As the JV Leydnettes walk into the competition floor the DJ announces”Leyden you may now take the floor”. The girls get ready in their formation and start counting “5,6,7,8”.  Suddenly, the gym gets quiet and the music starts. 

On December 6th, the competition season started for the Leydenettes. Since the start of the season the team has been focused on improving  skills for competition. Getting judged on their skills is crucial in order to see how much the team has improved compared to last year, and to see how much more the team needs to improve. This is also a moment where all the hard work that the team puts in will finally be shown. The JV Leydennettes are new to competition, and this will be the second year that they compete. 

“I’m mostly looking forward to making more memories since I really enjoyed the competition with last year being JV’s first year of competition.” says JV assistant  Natalie Pera One of the most special things about competition are the memories that the team makes together. It can be stressful knowing what’s to come, but knowing your teammates are by your side is the best. 

Valnetina De la Cruz, JV captain says, “For competition season I look forward to training hard so I can improve my dance skills,  but I also look forward to bonding with my teammates.” Based on the comments that the team gets from the judges– they work hard to improve those skills. This type of hard work and dedication brings the team closer, and the effort that they put in allows them to grow as a team

Sofia Del Rio says, “ What I think went very well during comp was feeling the music and connecting our facials to the sound.”Watching the team dance was so fun! You can tell that they had lots of energy, and that they were having fun. 

 “I would say that the greatest challenge was for sure getting used to the fast pace of the song because last season’s song was a little bit slower than this season’s but honestly when you connect the movement with the beat it becomes really easy!” says JV captain Andrea Aguilera. Compared to last year the speed makes a big difference in difficulty. The speed change means that the team is advancing, and can take on that challenge. 

Andrea also says, “The best outcome for sure was our score, it’s the highest score that JV has ever gotten and honestly that gives us motivation to keep going and make the dance even more impressive and exciting.” The main three things that dance teams get scored on are  technique, difficulty, performance, musicality, and overall impression. The judges also leave comments for the team on things that they can improve on or should be working towards.

Head coach Brittany Cieplinski says, “I think that this competition season will be really beneficial to JV! They are competing at a higher level than last year’s JV team and their routine is more complex. I think that as they continue into the competition season we are going to see them become more confident in their skills. Hitting their double pirouettes, higher leaps and dancing as a team! The longer the girls dance together the better they get!” 

Overall, the JV Leydennettes had a great first competition! They started competition season very strong and will end even stronger. I can’t wait to see them grow each time they perform for the judges. They are doing a great job with learning new skills and perfecting them. Their hard work and dedication will push them through to score better each time