name is called.  It's pretty cool to see the various salutes--I was totally amazed the first time I saw this part of the competitions. 
Anywho, Em was given the honor of representing our Colorguard down on the field with our Drum Major on Saturday. The director let her go down because of how well she did--and that kid couldn't have been more excited.  Such a small gesture that meant so very much to her.

I took this photo when it was announced that the Colorguard won--you can see it on Em's face. There was that smile, the proud smile of knowing you did well.  And you scored a little victory for yourself....and for your team.