On Feb.14-16, the OHS Golden Girls went to Orlando, Fla. and competed in the NDA High School Nationals competition in jazz and poms. Going into this competition, the team dedicated many hours to practicing for this competition.
“To prepare for this competition, we have been doing strength and endurance runs for each dance — this includes doing a dance once full out, doing a plank circle to the song together as a team, then doing the dance full out again …” Grace Henry (12) said. “We do a lot of groups where we can record and see how us and our team are dancing individually to fix little mistakes to make our dance more clean.”
While the Golden Girls practiced long and hard, they had many setbacks when it came to preparation for their competition as well.
“Some setbacks were many people at once being sick and not being at practice,” Khalia Bishop (11) said.
Lily Nguyen (11) also shared that the snow days OHS faced caused struggles to attend practice. Despite the setbacks, the girls worked hard toward their goals and had many set for their team.
“Some goals we have as a team would be to stay focused during all of our Nationals practices and put out a stronger piece each time we perform over the weekend,” Henry said.
There weren’t only team wide goals, though, as many girls worked to achieve personal goals as well.
“One goal I had was just to be closer to the team,” Nyugen said, “and become that person that people would come to for help.”
For Henry, one of her personal goals was more sentimental than most due to it being her final time competing in Nationals.
“[I want to] take in everything one last time and truly enjoy my last time on the national stage,” Henry said.
The Golden Girls had many of the same hopes but differing predictions about how they would place at the competition, as none of them truly knew where they would stand this year.
“This year, where we will end up placing to me is a bit of a toss up. There are three groups in both of our categories, and if we don’t make the top placements, we can’t advance into the semi-finals. If we make the semis, I can definitely predict us to make finals in at least pom and hopefully take home 15th or above,” Henry said.
Bishop had a similar prediction to Henry, hoping to place somewhere near the top, but for Nyguen she had a different perspective.
“I see us placing pretty well at Nationals, but at the end of the day, the placing doesn’t matter,” Nyugen said, “but being able to dance with the people that have the same interest does.”
While the team looked forward to dancing on the national stage, there was more excitement to it than the sport itself.
“Some things I’m excited about is getting to compete on the national stage with my best friends because the national stage is a completely different vibe than a competition at a high school,” Bishop said.
The girls had more than one destination, opting to go have fun together, and for some girls on the team, it would be for the last time.
“For this trip, I am looking forward to getting to know my team even more than I do now. We will spend a lot of time together and make inside jokes only we understand, which to me is exciting. I am also looking forward to Universal Studios,” Henry said.
They had been very busy all season preparing and practicing something meaningful for this competition, but the preparation wasn’t easy, as setbacks caused stress among lots of the girls, but they came out even closer in the end.
“We all keep each other uplifted throughout the season because we start to get stressed in the winter during finals especially. But we try to keep the spirits high at practices and competitions to support each other,” Bishop said.
In the end, the girls ended up placing 17th for their small varsity jazz routine and 16th for their small varsity pom routine. It was the Golden Girls first time in years being able to make it to Nationals for their jazz routine.
“I am very sad to be done dancing with the team but very proud of how far we have come over the past few years,” Henry said. “It has been a crazy ride as me and the other seniors have experienced six different coaches in just four years, but I wouldn’t change any of it. The team has brought me my closest friends and memories that will last me a lifetime.”
