Following the end of football season, the poms have now begun their competition season.

The team began preparing dances before their first competition, which was Jan. 7. They have practice every school day to continue to learn and change parts of their dances. Coached by Mia Krawczel, the team continues to prepare for their counties, which take place Feb. 4. “It was a great opportunity to compete for the first time and it was nice to see another team,” sophomore Madeline Eig said.

The poms started their competition season dancing against two teams, Bethesda Chevy-Chase and Rockville. The team placed second overall with Bethesda Chevy-Chase in first and Rockville in third. “Our first competition we placed second overall and I think we definitely deserved it,” freshman Jillian Nalibotsky said.

Going into the new school year the poms brought in a brand new coach, Krawczel who was a former Pom at Rockville. This is her first year coaching, but she isn’t a stranger to the poms competition world. Krawczel said the best part of poms is competition season and all the hard work that goes into it. “I think hard work brings us all together,” Krawczel said.
The dances the poms perform are choreographed by their coach as well as their three captains, Julia Lvovsky, Carli Katz and Samantha Lau. The team has several dances they will perform throughout football season and during their competitions. The coach will also help make and tweak the dances when needed. “The captains work hard and work together to create amazing choreography for our competition routines,” Eig said.

The poms compete again on Jan. 21, Jan. 28 and then counties on Feb. 4. Practices occur for two hours a day where the team will continue to improve and perfect their dances, as well as change anything needed. “We will change choreography based on what the judges say,” Eig said.

The season for the poms may only have a few competitions but every dance and teamwork takes a lot of preparation, both in the dance studio and outside of the dance studio. Team bonding is something the team does often in order to keep a healthy team relationship. The team has team board nights, team dinners, dare night and competition prep bonding. “We work so well together as a team and are bonded in and out of poms,” Nalibotsky said.

The team competes in division two. The teams within this division include Gaithersburg, Richard Montgomery, Wheaton, Walter Johnson and Northwest. They compete at Northwest on Jan. 21 with the dances starting at 2 p.m., Blake on Jan. 28 with dancing starting at 1:30. Finally they will compete at Montgomery Blair for countries on Feb. 4 starting at 2 p.m.. “I feel like they will be able to maintain top three the whole season,” Krawczel said.