She can hear the crowd cheering for the performances before theirs. Her adrenaline is flowing as the nerves are going away. Sophomore Natalie Siegel is listening to her team’s music to get herself pumped up.
“We circle up and talk as a team to motivate each other before we preform.”
As a part of VDT, Siegel knows she has to put in 110 percent each practice leading up the competition. The Drill Team just came in 1st in hip-hop and 4th in pom at the Lindbergh Competition.
“If our team has pushed ourselves at every practice and done everything we could to get ready, it’s the best way to prepare for a competition.”
Even though competitions can get stressful, Siegel said she’s usually more excited than stressed about preforming in front of so many people. The thing that keeps Siegel focused during a performance is her team.
“Dancing on drill team is a huge group effort. I always think about how I need to do my best for my team when I perform and that motivates me to stay focused.”
Senior Lindsay Purviance is captain of the Varsity Drill Team and said, “We stand in a circle and our coach reads us something she wrote and an officer reads a letter to the team. It’s a real bonding experience.”
To prepare for big competitions like Lindbergh, they practice Monday-Thursday 5-8 p.m. and on Saturdays 9 a.m. to noon.
Before a performance, Purviance said she’s more nervous to perform because she doesn’t want to disappoint her coach or teammates.
“We all dance for each other.”
But as soon as she hits the floor her nerves go away.
“I just pretend as if I’m in practice doing the dance in front of my coach. I think of everything I can do to make this performance the best.”
