Do it NOW! Two weeks till Nationals! - AUDT Freshman, Kelsey

In exactly two short weeks, the American University Dance and Cheer teams will be making their way to Daytona, Florida. I don't think any of us can actually believe that NDA Nationals 2009 is so close!

It seems as if it was just yesterday I sat on the floor of Bender Arena (a place I would soon call home) at spring tryouts in April 2008, and listened to Alex, our coach, talk about the team's goals, including traveling to Florida to compete nationally! I would be lying if I said that the AU Spirit program didn't influence my decision to come to American University!

Dance has always been a huge part of my life, and I was so excited to start my college career this past fall on the American University Dance Team. Coming from a high school where the dance and cheer teams weren't as appreciated as they should have been, it was amazing to come to a college where both the cheer and dance teams had such high aspirations and the drive to achieve their goals.

One of the things I love about our program is the camaraderie between the cheer and dance teams. We are all under one program: AU Spirit, and we worked together all year to fund raise so that we would be able to cover some or all of our costs to make our big trip to Daytona! We attended every practice, basketball game, and fundraiser together, and even collaborated to put together a dance and cheer halftime show for some of the basketball games. Last night at practice, we had "show and tell." We took turns performing our nationals routine for each other, cheering each other on the entire time. We're each others biggest fans and its awesome to know that your fans are always practicing just a couple feet from you!

As my first year as a part of the American University Dance Team is quickly coming to an exciting close, I realize that the blood, sweat, sore muscles, and often times tears were all worth it for the couple minutes we get to run out onto the basketball court at Bender Arena and do what we do best; dance!

I couldn't have asked for a better first year on dance team. As most of you probably know, our men's basketball team won the Patriot League Championship for the second year in a row, which secured them a place in the NCAA tournament. Most of the dance team waited in line for four hours to get tickets for the game, and then traveled by bus to Philadelphia to watch the Eagles play in the big dance! We even met the mayor of Washington D.C. at the game! Although we lost the game, our boys put up a great fight, and it was so fun to be in the stands to cheer on the boys, and the cheerleaders on the sidelines! It was an amazing way to end an awesome season that we were so lucky to be a part of.

My dance team experience wouldn't have been the same without the girls on the team. I love everyone of them as if they were my sister. While most college freshmen find a good group of friends during their first year in college, I have been lucky enough to find a family :)

As of today's 7 am practice, AUDT only has TEN more practices left before we go to nationals and we can't wait! I want to thank all of our friends and family for their constant support, and especially Alex and Brett for whipping us into shape and for always pushing us to be the best we can be.

Wish us luck in Daytona!

I have one question for you AU Spirit...
ARE YOU READY!?