Poms is changing things up this year. They hope that these changes lead to a very successful season. Their first competition was Saturday, November 23 at Fremd High School. They placed sixth out of eighteen teams.

“We have completely changed the type of routine the girls are used to. Instead of a themed Pom routine, we went with more of an explosive, high energy and technical routine. This challenges the girls, while also highlighting their strengths. I have high expectations for this season, and I am excited to watch all of our hard work at [our] first competition,” said head coach Keeley Thode.

Their first competition was Saturday, November 23 at Fremd High School. They placed sixth out of eighteen teams.

“We [were] against seventeen other routines at our first competition, which is a lot,” Thode said.

The team is composed of many talented dancers.

“We currently have twenty-two girls on our varsity dance team,” Thode said.

The team treats every performance the same, whether it be a a sports event at North, or at a real competition.

“I try to tell the girls not to focus on other teams, and instead, focus on bettering themselves. We have several competitions coming up in December and January. We also perform at all home girls and boys basketball games,” Thode said.

Every participant is of value and a proud component of the team.

“Dance has always been a large part of my life, and I thoroughly enjoy coaching,” Thode said.

Not only is it fun, but it is also rewarding.

“I love working with the girls every day. It is so rewarding as a coach to see the growth in your athletes from the beginning of the season to the end,” Thode said.

The teams go through a lot of training before performances and competitions.

“Dance is a year – round sport. We have try-outs in the spring, and practices summer through February. We practice every day after school from 3:30 – 5:30, along with all of our games, camps, competitions, and fundraisers,” Thode said.u

Poms is formed into two sections, Varsity and JV. All routines are very organized, and the coaches make sure that the girls are always prepared.

“JV has worked very hard on their poms routine this year.  We’ve spent two Sundays working with our choreographer and have the most technical JV routine to date.  I think the team will do very well,” Gaffke said.

Competitions are important for the success of the teams, and as long as scores go up, victory is reached.

“The biggest competitor we face will be ourselves.  As a JV team, we feel our scores are what are most important, and as long as we continue to see the judges scores go up, we are achieving what we’ve set out to do,” Gaffke said.