Day One at NCA Dallas

This blog post is Part Two of my NCA Series. For Part One click here. Part One 

Day One-Warm ups 

My team and I are in the back waiting to hear what just happened. Two of our best people just collied heads in warm-ups and were bleeding. So here we were waiting in this giant room for our coaches to tell us the game plan. 

"They're gonna do it for you guys, but we are going to be the last team to compete all day," our coaches say. 

Relief. 

The place looked lifeless. Everyone had already gone back to their hotels. It was just us and one other team that had watched what just went down in warm-ups. 

PhotoBaker, J. (2019). Was the night before NCA. photograph, Dallas, Texas. 

Above is a photo of what part of the warm-up room looks like. 

On stage

A stunt falls. 

One stunt that never would fall, had hit the floor. 

Tears. The girls who dropped the stunt felt horrible. Our coaches didn't make matters better by yelling at them. 

But in the midst of it all, we hear Southern accents yelling, 

"GOOD JOB Y'ALL DID AMAZING!!" 

The team that went on before us and watched what happened in warm-ups waited for us. 

Cheer south with northwest power athletics. (2020a). photograph. 

Above is a photo of us with the nice team "Cheer South".

Information about NCA

NCA is one of the biggest cheer competitions in the world, with over "1,500 teams competing in Dallas", (PR Newswire 2023). 

Many large cheerleading gyms, such as TopGun, Cheer Athletics, Prodigy All-Stars, California All-Stars, Cheer-extreme, and many more, attend NCA. 

 

Varsity. (n.d.). NCA Dallas Stairs. photograph, Dallas, Texas

Above is a photo of the NCA stairs in the Dallas Convention Center. 

The Arena 

A huge part of NCA is the Arena. Only levels 6 & 7 (there are levels 1-7 in all-star cheer) get the chance to compete in the arena. The other teams compete in the other many halls. I was on a level 4/2, meaning level 4 stunts and level 2 tumbling. So I did not get the chance to compete in the arena. 

If you were wondering how big the arena is...

Wingen , S. P. (2020). NCA Cheer Dallas Arena. photograph, Dallas, Texas.

Want to know what happened on Day 2? Go to my Third and final Part... 

Coming soon

References

Warm-up room 

PhotoBaker, J. (2019). Was the night before NCA. photograph, Dallas, Texas. 

Photo with another cheer team 

Cheer south with northwest power athletics. (2020a). photograph. 

NCA Stairs

Varsity. (n.d.). NCA Dallas Stairs. photograph, Dallas, Texas. 

Arena Photo

Wingen , S. P. (2020). NCA Cheer Dallas Arena. photograph, Dallas, Texas. 

Quote

 Spirit, V. (2023, February 28). The 2023 NCA All-Star National Championship returns to Dallas, TX with record-breaking numbers. PR Newswire: press release distribution, targeting, monitoring, and marketing. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/2023-nca-all-star-national-championship-returns-to-dallas-tx-with-record-breaking-numbers-301758732.html#:~:text=To%20kick%20off%20the%20championship,they%20have%20made%20outside%20their