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Throughout the year, sports get a high level of praise here at Craig High School. Everyone wants to know if Craig won, who played in the game, and all the minute details of the night. Football, volleyball, swim- you name it, and the student body wants in. What students sometimes forget to mention are the teams that don’t necessarily play on the field. The varsity poms team participates at all home football games. The same is done during basketball season. These students, and their coach, take time and effort out of their days in order to make the games more enjoyable.This team is seeking more recognition, and their coach was interviewed to do so.

    Jaclyn Ford is the coach for the varsity poms team.

    Coach Ford knows the teammates outside of the classroom, which allows her to truly see how hard they work. With their busy schedules, they still manage to pull together a routine to keep the crowd engaged at half time.

    Jaclyn stated, “There’s a lot of focus and concentration during practice because the team learns and performs a new routine every week, but the girls do a great job of keeping things fun and light.”

    That focus and concentration is carried out beyond the immediate practice. Different team members, especially the captains, come to practice every week with a new routine for the game that Friday.

    “Creating a dance can be quite time consuming and requires a lot of dedication along with creativity. It can take anywhere between a few hours to a few days to create a dance that we can be proud to perform for the student body at half time” -poms team member.

   Coach recognized, “The dancers are extremely hard workers, both in and outside of practice. Many of the girls have jobs and are involved in clubs, honor societies, music performance groups, and even other sports.”

    “I am in spots, honor societies, clubs, and on the poms team as well. It definitely keeps me busy, but is all worth it in the end. The girls keep a place I want to come back to” – senior, Reema Patel.

    There is also a lot of organization and planning on the coach’s end. Poms is almost year round. Tryouts start in March and the season officially ends in February. Coach Ford has to stay on top of scheduling practices, setting routines on the field, and maintaining high expectations for the team to uphold.

     Coach Ford said, “I believe that my role is to set high expectations for the dancers and make sure that they’re following up on them. When there’s a common understanding of what’s expected and all involved are committed to following through on that understanding then I think that success will come.”

    Coach Ford immediately responded at the end of the interview, “I think that the team deserves recognition for their hard work. One of our team goals this year is to garner more recognition for the team. We’re hoping to do this by getting more involved in the Janesville community (Daddy-Daughter Dance, Mini-Cougar Poms Clinic, community service), selecting music that will appeal to students and parents, and making sure that team members consistently represent themselves, the team, and the Craig community well.”

    The Craig High School varsity poms team, and its coach, works both in and out of school to keep the student body satisfied and engaged.