Our family's big day out at the Fruit Shoot Juice Crew audition

This weekend we did something completely different! 

When Ready for Ten first suggested that I take my daughter along to the Juice Crew 2010 auditions I must admit I was reluctant, as my daughter is very shy and not at all sports orientated... or so I thought! 

So firstly I talked to her and explained a little about the Juice Crew. Luckily she had recently seen Fruit Shoot adverts on TV and had been very impressed with the skipping! I told her we would just go along just to see if she wanted to join in with the other children and have a go at learning something new.

Initially she was reluctant and worried she would be too shy, so to encourage her we watched the Ready for Ten skills videos and together decided it would be a great opportunity to learn something new. So with promises that she wouldn't be forced to do an audition in front of cameras with lots of people watching if she didn't want to, off we went to just have a go!

When we arrived and made our way over to the Juice Crew stand she went running ahead eager to join in! My shy girl had vanished! The Fruit Shoot team were brilliant and within no time she had chosen to do the hula hoop activity because she had been practicing! You can read about that in my post on non-competitive sports activities. There were also plenty of alternative skills such as football, juggling and skipping.

One of the team members worked with her and taught her some great new tricks. To my immense surprise she was not shy at all and she was entirely happy to join in. The team effortlessly put her at ease and encouraged her to keep trying when things didn't go right – explaining how important it is to practice new skills and that it takes time to learn new things. 

After a practice session she was asked if she would like to do the actual filmed audition and to my complete surprise she agreed to do it! So the little girl who said “I'm to shy to join in and I don't want people to look at me” had turned into a little girl who had not only joined in but even conquered her nerves and did an audition.

For those of you worrying, the audition is very, very informal and really just an extension of their practice session except with the camera filming. So she did it! She even managed a tiny little smile during her audition and a big huge smile when it had finished, and she is very proud of herself for being brave! I can honestly say it's really boosted her confidence! 

The whole process from practice to audition only takes about 30 minutes. If your child has a special skill that requires certain props that's fine, you just take them with you! More information about future dates and venues can be found on the Ready for Ten Audition page or the Fruit Shoot skills event post.

It's definitely worth attending regardless of whether or not your child is super gifted -- it's just great to give them the opportunity to participate and see what they can do for themselves! If you go to the Juice Crew auditions don't forget to let us know how you get on!