1st Place Group Stunt at Blackpool BCA Winter Weekender

On Saturday the 29th of November, our group stunt team were first to arrive in Blackpool at around 10am, knowing our slot to perform was at 11:55. We began preparation by running through our stunts and counts before heading to the practice area around the back of the performance floor. Nerves were high in the group considering in recent practices, our knowledge of the routine and ability to hit all the stunts had been inconsistent at best. After many injuries to the group members causing cancellations and temporary substitutions over recent weeks, we had had to drastically simplify our stunts and routine to compensate for the issues. Because of this, we were hoping to do well but were not expecting a victory, especially after seeing some impressive looking competition in the other groups of our category. The other teams entered for open level 3 co-ed were Weston Supernovas (of Weston-super-Mare) and Twist Xtreme Titans (of Solihull).

Our run-through in the practice area did not go well, with many stunts failing to hit and a few sections of the routine forgotten we were not filled with confidence during the wait to perform.

Once we were called to the floor however, nerves and doubts were replaced with focus and determination. Our music began to play and we began our stunt routine. The routine was going very well and quickly we began hitting stunts we had previously had issues with almost perfectly, to the joy and surprise of the group. Near the end of the routine, there were a few wobbles and some stunts were less neat than we could have achieved, however all of them were completed and nothing failed or fell down. We walked off the floor feeling very content, and that the routine was performed at probably the best we had seen.

Later, as we gathered to hear rewards and scores, we were expected third or hopefully second place due to our simplified routine. However, when it came to our category, the first award the judges named and gave out was second place for Weston Supernovas (this immediately struck the groups attention as we were confused as to where the third place award was and why we were not the ones being named) and suddenly we realized that our group was either going to win or had been disqualified. The judge then announced us as the winners and we ecstatically collected our trophy.

We discovered later than Twist Xtreme Titans had withdrew from our category after having to substitute a member for someone whose age meant their squad had to compete in the senior (12-18) level rather than open (18+). After reviewing our score sheet we saw that we had actually the exact same score as Weston Supernovas, but our routine had fewer mistakes and was neater meaning they had more points deducted on penalties. We were overjoyed at winning our first ever competition as a stunt group.