This is one of my favorite threads! I remember all of this! I have my fly away skirt somewhere in a closet, along side my asics and kaepas. Also in that closet are random poster size pictures of me from each year of cheering in "Intermediate school" which in NYC is 6-8 grade. The one thing that as a kid I loved but I wish I could burn now, is at those high school competitions where they had all star divisions, you could get your team picture on a t-shirt. Oh man! So not only is there proof in picture form that I looked like carrot top with my hair curled on the top of my head, but I can wear it on a t-shirt? I'm in!
I also particularly love the few years in which my team had a rivalry with a team the next state over and we would fight in chat rooms about how we were going to "pour water on your mat" at competition because for some reason everyone in Staten Island and New Jersey thought the mats would shrivel up and flake away if they got wet!
This entire thread is my conversation with my girls when they are taking a lunch break during choreography in the Summer. They all ooh and ahh over how it was way back when. It isn't a planned convo either, it just always turns into a "you have it so easy! When I was your age our uniforms itched, you wore body suits that were made out of straw, there were no levels, and you had to stop the routine to cheer!"