Dance and Cheers Upcoming Season
After having to film their in-game performances prior to action last season, the USD spirit squads take the field in front of fans again this season.
“To be able to see such a huge crowd come out and support the Coyotes each game is unreal,” first-year cheerleader Meghan DeLozier said.
After not getting the normal season experiences the spirit squad normally gets, DeLozier said she is looking forward to the new experiences with her teammates.
“I am looking forward to getting to experience a normal season as many of my teammates didn’t get to experience previous years,” DeLozier said.
With a new season in full swing, the cheer and dance teams are performing at football games, volleyball games, events and participating in cleaning up the DakotaDome after games. Even with everything approaching this season, the cheer and dance teams are looking ahead and holding clinics to find new talent for next year.
“Every dance team kind of has a different technique, but you’re able to see how USD dance is,” freshman dancer Brooklyn Kahle said. “It gets your name out there so then the team might be more likely to recruit you.”
Brooke Poppe is the head coach of the cheer and dance teams at USD and she hosts these clinics for people who are interested in trying out in the future.
“Our clinics are not only open to high schoolers but USD students as well. So we would encourage anyone who is interested in cheering or dancing in college to come,” Poppe said.
These clinics also give people the chance to work with current USD dance members and cheerleaders.
“We do have a back handspring requirement to be on our cheer team, so sometimes we will help people work on that,” Poppe said.
Sophomore cheerleader Gavin Walker said these clinics are good for learning about USD’s cheer and dance teams.
“Anybody who thinks that they may even might be interested in cheerleading should come to a clinic.” Walker said. “It is a great opportunity to learn more about what we do as well as try something new.”
The dance team clinic was held Sept. 18 and the cheer clinic was held Sept. 19. The next dance clinic is Sunday, Oct. 10, and the next cheer clinic is the following Sunday.
