On February 10 2024, the Riverside Brookfield High School varsity competitive poms team placed third in the AAA jazz division of the 45th annual Illinois Drill Team Association (IDTA) state competition. Although the journey there took much time and effort, the team is proud to claim its title as bronze medalists.
Although most of the preparation for the competition took place during the school year, the team bonding started over the summer during a special event for the young women on the team. RB poms coach and math teacher Tia Sherman is grateful to have been able to provide her dancers with such an intimate experience.
“Competitive [poms] season starts in October, but our poms season kind of starts in summer,” Sherman said. “Even back in summer we went to a three night sleepaway camp for dance to just start team bonding, building our skills together, and all of that prep helps lead into comp season. For comp season, we bring in our choreographer, we start learning the routine, then we make our tweaks throughout. We go to some regional competitions to get feedback so that we can build and grow and prepare the best for the state competition.”
During the school year, the team perfected their routine and made adjustments to make it the best it could be. Junior Anna Pinnick was thrilled to take part in such a momentous event.
“We had a lot of practices before [the competition],” Pinnick said. “We had gone to past competitions, and, based on judge feedback, we had changed our dance. On the day of the competition, we did our hair and makeup prior to going there and then finished getting ready once we were at the convention center.”
The moments leading up to the performance were nerve racking and uncertain for all members of the team, especially senior captain Mae Jameson. However, the dance went smoothly, putting the team’s fears to rest.
“I think we were all a little nervous,” Jameson said. “You don’t get to go on the stage at all before you compete, so we were worried about how slippery or sticky the floor would be. Little things like that really affect our performance, and we didn’t have much control over that before performing, but in the end we were really happy with what we put out.”
Acting as captain is a vital role in ensuring that everything goes as planned. After all the effort put in by the team, placing third exemplified the team members’ dedication to their sport.
“It [placing third] is super rewarding,” Jameson said. “Being a captain is very rewarding in itself, but seeing all the hard work that you put in and that your teammates put in actually play out as you hope is even more special.”
Sherman, too, is extremely proud of her dancers and appreciates the opportunity the team had to see their performance from the audience’s point of view.
“We actually hit our performance the best we’ve ever hit,” Sherman said. “I feel like all the girls came off the floor feeling like they had a really good run. When you come off the floor at state, you go behind a curtain and you get to immediately watch a playback of your routine on a screen, so it was really cool for us to watch that together as a group and see how we hit our formations and executed the choreography really nicely.”
When mastering any craft, whether it be sports, the arts, or anything else, it is crucial to have an understanding of your environment, including those you are up against. Sherman fully acknowledges this and praises her dancers for their endurance in the face of adversity.
“It’s always good to see your other competitors—other girls that are at your level dancing in high school—for girls that want to go off to college and possibly dance,” Sherman said. “These are the girls you’re going to be up against. The fact that they [the RB poms members] didn’t get discouraged and instead they were like ‘we’re confident, we know we’re great’ and they went out and hit an awesome performance [is amazing]. I think that it just showed how strong and how talented they are, and I think they just grew from that experience.”
Despite the team’s main goal to place as high as they could, their motives stretched further than just a numerical ranking. Teamwork and unity are at the core of the team’s values, making them more than just a group of dancers.
“I think we really just focused on putting in the work to be the best that we could as a standalone team,” Jameson said. “Yes, you want to place well and yes, you want to win and be viewed as better in the judges eyes, but I think at the end of the day it’s more important to focus on doing the best that you can as a team, and then the results will go in your favor.”
The 2023-24 RB varsity competitive poms team set a stellar example of what a sports team should be: a group of dedicated athletes working together to achieve a goal of unity and sportsmanship.
“It was an awesome season and the girls are all such hard workers,” Sherman said. “They’re so dedicated, and it just really couldn’t have been any better, so [it was] a great way to end a great season.”
