This season features several changes: A powderpuff football game will pit the girls on student council, cheer, song and senior letter fighting it out on the football field, with the boys of the football team and SBC on the sidelines cheering them on. The game’s proceeds will raise much needed money for expenses like tokens for athletes.

Fall tryouts are another change. Both squads chose to not create JV teams last spring due to small turnouts. This means that freshmen joining this year’s squads will cheer on JV teams, getting a taste of what being on ASL is like.

The construction The trophy box in the main hallway has been removed until further notice and it is much harder to find spots to practice. Even with all these changes, however, ASL is persevering and looking stronger than ever.

Song
After a small pool of girls trying out last spring, Song opted to merge their junior varsity and varsity teams into one squad which competes at the varsity level and features six dancers and two apprentices, who practice with the team and learn the necessary skills to become full-fledged members in the following year.

Seniors Sarah Gilchrist and Regina Lee are co-captains, and as the only two remaining members from previous years they find that this year is “different because there is so much more leading for us to do,” Gilchrist said, “Regina and I are teaching them instead of being taught, and the team overall has less experience.”

An upside to this, however, was found by sophomore Cherry Manoonsilpa, “Since our team is made up of mostly new members, it’s going to be a challenge. This way, at least, we’ll be able to progress at the same speed.”

Both Lee and Gilchrist are impressed by how fast the new girls are catching on. “Its going really well, and I can not wait to push them even further than before” said Lee. Gilchrist is just happy that “everyone has been so good about showing up to practices and meetings.”

And what do the new members think? “It’s been fun so far,” Sophomore Emily Lewin said. “It’s a lot of work, but it is well worth it. I love it.”

Urban Step
Plagued by technical difficulties last year and the loss of several key members, Urban Step is looking to reunite and rebuild. Five old members remain from previous years and the rest of the team is still coming together as try-outs from last spring are continuing this year. “We are figuring out who is really dedicated,” senior Latasha Allston said.

Urban step is also toying with the idea of having a new wave of fall try-outs for new students or the possibility of getting together a mini club for people to check out and learn the basics of Urban Step.

This year Urban Step hopes to be performing at a few games, “just to do a little bit,” said Allston, “Last year was a strong team because everyone was close and had been together for three years, this year will get better as time goes on.”

In addition to practicing for upcoming games, Urban Step is trying to write a grant which would allow them to purchase new uniforms. They hope to get more people interested in the team this year, and would love to talk with those who think they have what it takes to form a future generation of Urban Step.