COLLEGE DIARIES: A memorable bench cheering competition

Good day, dear hivers! It's @riona09 again, back with another blog! Today's blog marks my official era as a college student and that is joining a competition to represent my college department, the bench cheering competition! I will be sharing to you guys how unexpected, tiring and fulfilling this was.

PRACTICE MOMENTS

Even before our bridging days, our sophomore tutors already informed us about the bench cheering and how big the pressure we hold, without us knowing, because the College of Engineering has a 4 peat winning streak and our only mission was to do our best to defend the crown.

Honestly, I know to myself that this kind of competition wasn't my thing. We were told that only 250 participants from freshmen will be able to join the competition and the rest would be put as props man or food committee. Me and my friends decided to be one of those food committee but destiny has other plans.

Just as we were heading to the practice venue, we accidentally lined up in bench cheering participants' lane because we got confused and that's where everything started. Funny how we didn't even backed out at first 😅.

Before we knew it, we were already memorizing the lyrics of the yell. Later on, we added some dance moves to it. As we kept on practicing, we already memorized everything and then comes the props which gave us a little struggle but as the time passes by, we got use to it.

Finally, we've had our last and final practice, the day before the competition. We really practiced so hard that time to the point it's already dark and pass seven o'clock. It was a very tiring journey but we know to ourselves it'll be worth it.

COMPETITION DAY

Our competition was scheduled 7:30 in the evening, following the mr. and ms. intramurals. During the daytime, all we did was to condition our bodies by attending the fun run organized by the sslg of our university and then goes back home to have some rest. It was literally a very funny run because the theme was wrong outfit so everyone has their entries.

By 1:00 pm, we headed to school to have our final blocking and afterwards we work on our attires and appearances. We painted our hands white, just like what we agreed on. We also sprayed white color on our hair because there was a last minute change of decision by our Governor regarding the removal of our headdress.

By 5:00 pm, the program officially started and that's when the pressure filled the entire atmosphere. Even though we were laughing outside, we knew deep inside that we used laughter as our defense mechanism. Our seniors already checked if everything were complete and functioning and it was all good except that the yellers ourselves were so nervous. We were confident that we are ready and we recited everything but its just that we put so much pressure on ourselves because we couldn't bear to lose the winning streak, just not our batch.

Now, here comes our time to finally perform. We did our best, we put our all to the point that we almost lost our voices. We thought that pressure will stay in us no matter what but as we perform, it magically disappeared. All we knew was that we enjoyed it and we work so hard to be able to put a show.

Hearing the screams of the crowd and how amazed and supportive they were, it was what fueled us to make the most out of it. It was fulfilling to watch how the crowd jumped in excitement and how the judges clapped and gave us a standing ovation. Through that, even before our performance ended, we knew we captured everyone's attention and leave an impressive image to them.

After all the department's presentation, it was time to announce the winner. It takes time for the judges to make their decision and it was honestly so so so nerve wracking. Waiting during that moment felt like eternity and ten minutes became a never ending prayer.

When our Department were announced as champions, we literally went wild together with the COE crowd. It was just so good and I was having a mixed emotions. But one thing for sure, we all cried because all the hardwork paid off. We couldn't stop screaming and saying thank you to our seniors who guided us all throughout our journey.

For the fifth-time around, COE defended the crowd and remains undefeatable in Bench Cheering Competition!

That's it, dear hivers! I hope you enjoyed reading my blog and thank you for staying until the very end. See you on my next blog!