Sat. Oct. 8, Varsity Poms held a four-hour practice in the main gym to prepare for the 2016 competition season. Though the team will continue to perform at school sports games, they kick-lined and cartwheeled through the afternoon in preparation for their first competition.

The team practiced with the hope of improving upon last year’s ranking of 9^th place nationally. In 2017, the UDA National Dance Team Championship will be held Feb. 3-5 in Orlando, Florida. The girls have begun to prepare.

“We run a mile at the beginning of every practice. We do abs. We stretch. We’ve been doing a lot of the dances and doing things with that,” Audrey Vida ’18 said.

In addition to their training, the girls set specific goals for each performance.

“Some of our goals are to leave it on the floor and never give up another moment. We want to get everything as sharp and hard as possible every time and not give up anything,” Olivia Wheeler ’18 said.

The first competition of the season will be held Nov. 5, at Legacy High School.

“We’d love for them (the student body) to come and support because it’s a lot more fun when you have an audience, especially an audience that’s cheering for you and that you’ve danced in front of before,” Vida said.