As football season comes to a close, Hyline is also wrapping up to prepare for their upcoming competition season. There is a shift in spirit and preparation as Hyline learns new dance routines.

“For football routines, we clean the dances fairly quickly as they are much more simple compared to our competition dances,” senior Eunice Yong said. “For competition dances, it takes a while to polish the routines, and we go through many rounds of cleaning to make sure that we are all uniform down to even the space between our fingers. Year-round we have the same amount of practice time: from 7:15 until 9:20 a.m. every day, but during competition season we have two additional 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. practices on the weekends.”

Every hour of practice is aimed towards performing their best and making it all worth it in the end.

“My favorite part about competition season is seeing all the hard work we put in pay off,” Yong said. “We start cleaning routines in November even though our competition is in February, but every practice leading up to competition is critical. In Hyline, everyone is very motivated toward achieving the same goal of putting our best foot forward at the contest, and our encouraging environment has kept the team’s spirits up.”

The seniors in the team have contributed to the success of Hyline’s welcoming environment and helped pass down many more memories to come.

“Our team has been able to grow a lot this year. From returning members and new members, we have been able to create a welcoming place and it has fostered many new friendships and memories to cherish,” Yong said. “This year the seniors on Hyline have really stepped up and led the team and I’m very excited for the many great things to come this year.”

Before performances, Hyline leans into their traditions so that the team can have the most possible success.

“Right before we go on to perform, we have many traditions we do such as our “Bernie Mac” chant which hypes us all up before the routine,” Yong said. “The energy is buzzed and filled with lots of excitement as we want to have lots of energy and strength in our routines.”

In addition to all of the hours of practice, the dancers focus on team spirit.

“Beyond dance skills, this season has taught me a lot about how important it is to uplift others,” Yong said. “This year we have focused heavily on encouraging others and keeping up the spirit during practice, and I’ve found that it doesn’t only help others, but also helps me stay motivated to work hard in practice.