How do you let it slide...

Things have been crazy as ever in my world.  I have gone over to the dark side and am now a cheerleading coach.

No way you say...

Unfortunately, that is the truth.

I signed my daughter up for her second year of cheerleading with the local youth sports group.  It serves elementary aged children as our schools at that age don't have any organized sporting events (I am starting to understand why they don't offer sports to kids this age).  We have football, basketball, volleyball and many other types of ball related sports. 

There is usually at least one to two squads for every grade of football starting with the K-1 flag football going up to the tackle football for the rest of the grades.  This year they decided to change a few things and it left the girls with fewer teams to cheer for.  This means that our squad has 20 girls on it, which is twice the amount that we had last year.  That is a lot of pom-poms to get moving in the same direction at the same time.

We started out with a head coach and one assistant coach.  After the first practice, the head coach begged for volunteers from the ranks of the parents for another assistant coach.  My daughter coerced me into signing up.  I was hesitant given that I have never been a cheerleader or a coach before.  I did have a vague idea of what the cheers were supposed to look like based on all of my sideline watching last year.  How hard could it be, right?

If you know anything about me at all, you will agree that I am a "lead, follow or get the bleep out of my way" kind of person.  By the fourth week of cheer, my head coach started coming up with all sorts of reasons why she had to miss a practice here and a game there.  Next thing I know, I am running the show and she is showing up sporadically.  I believe it was all part of an evil plan to make me into a cheerleader....

Next we get the invitation to sign up for Spirit Squads.  These are much smaller groups of 5-6 girls that are cheering for youth basketball.  How hard can that be, right?  Still not wanting to be a head coach, I offer my services as an assistant coach yet again.  I get the e-mail saying that my application has been accepted and here is my list of players.  Wait a minute, who is my head coach?  Oh, me you say?  How did that happen?  UGH!

I will have to say that the rest of the world doesn't seem to understand organization, follow through and planning the way that I understand it.  You want to know what time your games are?  No way...  You want to know which team you are cheering for?  No way...  Every thing is full of drama and always at the last minute.  Which is like Kryptonite to me!

Everyone keeps telling me to stop worrying about it so much, let it go, it will all work out...  My brain is now lodged somewhere around my armpit as I bury my head trying to comply with this advice. 

Then I started thinking about my work place, social gatherings and other events I have taken part in over the last year and I have realized that the old fashion value of striving for perfection has all but disappeared.  Nobody cares if they do a sub-par job.  As long as it is passable, that's all they care about.  I am not okay with that.  You should always try to do your personal best.  Why has "getting by" become our norm in society?