Homecoming Week

For most people, homecoming week is the week of festivities and fun to pump up the football players for the upcoming game that Friday, or even the week before the annual school dance. For the Eaglettes, it's even more than just that.

This year's homecoming week was the most stressful I have ever experienced in all of my four years on the team, but it was also one of the best, in my opinion at least. Whether it was because it is my senior year on the team or the students were just more enthusiastic about homecoming in general, this year's homecoming week exceeded all of my expectations that I had formed from past years.

The week started off stressful. We had only three days to perfect two routines that would be performed on Friday, one at the pep rally and the other during halftime at the football game. Anxiety levels were high in everyone because we knew that these two dances would be watched by the largest audience we had ever had this season, and we didn't want to disappoint.

Monday's practice was rough, as it is every year during homecoming week. The two hours of practice that day consisted of running the dances, cleaning individual sections, and then running the dances again. It was exhausting, but I, as well as the others on my team, realize that good dances don't come from easy practices. On Tuesday, the dance was finally coming together, and on Wednesday, I was feeling pretty confident about what was to come on Friday.

I would say that Thursday was our "fun day." After three days of backbreaking practices, our legs were ready to fall off due to how many jumps and turns we did in such a short period of time. We were lucky enough to get a break on Thursday, due to the parade that followed the school day.


On Thursday morning, a memory on Facebook popped up in my notifications. After clicking and opening the memory, I became very sad with what I saw. It was a picture of me and the girls I have danced with all throughout middle school and high school at the homecoming parade of our first year on the middle school dance team. Even though this picture was six years ago, I feel like it was just yesterday. After seeing that photo, I realized that this year would be my last year in the parade. In addition to that, this year would be my last year dancing with my fellow captain and best friend, Lydia (pictured in the center). This day was supposed to be happy, not full of depressing "last times" that I would never be able to experience again.


After I saw that, I decided to try and make this year the best parade yet, not only for me, but for all of the girls on my team.

The end of the parade meant the end of our "fun day", which also meant the beginning of our most stressful day yet: game day. School on Friday was honestly a joke for me because of the constant nerves and anxiety I was feeling leading up to the pep rally. Even though I knew the dance frontwards and backwards and could easily do it in my sleep after all of the practicing we did leading up to that day, I still ran the dance in my head over and over again throughout all of my classes. I didn't want to mess up because the whole school would be there to witness it. I was sweaty all day, probably due to the amount of nerves I was feeling.

When I got dismissed from class to get ready for the pep assembly, I ran down to my coaches room, frantically changed, and threw on some red lipstick (something essential for dance performances, in my opinion). My team ran down to the gym, not even getting time to stretch, which didn't even matter because of the amount of adrenaline we were about to have in just a few moments.

All four grade levels arrived in the gym, and I was honestly shocked at how many people there were sitting around me. I didn't even think that there were that many people in our school! After it was announced that it was our turn to perform, I gave my team a reassuring smile and led them onto the gym floor. Before I knew it, we were dancing.

Here's the thing with dance performances: stuff happens. But when things occur, most dancers are trained to keep going, even when someone breaks their ankle on stage or if a costume falls off. This time, the music stopped halfway through the routine, but we did what our coach has taught us since day one: keep going. Yes, it was embarrassing, and yes, I wanted to kill whoever caused our music to shut off, but looking back, it really wasn't as bad as I thought. The school had our backs and clapped us through to the end of the performance, which was something that doesn't always happen in dance.
What mattered most to us was that our coach was pleased with the performance, something that very rarely happens. Here is a clip of the pep rally dance, which includes the moment when the music stops.

After the pep rally, we preceded back to the room to get ready for the game and practice our halftime performance just a few more times before the "real deal", as my coach would call it. When I and coach decided that the dance was up to our standards, our team rushed to the annual homecoming pot luck with our families. After getting stuffed with hotdogs, chips, and cookies, we moved on to the football game.

The first half of the varsity game seemed like it went on forever. As the time on the clock ran out, I got more and more butterflies in my stomach. When it was almost time to get in line to perform, I circled up my team and did the only thing that would help them in that moment: pump them up. Looking at Lydia, I realized that it was our last time performing at a homecoming game, something that may not seem as big as a deal to others as it is to us.

Standing in front of the field and waiting for the band to finish their performance, I felt the goosebumps rise up on my arms and legs. It wasn't even cold; the air was actually a little humid compared to games from previous years. But the goosebumps weren't caused by the weather, they were caused by the tension I was feeling in that moment.

Everything is a blur for me from that point on, just as it always is every time I perform. Before I knew it, we were walking off the field while the crowd cheered for our performance. Here is a clip from our performance.

Homecoming week was over, and as stressful as it was, I would do it over again in a heartbeat. I realize that my last homecoming was only one of the first lasts I will be experiencing this season, which sucks, but I guess life goes on.