Opening Ceremony Day

We've arrived in Raleigh for the regional tournament. All the teams from each state that one their respective State Cup (and some that weasel in) are invited to compete in this tournament. It's very competitive and takes a lot of work to get here.

The opening ceremony was nice and exactly the same as the past years except for the little girl that sang the National Anthem and brought us to tears or gave us chills. She was amazing to say the least! Here is a photo of all the teams on the lower level as they walk around and exchange our team t-shirts and try to get t-shirts from the other teams in our region. The girls love this part.

After that they gather together and have a team photo taken in their state shirts that were given to them by Oklahoma. The actual ceremony only takes about 45 minutes which is great because we've already been there for 2 hours sitting and watching the teams on the floor. That's exciting for about 10 minutes. I had a smudge on my camera while at the ceremony so a small portion of the picture looks a little wacky.

We had a team dinner afterwards at a place downtown called "Hi-5". The name of this place sounds appropriate for this day and age. (Sorry for the blurryness of this picture; that's what happens when you don't want to use flash because the flash will distort the color).

We had a good time but now it's back to business and it's time to open a can of "Shubert" on this place.