By Delaney Stryczek, Reporter
The rowdies cheer as the buzzer sounds. It’s half-time. The crowd gets quiet, the music comes on and girls pour out onto the court. Half-time has begun, and the poms team is performing.
On Feb. 6, they will also perform at a competition hosted by Geneva High School.
“Depending on how we do at that competition, we will probably do a couple more in February,” Coach Christine Carter said.
At the competitions, there are different categories, including poms, kick and jazz; the team competes in the poms category. Three judges assess the performance: one is on the floor looking for kick lines and watching their beat, another watches dancers’ steps and the third judges artistic points and the routine’s choreography. As dancers are evaluated, Carter said, their arms should be stiff and the team should be perfectly positioned.
The team will arrive at the competition at 7 a.m., get checked in and assigned a classroom to get changed and ready in. Thirty minutes before they perform, they are put in a line-up and judges make sure their pants are the correct length, their nails aren’t too long and the girls have removed all bobby pins and jewelry.
The team warms up, and judges give a few tips. Each group waits to perform their full routine in front of the judges.
Kaneland’s Poms team has been practicing their competition routine since June, along with practicing two days a week for basketball games. Team members have been working on spins and splits, and at the basketball games, they’re doing more kick routines and creating “pictures” with their poms this year, such as a breast cancer symbol at a football game for Breast Cancer Awareness month.
“I enjoy Poms very much, and I’m glad I’m a part of it because it’s a team I can count on and we’re a big family,” freshman Alexa Certa said. “Walking into this team, I not only gained a new bliss, but I gained 14 new friends.”
Senior Courtney Kowalski has high hopes for this year’s competitions due to all the hard work everyone has put in.
“This year has been, hands down, the best out of the four I’ve been on. I definitely think we have an awesome shot of doing really, really well at competition this time around. We’ve been working super hard since June on this routine, and I’m so proud of the team for all the effort and time they’ve put into it,” Kowalski said. “We work a lot harder than most people give us credit for.”
