When I started EDE 22 years ago in Bellevue I had no idea what was ahead of me. We grew quickly, but growing pains came quickly too, and it seemed everything churned and changed every week.
By 2019 we were gearing up for our big 20th anniversary party (scheduled for May 2020). Once again, I had no idea what was coming. I had no idea that the world would shut down. That we would struggle to offer online classes and tiny 5-person classes and everything else just to try to keep a sense of normalcy. I went back and forth with whether or not to hang up my pom poms and let COVID be the end of EDE. It was a tough time.
As I mentioned in an earlier blog post, summer of 2022 equalled summer 2019 in number of kids attending our camps. That milestone felt good...it meant that two years later we were well on the road to full recovery.
As of fall 2022 I'm happy to say we're nearly back to where we were as far as school-year teams too. Renton Dream Team, Issaquah Dream Team, and Kirkland Dream Team are all full this session. Bellevue Dream Team, where it all started, was the last to come back and is still struggling a bit. But I have faith it will return in full too. We're still hoping to fill up Dance/Drill Team as well.
The saddest loss, though, was of our Highland Squad for people with developmental disabilities. The Bellevue Parks Department has not wanted to bring that program back, and for that I am extremely disappointed. It was one of my highlights of coaching. We have tried to create a new Cheer Ability team in Issaquah, but unfortunately Issaquah Parks doesn't have the facility space that Bellevue does, and it just hasn't been possible.
But we continue on, and hope that our growth and class offerings will have a positive effect on all our awesome cheerleaders! Thank you to everyone who has been a part of it!
Let's! Go! Eastside!
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