ENC’s newly formed Spirit Team is looking to bring excitement to the 2015-2016 athletic calendar games.
Co-Presidents Kadie Stade and Emily Major created this club to renew the ENC community’s school spirit and encourage athletes during their games.
“We decided to do it because there wasn’t anything [already in existence], school spirit-wise,” Major said. “The halftimes lacked enthusiasm and entertainment.” Although there are some cheer stunts, they consider themselves primarily a dance team.
Their objective this year is to perform during both the women’s and men’s basketball home games, as well as attending other sports games in the spring.
The Spirit Team’s executive board hosted a tryout that generated a great turnout. They currently have 11 girls on the team. Their capabilities range from girls with zero dance or cheer experience to those who have been dancing competitively for over 15 years. They practice twice a week for two hours, with practice sessions consisting of conditioning, stretching, learning choreography, and stunt work.
The team’s style of dance is Hip-Hop and Jazz. Stade and Major created the choreography themselves and Treasurer Marissa Diehl creates the cheer stunts.
Fundraising has been a big priority for the Spirit Team because they are a new club, starting with little financial support and even less initial campus knowledge.
“We have done bottle drives and asked for donations. Organizations like Campus Kinder Haus donated,” said Major.
The team plans to match up team members with a player from each team and be their “spirit buddy”. Through spirit buddies, the team hopes to not only encourage the crowd, but the players as well.
“We will make them posters and baked goods. It’s going to be a lot of fun,” said Freshman member Abbie Dunham.
Major expressed her excitement for this upcoming year, meanwhile noting that “it is like a trial.” Although she notes there will be some challenges, she is optimistic to bring unity to all of the sports teams on campus.