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Pauline at the BBL Cup Final
more photos below…
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It was great to be going back to the NIA in Birmingham again. BBL Cup Final day between our very own Scottish Rocks and the Guilford Heat. Three times the Rocks have been here before and everyone was hoping it would be third-time lucky for them. For us thou, it was going to prove difficult as we would have to remain impartial throughout the game.
So it was early start on Saturday morning. A check-in time of 7:45 at Edinburgh airport meant I was up at 6am.!! Ok, I'm bending the truth there... I thudded out of bed at 6:20am, stubbed my toe on the bedside drawers and almost head-butted the window. BUT.......... I was at Edinburgh airport for 7:40am. Must thank Santa for that rocket pack I have on my car. :o)
The flight down was a tad 'bumpy' to say the least.
On almost every trip we make, whether it be a BBL Cup Final or a trip to ProDance we end up with some 'crazy theme' dominating the weekend.
My Christmas gift to Claire Nimmo was going to prove that such topic: 'Bring It On – All or Nothing' on DVD, the third movie in the series. Which is hilarious by the way... Anyway in the film the girls have these incredibly cheesy chants which they use to 'introduce' themselves.. So every two mins Claire would give it 'hey Kat, introduce yourself... introduce yourself...' and I was to say 'No way...' ..and then Claire would say 'introduce' yourself.........' and I'd say 'hey I'm Kat, I'm thin as a pin.. I like to cheer and I gotta good grin.....' So for the entire weekend all we would do was make up chants for all the girls. Was very amusing and I'll share our new chants with you at the end of this diary. Be warned... they come with extra helpings of cheddar and parmesan cheese.!!!!!!!!
Our early flight meant we had time to burn in Birmingham before we could check in to our hotel. Oh, wonder what we could do eh...... ehmm.... 'shopping'..?? Carole Anne piped-in!! Might have known, that girl is a shopaholic.! In the peltin' rain we headed off to the shops and found some shelter and some great bargains at the Bull Ring shopping mall. Huge billboards were dotted around the mall advertising the BBL Finals and we felt like celebs as we saw ourselves in life-sized glossy posters. 'Brunch' at Starbucks followed, then more shopping and when our feet couldn't carry us anymore it was thankfully time to head back to the hotel.
Well, except the shopaholics Claire and Carole Anne who then headed to Frasers... because there's obviously not a Frasers in Glasgow you know, and if they didn't go right then it would maybe disappear!!!! Saturday night and we ate out at a lovely Italian restaurant for dinner.......where....yes.....the conflab at the table was our 'chants'... and we weren't getting fed up with it either.....mind you, the other diners in the restaurant were! oops.!
Sunday morning at the NIA. We arrived early for rehearsal time on court. It was going to prove a very busy and difficult day. Our pal Foxy the mascot left his usual two bags of triple choc cookies at our dressing room for us. We love you Foxy.! 'Hey I'm Foxy, I'm big and hairy, watch me dance – I look like a Fairy'.. hee hee.. OK, sorry I'm getting carried away there. Needless to say the choc cookies were scoffed before any of us even attempted hair or make-up. I ate two and hid a third one for later.
Hee hee. Sneaky! After performing one pre-game routine and some 'tunnels' for the first game we gathered backstage for the big Cup Final game. The atmosphere in the Arena was slightly tense as both the Rocks fans and the Heat fans shouted for their team. Drum roll and we were on... I think we forgot how difficult it was to hear our music at the NIA, the sound seems to get lost in the rafters and the crowd. It didn't help either that we couldn't hear our music starting, still it provided some laughs for us and helped ease the tension of the game.
As the minutes ticked away, we were almost dropping like flies. Most of the girls had either 'just' recovered from bad case of flu or still had it. Carole Anne, I was convinced, would probably faint or just collapse in a heap and I was wondering 'if' that happened would I stop dancing, or just dance around her?!! Hazel was coughing like a 60-a-day smoker, Julieann's nose was constantly running, Linzi was in severe pain with shin-splints and Carol, well poor Carol looked like a big red tomato and at one point I wasn't actually sure she was breathing! Still that left myself, Claire and Pauline and we enjoyed laughing at our poorly squad.
Final outcome of the game and as you know the Guilford Heat came out on top. We were obviously gutted for the Rocks but had to maintain our impartial support. We cheered both teams onto the court to collect their medals. Huge congrats to the Heat, their fans were just lovely. Well done to the Rocks for playing so well, another two mins on that clock and it could have swung the other way.
We had literally minutes to collect up our belongings, (including the choc cookie I hid) get our taxi, and head to the airport. Flight home was slightly delayed so we had to amuse ourselves in the departure lounge... and yep, you guessed it. Much to the delight of our fellow passengers we recorded our cheesy chants on Charlie's camera. Unfortunately we had to do this procedure twice as the first time Carole Anne had not pressed 'record'.. sighs were heard around the departure lounge as we realised this and prepared to do it again. On completion of said chants smiles broke out on the faces of strangers as they shifted uncomfortably trying to hide their amusement. Of course we were hysterically rolling around the floor and stood up to take our bow!
.....and thank you very much..............
Kat x x
     
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