On Drill Team

This week is tryout week for our little drill team here in suburbia. I happen to hate tryout week. I just want so badly for my students to do well, and it's sad when some of them don't make it. I want them to experience the things I got to experience. I want them to make the friendships I've been able to make. I want them to love it the way that I love it.

I can't tell you all the reasons why I love drill team because, let's face it, there are just too many, but here are a few:

1. Sweet Outfits

I mean, what's not to love about wearing a sequined hat and fringe?!? I was lucky enough to get my old high school uniform because our team got new ones my senior year (pictured here). However, in college we don't get to keep our uniforms, so if I wanted it, I'd have to pay a pretty penny! I did manage to lobby long and hard enough to keep my college hat, gauntlets, and scarf. It may not have been that big of a deal to my director to give them away...but for me it was.

2.History

This is an early picture of my college drill team, the Apache Belles. The Belles began all the way back in 1947. I loved being a part of a history, a legacy. My high school drill team has been around since 1975. I was lucky to have a high school and college director who both have spent more than 25 years directing the teams I was lucky enough to be on...talk about a legacy. In addition to the history of the teams I was a part of, there is also drill team history in my family. My sister Beth was a Trinity Troy-Ann, and my sister, Sarah, was a Fillie, too. My sisters paved the way for me, they made me interested, they made me believe that I could do it, they encouraged me, and they taught me. I was lucky enough to be on my high school team with Sarah for one year, her senior year, my sophomore year. The second picture is at our Fillie banquet in 1998 right after I made the team. I think both of us would say that that year as a Fillie was probably the most memorable...the most meaningful for sure.

3. Travel Opportunities

Because I was an Apache Belle, I got to travel to China to dance and represent the school as well as the city of Tyler. The trip to China was something that only eight of us got to do and it was something that was very special to me. I hope to create special memories for my girls as well. So far, we've taken our girls on a cruise and most recently to Disney World. We're still discussing next year's location...hmmm...where should we go...

4. Lifelong Friends

These are all the high school friends I still keep in touch with...all were on drill team with me. Kristi, Meagan, and Audrey. Love you!

These are my college drill team girls that I love ever so dearly! Tori, Cassie (who is a lifelong friend and was also on high school drill team with me), Valerie (and her little boy Carter), and Rachel (the Director of our team). Something about spending hours upon hours sweating, working, crying, and trying makes you grow closer together! I love these girls and I am so grateful that God placed us together and I look forward to reminiscing about our more fit and flexible days when we are old and gray! :)

5. Performing

How could I forget performing!! I loved dancing on the star at Texas Stadium for football playoffs and a State Championship! I loved competing for those ever-elusive National Championship jackets! Despite the fact that we never won them (at least while I was on the team), I can honestly say that performing for it was worth every moment of practice. I loved dancing in the stage lights in college, opening the State Fair, dancing in China, dancing at Disney World, pep rallies, football games, all of it. I loved performing, the knots in your stomach, the thrill, the anticipation, the adrenaline. It was my way of acting, of being someone else for just a moment. When I performed I wasn't just me, I was a Rockette, I was a James Bond girl, I was even Elvis! I got to be all kinds of things. I got to release the tension, let my emotions come out in my performance and leave everything I had on the dance floor. I'd say, as a teacher, that's the thing I miss the most as I don't get to perform very much anymore...

So here's to all the young ladies that will be future Silverados! May those who make it find friendship, love, and loyalty. May they feel they are a part of a legacy and seize all opportunities given to them through this wonderful world! May they embrace each performance and make all their sweat, tears, and joy worth it each and every time they dance.