Curious About How We Qualified for NCA & NDA Nationals?

In order to qualify for nationals, each team has to submit a DVD with very specific guidelines set by the officials at the National Cheer Association and Natitonal Dance Alliance. Both teams worked incredibly hard to get these tapes ready to submit, and the hard work paid off! Here are the tapes that we submitted back in December. Now that we've qualified, we can share them with all of you. Enjoy!

AU Cheerleaders Nationals Entry Tape

AU Dance Team Nationals Entry Tape

AU "Phil"led Bender!

Our first PHIL BENDER game of the season was a huge success. Congratulations to the AU Men's Basketball Team on an exciting win against Holy Cross, and a very special congratulations to Head Coach Jeff Jones on his 300th career win!!

This hip hop routine was choreographed by members of AUDT and performed at halftime in front of a huge PHIL BENDER crowd.

Here's the AU Fight Song performed on center court after our guys won. Awesome game! If you couldn't make it out, check the AU Basketball schedule for upcoming Men's and Women's home games.

COME PHIL BENDER, Saturday @ 2pm!

Come out to support the AU Men's Basketball Team as they take on rivals Holy Cross at 2pm on Saturday, January 23rd! We'll be there; you should be too!

Here We Go!

Congratulations to the 2010 American University Spirit Program for qualifying to compete in the 2010 NCA/NDA National Collegiate Championships! We know you'll do AU proud!

85 days and counting ... :)

A Little Bit About Our Team - AU Cheer Freshman, Connor

Cheerleading is one of those sports where it isn’t about an individual, but rather the team. With that in mind, let me tell you about our team. We come from all different parts of the country, north, south, west, we’ve got it all. Everyone has their own accent. Each their own style. However, despite being so different in these aspects, we are one. We feel the same frustration when stunts don’t hit. We feel the same elation when new, more complicated, stunts do. We feel the same excitement when someone learns a new tumbling move. We make sacrifices for each other, for our school. We encourage each other to do better, and we are there to support each other through hard times. The only spotlight we seek is one big enough for the entire team.

The first semester was a time of experimentation, a time to see what we were capable of. Now in the second semester, it's time to apply ourselves and prepare for nationals. Already, the team is showing great promise and dedication. New skills are appearing left and right. New tumbling, new stunts, improvements on existing abilities, the list goes on. In addition to all this, and most importantly, our friendship and bond as a team grows and becomes stronger with each practice and game. The coming months will be rough, but we are prepared to endure them together.

We all know what is required of us for nationals this year at Daytona. Some feel excitement, others nervousness, but undoubtedly everyone feels an anxiety and drive to put on one hell of a performance.

Nationals Season...Here We Come! AUDT Freshman, Lyndsey Grubbs

DT did some oh-so serious fundraising for Nationals over the past three days. We, along with the cheerleaders, set up and tore down an entire cheerleading competition AND hosted a dance competition. Meanwhile we managed to dance at a basketball game, go cheer on GW’s dance team, and have practice! Needless to say…by the end of the weekend, we were all exhausted.

Exhausted or not, I can’t imagine a group of girls that I would rather spend nearly all of my awake hours with. The team is filled with some of the most hard-working, dedicated, welcoming, and downright hilarious people I have ever known. After last semester, I can confidently say that joining this dance team is the best thing I could have done as a freshman at AU.

With that said, first semester is over and Nationals are coming up quicker than I could have ever imagined. From what I hear, I will be spending the majority of my time between now and then doing lots of push ups, sit ups, toe touches, and two-a-days. Basically, just a whole lot of sweating.

In the end though, dance team can sweat on a beach in Daytona, Florida!! Nationals will be amazing, and I know we will do a phenomenal job. I’ve heard so much about last year’s national season, and I am so excited to get to be a part of this year’s team. So bring on the hard work…DT can handle it.

Can’t wait for it all. Love you DT.