With winter sports getting underway, the dance team hopes to make the best of this offbeat year. Despite practice time being cut significantly shorter, their hopes of making it to virtual state in both the Pom and Kick categories still burn brightly. The dancers have plans to make the best out of this season and bring home some new additions to their trophy case.

Assistant Coach Mackenzie Wissink loves to aid her dancers in reaching such purposes, and this season is no exception.

“Our goal for the season, like most seasons, is to make it to state,” she said. “We strive to be successful at competitions and continue to get better every time we hit the floor. We take the feedback we get at every competition and work through changing parts of our routines or cleaning them to make them more visually effective.”

Although their season has been condensed quite a bit, Wissink believes the squad remains as diligent and challenging as ever. She knows that competition season is here, and her girls are ready for their dedication to pay off.

“I feel confident in our team’s hard work and drive to continue to do well despite the pandemic,” she said. “We have a very different and exciting kick routine this year in comparison to the last few years, and I'm excited to see the team compete with it. We've really had to trust our dancers to do the work and push themselves this year, and they have definitely risen to the challenge.”

Amid all the competition excitement, sophomore Maria Valero is ready to begin her very first competition season experience.

“Performing for the first time with the dance team is pretty exciting,” she said.

Freshman Kendall Larson has been diligently practicing her skills and technique to remain on her A-game.

“I hope to improve my endurance and skills for performing routines,” she said.

Despite the struggles, time away from practice has given the girls some time to improve individually, whatever that may consist of.

“I have definitely improved a bit on my turn technique,” junior Marcella Rennert said.

Considering the national state of a pandemic, this has definitely raised some challenges for the team in more ways than one. Junior Emma Ducoty knows the difficulties of having to plan around the ever-changing dance schedule and plans.

“It would have to be adapting to the many different unknowns,” she said. “There are so many things that are up in the air right now, whether it be performance or even competitions, and we don’t really know what to expect.”

The pandemic has undoubtedly affected the dance team as a whole, but it has also affected each dancer individually due to the isolation and lack of a structured dance schedule that comes with the COVID-19 virus.

“I would say that this has overall affected the bond I have with the girls and the team and our overall motivation,” sophomore Abby Stevens said.

When it comes to making the best out of her last season, senior Baylee Cottrell is soaking up every moment she has left with her teammates.

“In order to make the best out of my season, I have been enjoying each practice and opportunity we have together as a team,” she said. “We’ve had to cancel many events, like our annual sleepover, but we have found some COVID friendly activities.”

The COVID-19 pandemic has certainly taught Cottrell some valuable lessons when it comes to balancing academics and athletics.

“The pandemic has definitely made me more accountable, which helps me with both my academics and dance,” she said. “Online learning has taught me to be grateful for the times I had before the virus on the dance team and at school.”

Senior Stephanie Zellner has high hopes for her senior season and even higher hopes for the team’s success.

“Despite being in a pandemic, we still have two strong competition routines to compete in,” she said. “If we push ourselves on the floor, I believe we can still qualify for virtual state.”

By Morgan Reitz

February 26, 2021

Oshkosh West Index Issue 5 Volume 117

Dance squad presses on despite pandemic in quest for State