Honoring the Kids

On Tuesday evening we attended a very special banquet. The room was full of excited kids and proud parents. I wiped more than one tear...I was a very proud parent of my daughter Ellen. What an honor to be with this group!

It was the end of the season banquet honoring the UDS Challenger Football League Players and Cheerleaders. Pizza Hut provided pizza, bread sticks, wings, and salad. We have not had Pizza Hut pizza in more than a year. I forgot how good it is! And the wings....yum!! Another business provided sodas and Rita's provided Mango Italian Ice. We all enjoyed the food very much!

We then watched a video made from all the taping during the season. We saw Ellen cheering her heart out for the teams. She was excited about that! The video will soon be posted on the UDS website. After that a man who played one season with the Eagles, spoke. He encouraged the kids to never give up.

 Then it was time for awards. They started with the Cheerleaders.

Ellen being congratulated by the Director, Jeremy Tearpock.

The next two men are the Football coaches. Each of these men have a

special needs son who plays on the team.

Getting a hugs from Deb, Sarah and Erika, the Cheering leaders.

The girls holding the orange bags are Donegal HS cheerleaders.

Each UDS cheerleader received a medal, pom poms and a bag of goodies.

Wonderful group of kids... Cheerleaders -  UDS and Donegal!

The girls giving flowers the the Leaders and helpers

Ellen used her pom poms (the ones that were just given to her!) to cheer as the players came up to get their awards. It was so neat. She was jumping and cheering even as we walked to the car!

More pictures taken during the season......

UDS Cheerleaders with the Donegal Cheerleaders.

For the last game, the Donegal Cheerleaders came to

do some cheers and a dance at halftime.

These kids are all in Ellen's class.

Austin, Ben, Ellen, Elizabeth and Nicole

Ellen relaxing at halftime.

The Football players!

Let's get this game started!

What a neat program this is. I will never be able to thank UDS or the Donegal Cheering program enough. UDS went way over the top to find sponsorship this year. When I say they honored these kids, I mean it. These kids felt like kings and queens.....not just during the banquet but for the whole season. Needless to say, we are looking forward to next year =)