Finally, week 12.. The last week! Needless to say, Victoria and Kayden are ready to go back to their own sports now. When they arrived at the "studio" they did their normal routine, stretching, splits, warming up, the usual. Kayden had actually made quite a lot of progress in her split. It may not be all the way down like she wanted it to be, but it's definitely getting there. Next, they went over the dance routine Victoria taught Kayden last week. Kayden struggled to remember a couple parts, but it was only little things and nothing tremendous. After a couple times Kayden remembered everything and got it down. They weren't sure what to do next, so they watched Just Dance and did that for a while, which is always fun.
Kayden and Victoria both had so much fun doing this project together, and really enjoyed it. They're really glad they picked this topic because they both got the chance to experience what they each do on a daily basis. Although it was hard, and they struggled, they both really liked partaking in each other's activities. They also think that this project was a good bonding experience for them. They are both so proud of themselves and of one another for everything they were able to accomplish during this project. It also made them appreciate the love that they each have for their own sport, and how much they really enjoy their own sport.
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Last week, Victoria gave Kayden an easy start to dance. This week, Victoria created a dance routine that she will be teaching to Kayden.
After stretching, they got right to work. First, Victoria showed the whole dance to Kayden, then she started going over the steps with her. The dance wasn't too complicated, and Kayden was used to learning routines from taking dance class last year. After going over each step, it was time to put it to music. After playing the music, though, they decided it was a little too fast for the first time, and it needed to be slowed down a little bit. The first couple times, Victoria did the dance with Kayden, but then Victoria had Kayden do it all on her own. She messed up a little, but kept going. They sped up the music some more, and Kayden was actually doing the routine all by herself. Kayden was delighted with her self because she hadn't danced in so long and didn't expect herself to get the hang of it so quickly. They kept doing the dance some more to make sure it really stuck in Kayden's mind. Soon enough, Kayden was doing the whole thing with no mistakes, really. And if she did make a mistake, it was easy to fix. Last part of the project! This week, Kayden will be learning from Victoria everything that she knows about dance... which isn't much. Victoria no longer dances, but she used to take classes when she was younger, her and Kayden also both took the dance class at school together. However, dance is more of Victoria's thing than Kaydens. Victoria also has dance experience from cheer routines. So since Kayden already has some experience, they thought it was best to end the project with this sport.
First, Victoria taught Kayden some terminology with basic ballet positions and movements. This part was simple, it was just the technique and memorization that needed work. They also did some stretches, which is where the cheerleading part of the project came in clutch for Kayden. One of Kaydens goals for dance is that she wanted to be able to do a split by the end of it. So they started working on that portion. That didn't really take too much energy, they just came to conclusion that Kayden would need to stretch A LOT if she wanted her split down in two weeks. Moving on, Victoria suggested that it might be helpful for them to watch some ballet videos on YouTube to get a better understanding of what they were doing, since they both hadn't danced in a while. Following the steps wasn't the most difficult thing ever, it just came down to actually being able to pay attention. After they finished with that, they reattempted the splits once again, and then decided to head back home. Next week, Victoria will be teaching Kayden a dance sequence she put together. Last week of softball!! Astonishingly, Victoria was not devastated that this part of the project was nearly over. This week, the only thing left was catching, which shouldn't be too difficult, right?
Per usual, the girls started by warming up, and freshening up on the things Victoria was taught during the weeks before. Throwing was easy, but Victoria didn't do too well at batting. But after a few times of hitting the ball over and over, she was good to go. After they got all of that taken care of, they moved on to catching. Unfortunately, Kayden did in fact forget her gloves, so they had to take a field trip all the way back to Kaydens house to get them. But once they were back on the field, they got right down to it. Kayden tossed the ball to Victoria, to take it easy for a few tries. Once Victoria got that part down, Kayden started putting a little more power into her throws. Victoria did not catch every single ball (because she has terrible hand-to-eye coordination) but it didn't take long for her to finally get the hang of it. So, they kept doing the same thing a few more times before they decided it was time to call it a day. Victoria went home happy with her progress. Kayden enjoyed this part of the project because it was nice for her to get to go down memory lane. Next week, Victoria will be pretending to be Kaydens dance teacher, which should be very interesting for the both of them. This week, Kayden and Victoria are continuing the journey of attempting to make Victoria a softball super star (all jokes, obviously.) They started this session by going over what Kayden taught Victoria last week, by just doing some throwing drills. Victoria really showed progress in her technique. Moving on, they decided this week they'd get the hardest part out of the way... batting. Victoria was unsurprisingly not thrilled for this part, and she was actually a little frightened. Kayden knew it was best to ease into it, so she tossed the ball, and Victoria attempted to hit it, but it did not happen on the first try, or the second, or the third. Finally after about 10 times, Victoria finally hit the ball. Then, she did that a few more times until she knew how to do this consistently. Next, it was time for Kayden to throw it a little harder. Victoria struggled with hitting it like that, and of course, it took a few tries before she was able to hit the ball somewhat successfully. As much as Victoria wanted to give up and go home, Kayden obviously wasn't going to let her until she proved that she could do it. So, Victoria got back up and kept trying. After many more attempts, she was hitting the ball consistently. Kayden was proud of how much Victoria had improved. Now, the only thing left to coach Victoria on is throwing, which they'll be working on next week!
This week, Kayden and Victoria are moving on to softball. Kayden played softball for 8 years of her life, while Victoria has absolutely no softball experience whatsoever. Victoria is the type of person that when her middle school gym class would play softball, she would get in the back of the line so that she wouldn't have to participate (true story). Therefore, the girls knew that this portion of the project would be a struggle, for both of them, but they were excited for it anyways.
They headed to the softball field. The main focus for this session was throwing. Although Victoria's not too shabby at throwing, she definitely needed to work on her technique. So, the girls got suited up in their softball attire and got to business. They started by just doing some simple throws, to test her abilities. For her first few tries at softball throwing, it really wasn't as bad as the girls were expecting. Kayden corrected some of Victoria's throwing habits that weren't quite right. They did make some progress, however, they weren't able to spend as much time on their practice due to their own actual sports practices. Victoria was proud of herself for putting in the effort and trying something new. Next week, Victoria will be stepping up to bat! This week, Victoria and Kayden went back to the recreational center of Davie County. The girls needed to bring in their stunt group from last week again. This time, they also brought an adult to help spot the stunt just in case anything were to happen, so that nobody gets hurt. They began this "practice" by stretching, warming up, and going over the cheers/chants that Kayden learned in previous weeks. She had practiced on her own time, and actually remembered both of the cheers! The only thing that needed improving was the words, and Kayden being just a little louder and more confident. Then, they practiced the back bend kick-over, which Kayden, had already mastered, so of course she did it right off the bat.
After they were done warming up, it was time to move on to stunting. The 4 girls got into their stunting positions, and practiced the things they did last week. They began by doing a thigh stand, and then an elevator, and then a lib. Most of these skills were easy. Then they knew they had to bring it up a notch and do an extension. This was a little scary, because they didn't want to drop the flyer and let her fall onto the grass, because from that height, that would hurt a lot. But, they trusted the stunt group and did it anyways. The first they pushed up to the extension, it didn't hit, but it was okay because the flyer didn't fall to the ground, and her stunt group caught her. They tried again, and again, to get the stunt to hit. After some corrections, it finally hit! Kayden had made another big accomplishment. Everyone was so proud of her progress. They decided it was time to go home because everyone was tired. Kayden was very proud of herself and everything she had accomplished these past 3 weeks, and Victoria was very proud of Kayden too. Next week, Victoria will be taking on softball, which she doesn't know how to feel about. Last week, Victoria taught Kayden two sideline cheers/chants, and a new tumbling skill. This week, Victoria thought it would be a good point to move onto stunting. But before they could start new things, Victoria knew it'd be best to go over everything Kayden learned from the previous week. Kayden remembered the easier sideline cheer pretty well, but was having trouble figuring out the more difficult one. The girls spent a little time going over the chant, and it finally began to click for Kayden, and she could do the whole cheer by herself. Once again, Kayden was proud of herself, and Victoria was very proud of her, as well. After the chant, Kayden did her back bend kick over, on the first try! That was a big accomplishment for a new cheerleader. Victoria made her do it a couple more times, and then decided it was time to move on to stunting.
Obviously, there are only two people in this project, and a stunt group must consists of 3-4 people. depending on the stunt. Therefore, Victoria had to call in two of her cheer friends, so that this activity could be possible. Kayden and Victoria based the stunt, while their friends took the roles of being the flyer and back spot. They began by teaching Kayden a thigh stand which was very easy for to do. Then they moved up to elevators, (chin level) which didn't hit on the first try, but it didn't take too long for it to work. The group made the decision to not take the stunt up to extension level, since there were no adults present, and they felt it would be risky/dangerous in case the flyer were to fall. So instead, Kayden learned how to base a lib (a stunt in which the flyer only stands on foot) at elevator level, which wan't too much of a challenge. They called it a day when they started to get a little tired and sweaty. Kayden felt very accomplished after her day of cheer leading. This week, Victoria brought Kayden out to the sideline at the recreational center. They decided to start off by teaching Kayden a simple sideline chant, and then they'd start to move on to more advanced things. Victoria decided it would be best to start off with a quick lesson on motions. These motions include: high V, low V, hands on hips, left arm punch, and right arm punch. These actions sound simple in theory, although, they're actually a lot harder than it would seem. The motions have to be sharp, and tight movements. They can't be "wiggly" or look "sloppy". However, Kayden picked this up quickly because she actually has a small history of cheerleading, from elementary school (go raiders!). After correcting her motions, Victoria thought it was time to teach her an actual sideline cheer. Victoria taught her two separate cheers she learned from Davie cheerleading. One cheer was more simple and easy, while the other was a little more difficult and took more time to teach, as well as to learn. Kayden understood the easier chant pretty well, but she wasn't quite getting the harder one. After a few tries, they made the decision that it was time to
This week, Kayden brought Victoria out to the golf course for a final time (Victoria was not sad about the fact). Of course, they knew they had to make this very last golf trip important. To do so, they got Taco Bell beforehand, which they consider to be their pregame power meal (they 10/10 recommend it.) Now that they had filled their stomachs, it was time to get their game faces on. Victoria got set up and started practicing the things she had already been taught by Kayden in the previous weeks. This time, there was no need for Kayden to reteach Victoria, because she actually remembered! She had made excellent progress. It was finally starting to click in her brain, and she actually began to understand. Victoria was so proud of herself and felt extremely accomplished. She never would have thought that she'd be decent at playing a sport other than cheerleading. However, Victoria still has a long way to go before she plays in an actual golf match, and that won't be happening anytime soon. Maybe one day she'll end up on television! Just kidding, Victoria will not be partaking in such activities... ever. She would have no issue driving the golf cart around the course, though! Victoria enjoyed getting the experience to learn a new sport, and Kayden loved being able to teach it to her (even if it was a little frustrating at times). Next week, Kayden and Victoria are both very excited; Victoria gets to teach Kayden how to cheer lead!
This week, there was a change of plans. Since it started to finally warm up outisde (slightly) Kayden decided it was time to take Victoria out on the actual golf course. So naturally, they knew they absolutely had to roll up to hole one in style with the golf cart and matching sunglasses, since they really are just that cool. Once they arrived at their first destination, Victoria unfortunately did forget everything that Kayden taught her last week, so it was in fact a struggle since Kayden had to reteach Victoria everything she had previously learned. But after about 30 minutes, Victoria finally seemed to get the hang of it again. She began to hit the ball a little further than last time, so this was big progress and both herself and Kayden were very proud. Victoria would have never expected herself to make it this far, even though to some people it would seem as though Victoria has made little to no progress. But Victoria wouldn't give up, even though she may have wanted to, Kayden refused to allow her to do so. Victoria decided to end on a good note by giving another attempt to hitting the ball, and then the two girls called it a day, and of course went to Taco Bell after, per usual. Next week, Kayden and Victoria will be doing their 3rd and last week of golfing for this project. Hopefully, Victoria will actually be able to hit the ball a decent distance.
This week, we headed to the golf course, specifically the driving range, so that Victoria can start her new golfing career. Kayden attempted to show her the ropes, but it took Victoria a while to understand what she was telling her. Some of Kayden's pro-golf tips include: don't swing the club like a softball bat, measure the distance between your club and the ball, swing down with the club, and make sure the golf course is actually open before you decide to show up there unannounced. Also, it's probably not a good idea to start with golf during the end of winter in North Carolina when the highest temperature for most days is 50 degrees. However, the cold weather and rain didn't stop us from fulfilling our Tiger Woods dreams.
We started with the basics, working on swinging and hitting the ball, although the ball only moved about an inch each time, this only gave her motivation to push harder. Victoria was finally starting to get it. She started applying the corrections that Kayden was giving to her and it started to make sense in Victoria's brain. Now when she hit the ball, it started to move forward a few more inches and Victoria felt extremely accomplished (even though Kayden was showing her up with her skills). Victoria was beginning to understand the concept of golfing. After Victoria's last golfing experience where she left TopGolf with an astounding total of zero points, she was very proud that she was able to actually hit the ball this time around. Next week, we'll be moving on to cheerleading, where Kayden will attempt to learn how to tumble, cheer, chant, and maybe even stunt. So far we are loving and enjoying this project, and we can not wait to upload the rest of our progress! |