Not only does Oakdale Poms support the football team at games, they also have their own competitive team! This year at their summer camp for the Universal Dance Association (UDA), they qualified for UDA’s Nationals at ESPN’s Wide World of Sports Complex in Orlando, Florida.

Once the Poms team heard that they had qualified in July, they started making plans for the competition that took place seven months later. Though the team spent months working on the routine, the competition part of the trip hardly took any time at all. 

“We probably spent about 5 hours total throughout the whole weekend at the actual competition. The rest of the time we spent doing our own thing at the parks,” Junior Maya Mangene discussed. Once the competition was over, the team split up into groups and spent the rest of their weekend touring all of Disney’s parks! 

“We went to every park, and I liked all of them a lot. I’m not sure if I can choose a favorite,” Mangene explained. For two of the three nights they had spent at Disney, the team members were granted after-hours passes, allowing access to one park per night until one in the morning.

For team bonding, the team would meet up a couple of times a day throughout the trip to check in and see how everyone was doing. 

During one of these meetups, they decided to keep a tradition that their coach, Melissa Watson, had done previously at the competition– the Tower of Terror. The ToT is a ride at Disney’s Hollywood Studios where you are strapped into an elevator that drops multiple stories. 

“We all rode the tower of terror together, so that was really funny to see everybody’s reactions and how they dealt with that pit in your stomach feeling,” senior Madilyn Tribitt elaborated.

Overall, it was a really good experience that the whole team enjoyed! “The best part was staying out every night and going on a bunch of fun rides with a bunch of fun people,” Mangene said, explaining the best parts of the trip. 

The team is hoping to qualify next year to relive the experience!