Breakout team, Vancouver All Stars Ice Out, did what few teams manage to achieve at Worlds. They finished with a 1st place ranking on Day 1 against many big name teams. Though they’ve been around since 2000 it’s rare to see a name of a less recognized team at the top of the ranking list. 

In Part One of this article their coach, Chelsey Moore, took us through warmups and competition moment by moment and what it felt like to get the news of the #1 ranking. We left them after the ranking reveal. After a quick celebration they had a four hour practice in preparation for finals. They made lots of changes and a big adjustment was teaching them a brand new dance. Basically it was a go big or go home mentality. Will they be able to pull it off? 

In Part Two we hear about Finals for this Vancouver All Stars breakout team.

Tell us about Day 2. Walk us thru warm ups, and the actual competition.
Day two was similar to day one. We went to the ball diamond nice and early, visualized, marked the routine a few times. The difference was that this day we went back to the field and put out backpacks on the ground to represent the lines on the floor so we could work spacing of our new choreography.

After the field practice we went back to the ball diamond and went through our same pre-comp routine. 

We were in the HP field house, so on our way over we took a team photo then went inside to wait for check-in. The athletes’ energy was much more somber today. They were nervous, they knew how close they were and what they potentially had to lose.

When we got onto the warm up mat and into our usual routine they seemed to relax a little bit. Some nerves got the best of people and a few tumbling changes were made. 

We left warm ups and headed down the stairs to the performance holding area. they grouped up and started their round of "Lose Yourself" by the end of the last verse they seemed back to their normal selves again. They lined up. Coaches went down the line giving hugs, high fives, and individualized words of encouragement.

They were moved to the on deck position, each coach said a few words, told them we loved them and left them to make the walk to the front of the floor. 
When they took the floor, I think we all had tears in our eyes. It was so surreal seeing them take the floor, knowing everything they'd put in to deserve their spot. We could see the excitement and nerves on their faces, but also the pride knowing how far they'd already made it.

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Music starts.. opening looks great, best they've ever looked, everything is on time, sharp, looking exactly as it should. As the routine progresses they gain more and more confident, they know this is their best run of the season. Everything is going perfect, then running tumbling, we have a double to her butt. Off to pyramid, time to see if they're going to let it affect them. They don't! Pyramid hits, new dance looks great! They just killed it in finals!

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You were in 1st place on Day One, that’s a lot of pressure going into the awards ceremony. Give us a play by play of the awards ceremony:
We went into awards with absolutely no expectations. We knew we'd put in the work the night before, but we didn't hit. We knew we had two points in deductions. We also hadn't seen a single team in our division so we had no idea how anyone else had done.  We were waiting in line so unsure of what was going to happen. 

They finally brought everyone up on stage. The athletes huddled together and coaches stood behind on the edge of the stage. We knew our raw score from day one was ranked 6th so we just hoped we placed at least 6th or higher. We said that, but of course we wanted a globe. 

10th, 9th, 8th, 7th, 6th... Still not us. Everything was becoming so real. We could actually be taking home a globe. Something no other Canadian co-ed team had ever done before. 

5th place from Canada... We all held our breath... Not us! Phew! Only one team to go. The athletes were holding hands as were the coaches. One team away from making history in Canadian cheerleading! 

4th place is announced!!! We won a GLOBE!!! They announced third place and our team couldn't have been more proud. It was easily the best moment ever for the athletes and coaches. We took 5000 photos, there were tears, celebrations, and so many hugs!
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How did you and your team handle the pressures of competing with such big name teams?
Our team handled the pressure really well. To be honest, I'm not even sure if they all see it as pressure. I think most of them feel more excitement, that we've earned our spot as equals and as legitimate competition. We try to go out of our way to meet and talk to as many teams in our division as possible. 

Besides the strong 3rd place finish what were your best memories from Worlds?
Just being around the athletes, we have so many crazy and fun personalities on the team, there's never a boring moment. 



Can you give us three pieces of advice for preparing for Worlds?

1. Make time for the mental side of our sport. To only train physical/technical components only is not training completely.
2. Listen to your athletes and take what they say to heart. Address concerns and doubts head on so they feel supported and know you have their back
3. As a coach, follow your gut. If you feel something needs to be pulled or changed, do it! Don't second guess yourself.

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