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Resilient. The one word that perfectly describes their team, coaches, and season. After facing and overcoming multiple challenges throughout the school year, NS Drill Team’s competition season comes to a close, ending with them taking first at region and second place at state.
Although all the girls really wanted to take first at state, most of the girls look on the positive side and are thankful for what they got.
“Personally, I honestly feel so blessed since it was my first year,” said sophomore Ava Lamb. “I remember Kiersten saying how many people would kill for second place. I’m glad we got to take something home.”
They brought back their second place trophy to add to the two other state trophies. They’ve held their position for three years which is a success for them.
“Maintaining that second place and being top five in the state for three years in a row is a huge accomplishment,” said head coach Kiersten Wheeler.
Being able to get second was definitely an achievement for them, especially with all the trials they had to go through. This season was full of challenges such as both their coaches being pregnant, problems with routines, and of course, Covid.
“Having to adapt to covid. That’s probably the hardest thing,” said Lamb. “Girls were getting quarantined, girls were testing positive.”
Girls getting quarantined caused a lot of problems because their spot would have to be filled until they returned. This meant that some girls would have to learn a new part in a routine that they didn’t usually perform. They put in the effort and were able to get through it.
Another huge problem for them was that they didn’t even know if they would have a season, a chance to actually perform. With all the uncertainty, it was hard to get into the spirit and have the energy that they usually have.
“I feel like over the summer we knew that there was a chance that we might not go to state, that it could be cancelled,” said Lamb. “So the energy was still there and it was still fun, but it wasn’t like we were pushing towards this goal because we didn’t know if we were going to have it.”
Eventually, they knew that they were going to be able to compete and they gave it their all and pushed themselves to do the best they could.
“When we went to region, that was the day for me that something clicked,” said senior and drill mistress Shalyce Cook. “I feel like every girl had a different mindset and that mindset really trickled down to everyone. Everyone felt that change and that switch and it really was a good thing for my team.”
Having a positive mindset is important to most of the girls. Having that mindset and having a goal and a purpose really helped them to improve.
“One of our mottos is ‘practice with a purpose,’ so there was a short period of time when I wasn’t able to be at practice, but it didn’t matter,” said Wheeler. “They still needed to come and they knew they still needed to practice with a purpose.”
One way they “practice with a purpose” is for both the coaches and the girls to have a goal in mind and remember and stick with that goal till the end.
“You just have to keep the end goal in mind,” said Wheeler. “Our end goal was obviously state and to do really well at state, and so we always made sure to practice with a purpose and to always keep our end goal in mind, no matter what we were dealing with that week.”
As the year went on, they continued to improve both as individuals and as a team. Everyone works on being better and learning more.
“It’s not just your rookies coming in that need improvement and need to work hard, it’s your rookies and your veterans that come in and need to improve, and so it’s awesome,” said Wheeler.
The coaches don’t believe in seniority. Everyone gets treated the same and everyone works hard. Talent is more important than seniority on drill.
“Kiersten doesn’t favor seniority at all. She says that a lot,” said Lamb. “I knew I’d have to push myself if I wanted to be in the dances and so I feel like as a sophomore it really wasn’t that different.”
No matter how long you’ve been on the team, the coaches expect you to work hard and push yourself. So does the team. Even when they’re exhausted, they continue to give it their all.
Whether they’re on or off the floor, the drill girls are expected to do their best in everything. The coaches want them to succeed in dance and life.
“I’ve put it on myself to try to be the best example that I can be and to try and keep our team united and things like that,” said Cook.
The lessons that both the girls and coaches learn from each other and the relationships they created will stick with them their whole lives.
“I think overall, it’s really given me sound ground. I feel like I’ve made lifelong friends, I’ve learned life long lessons,” said Cook. “I’ll never forget it.”
