Courtesy of Poolesville High School
The Poolesville High School poms team performed at halftime of the Washington Redskins game against the Cleveland Browns earlier this month.
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Poolesville High School's varsity footballers may be 0-7, but the Falcons' poms team got a taste of victory earlier this month when they performed at the Washington Redskins' narrow win over the Cleveland Browns.
The team traded in the Falcons' black-and-gold for burgundy-and-gold at the football franchise's annual "Spirit Explosion" half-time show during the Oct. 19 match-up. The seven spirited students had 24 hours to learn a three-minute hip-hop and jazz routine, according to Donald Wells, director of cheerleading and entertainment for the Redskins.
"It was really exciting, just the whole experience at the big stadium. It was an adrenaline rush," said co-captain Tamara Omazic, 16, a junior from Gaithersburg. "It was really nice to see the world of professional dancing, how it works," she said, adding that they got to chat with the Redskins' cheerleaders as well.
The team was one of 15 metro-area poms squads, dance groups and marching bands to perform at the exhibition event at FedExField in Landover, Wells said, including the poms team from Burtonsville's Paint Branch High School. Participation was $85 per performer and limited to the first 300 people to register, according to the Redskins' Web site.
The team traveled to the stadium for five hours of practice the Saturday before Washington's 14-11 victory, including an hour of rehearsal with the Redskins' cheerleaders. The instructor taught the more than 100 participants the routine using a microphone, a far different situation than the more intimate practices the team was used to, according to co-captain Fay Yu.
"It was nerve-racking, but once we were there it was fine," said Yu, 15, a junior from Germantown. "…It was a lot larger than the usual high school crowd."
The cheer team, which won two trophies this summer at a local Universal Dance Association camp, according to Poolesville High's Web site, watched the game from the sidelines before the halftime show but had to leave afterwards unless they had tickets. But the experience was invaluable, Omazic and Yu said, and they now have some new moves to break out when supporting their own home team.
"It was a fun learning experience, a bonding experience, for the girls," said coach Michelle Howard.
