For the girls on the poms team, all have all grown up in the dance community. Even for the girls whose main style of dance had been ballet, they would come to poms and thrive to learn a totally new style of dance and succeed in achieving greatness.

Each and every one of the girls is grateful to have a spot on the team, not because of the opportunities that it brings, but also for the close relationships formed between teammates. Sophomore Rylee Hrnyak, for one, is happy to have had the chance to get to know her teammates.

“Everybody is really close. I think of them as friends, teammates and equals,” Rylee said. “Practices are fun, we usually goof off a lot but then we get down to practice and hard work.”

The poms girls practice six hours a week on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. The team works on the same three dances all year long, rotating the dances at school events while throwing in some other dances they learned at dance camp.

“Poms is a lot harder than I think it seems sometimes,”  said coach Holly Bieber. “There’s a lot of work that goes into it. Choreography, technique, and being able to have three different styles is very difficult.”

When coach Bieber is not present to get the girls organized, the captains take charge. This year there are three captains: Peyton Dixon, Amani Allen and Sydney Hrnyak. These girls have definitely made a difference on the team and when needed, the girls look to them.

“Being on the team means so much to me,” Peyton said. “Taking this groups of girls who never danced together before and combining all of our different styles seems so hard at first but when you see the final dance it’s so worth it.”

Coach Bieber claims that all of the girls hard work and effort has definitely payed off to create what she says is the most technically strong team she has ever had. The team attends three to four competitions a year and in two weeks, this year’s poms team will be the first group of girls in all seven years that Bieber has coached to attend the competition in St. Johnson. The girls are excited and anxious to see how they place.

“I just feel like this team is more ready than we have been in the past,” said Bieber going on to talk about the team, “these girls are most technically strong team that I’ve ever had and also a very young team. We have five freshmen which makes it all the more exciting that the future years will be hopefully a little better.”

The team consists of five freshman, two sophomores, three juniors and four seniors. Coach Bieber already has a plan for the future years after the seniors leave. She has her eye on a couple of incoming freshmen and assuming all the girls make it back on the team, after the four seniors graduate, there will be four open spots.

However, upcoming freshmen should be aware that with all the hard work and practice the team does, they form bonds and close friendships. To the poms girls, they aren’t just a team, they are a family.

“I love being on the team and wouldn’t trade it for anything,” Peyton said.