Ok. So through all of the ups and downs the athletes that have found the means are able to attend. Some of the choreographed athletes could not due to funding or the elongated Visa process and others needed to come a day or 2 later due to other obligations. We were finally able to practice, we practiced hard in the Florida sun hour after hours, some of the changes made in Kingston were not working, some of the groups were changed due to alternates being put in. It was absolute chaos. But what I learned about my Jamaican brothers everything will “Irie”, No matter the challenge.

Team Jamaica was as ready as they were going to get. We went to the holding room for the opening ceremony (see blog about why the opening is one of the best cheer experiences that most will never see) and practiced after, went back to the hotel where a lovely lady who accompanied the team made a delicious, delicious meal in hotel kitchen. So good! We ate with the team member and calmed some nerves. The next day, early morning practice and now its comp time. Backstage warm up time, I begin talking to the team and a nice lad from Taiwan hangs out with me and give me the typical backstage legality warnings, normally I would panic but everything is “Irie”. The team performed and had some mistakes, several drops, but the skill set was very similar to many of the countries performing. The announcements were made and Jamaica qualified for finals for only the second time in team history!

I received the scores and was not happy!!!

The team received the lowest score in the cheer section, comments were made about the signage, uniforms and hair. I was absolutely livid and demanded to speak with an official. The official set a meeting time of over an hour later. I called my cheer peeps so I could vent before speaking with one of our officials. I called @cheritaisrandom and Tera from Black Girls Cheer and ran my perspective past them. I was so emotional I almost cried while I talking to Cherita (Dont tell my friends). But she’s goofy and made me laugh and calm down almost immediately. Tera being the friend she is said “I’m on the way!”

I met with the officials and passionately reminded the officials of the socio- economic environment in Jamaica. The signs were created with board and purchased green yellow and black paper. I asked the rhetorical question if it was appropriate to comment on the signs appearance, or if any other nation had any comments about Uniforms and hair. The scores were spot on, in the ICU errors and drops are negative drivers and not actual deductions so the number of drops absolutely drove the score down. The JA routine was much more difficult that several other routines and if executed flawlessly im sure would be a top 3 routine. But flawless was not the product put on the floor.

Day 2 the team was much more clean and confident. In warm ups, a staffer with roots in Caribbean commented how proud she and others from the Caribbean were of Team JA. She added, “They are competitive!” “They are throwing real advanced skills.” “They are not just the cute little island team, they are competitors.”

Back stage the team was more confident. The team stuck together, prayed together and before they performed, the team broke into a rendition of the Jamaican National Anthem. They finally got it! The team performed much better day 2, but was not free of error. The cheer score was driven up and those inappropriate comments were not repeated day two. 

After the team competed I gave them their post performance recap and the team all hugged me. This was a victory no matter the ranking. After was said and done the team took another 8th place. Not where we wanted to be, but definitely the progress the staff wanted to see.

After the comp I saw the hardcore kids stunting with other countries learning new stunts,and networking. Working with kids from the Netherlands, England, Chinese Taipei, Japan and other nations. These kids were proving Team Jamaica is a legitimate competitor in the world scope.

I then went off to help my amigos from Argentina the Buhos All Stars.

Going back home after a few months I was excited and ready to attack the 2020 world competition.  I was told the team was not permitted by the association to attend due to an outstanding bill they were challenged to pay from the 2019 event. This devastated me and brought back the question about access to the competition for lower socioeconomic programs.