Recently, the Poms team made their first stop on their Road to State by placing fourth at sectionals. One of the few leading them Camryn Graff, senior captain.

Graff has been on the Varsity Poms team at Central since her sophomore year and she’s been dancing since she was 2 years old. She wanted to be involved in an activity that would introduce her to some new friends and give her a more diverse background of dance.

Like any other sport or activity, there is always a time commitment. For the poms team, it’s five times a week; three practices in the morning, and twice after school. During practice, the girls start off with cardio workouts and then continue with conditioning. After that, they practice their competition routine. When learning new routines, it takes the team around ten hours for complete mastery, sometimes more. Usually, these ten hours are spread out over one weekend.

“Our team passion for dance is amazing because we all know we can accomplish our goals using teamwork.” Graff said. “The team has excelled a lot within the past few months of practicing for competitions. This year and last year have been out best years in a while.”

With learning new things, there always comes a time when some things just don’t click.  After some time, what seemed like a challenge, becomes easier.

“After nailing a hard part in the routine or a trick, it feels amazing because the crowd knows when you complete a trick successfully,” Graff said. “The crowd cheers you and and is loud. It is also empowering and boosts my confidence even more, knowing I accomplished something that was challenging that I had practiced a lot.”

Out of the seventeen members on the team, there are three captains. Along with Graff, there are seniors Nikolette Klinowski and Emily Whirledge.

“I’m very glad I am able to work with [Graff] as a captain,” Klinowski said. “She likes to motivate the girls to do their best and works hard to keep everyone on task. She always wants the best for the team and dedicates a lot of time to Poms.”

Some of the responsibilities of being captain include running practices and making sure that girls are on top of everything they need to be. Captains also make sure that they set good examples for the rest of the dancers, inside and outside of the team.

Along with holding up the responsibilities of being captain, Graff had some personal goals she wanted to work on as well.

“My personal goal this year was to lead the team with confidences and to be the best role model that I could be,” Graff said. “My overall goal throughout my duration on the team has been to improve my dance and technique skill while becoming a better leader.”

As first semester is coming to an end,  seniors are one step closer to graduation.

“The thing I will miss most when I graduate is seeing the same girls that you’re super close with everyday,” Graff said. “At the end of the year we all become so close and the journey restarts for the underclassmen the following year. It will be sad to see all of the girls move on to next year while I can no longer join them. The legacy I want to leave for this team is a hard working, motivated, and determined individual that encourages others to work their hardest, to reach their goals.”