This year the Jamboree was a little weird for me. Weird that Jayse and Greg weren’t there and weird that I was the coach.

Jamboree is usually a pretty exciting day, the kids get to play on the Boise State blue turf. It all is very organized and goes very fast.

We lined up to go in the stadium with the boys. Once inside we had to walk over to the end zone where our pictures were being taken. The photographers were running behind the game schedule and someone from Optimist came over to the photographer and said they needed to hurry up because the boys were playing next.

They decided to take the boys individual pictures then the team picture and while the boys warmed up they would take the girls individual pictures. We got through the team picture and the boys went to the side to warm up. I was a little annoyed our warm up time would be short. We needed to warm and and work out some logistics. This was new for 4 of 5 of my girls and I wanted time to talk to them. But this is what we were dealt so I was dealing with it.

While my first cheerleader was getting her picture taken I could see the game being played behind her. I was watching it because they were getting closer to the end zone. Sure enough the next play they come rushing in, I was a bit away but started screaming for the photographer, the assistant and my cheerleader to get out of the way.

They didn’t hear me and didn’t realize it. The football players ran right into my cheerleader who was kneeling down on one knee. The player stepped right on the back of her leg with his cleat. It peeled up a bunch of the skin but didn’t break any of it. She was in a lot of pain and I had to get her over to the medic tent.

None of the other girls even had their picture taken yet so the photographers assistant said they would finish and bring the girls over to me in the medic area.

The medics looked at Ali my cheerleader and there wasn’t much they could do, they skin wasn’t broken it was just gonna be really sore. By the time they finished and the other girls made it over the boys were already playing. Because this is a Jamboree the games are only 12 minutes long. I knew if we didn’t hurry we might not even have a chance to cheer.

We ran, me helping Ali limp over to the sidelines. We had a few hiccups on where they were going to stand but we were able to get quit a few cheers in. Ali sat behind me near the fence. She missed cheering the whole thing. Overall it was still a fun day for the girls. I felt so bad Ali didn’t get to cheer on the blue turf and got hurt. We have been so diligent about watching the boys now every game since.

Jaelee in Jayse’s jersey, representing him for me.