Owasso’s First

By Jackson Nester

This year the Owasso Pom team won Nationals for the first time in school history. They began competing in Nationals just last year and have already won it all in their second appearance. I got the opportunity to talk to someone who has competed in both last year’s event and this year’s, Junior Rebekah Rake. I first talked to Rake about what made them so much more competitive than years prior. 

“About three years ago, Melissa Zumwalt came into the Pom program and really turned things around for us. She hired coaches who were involved and a lot more passionate about Pom.” said Rake. 

These new coaches pushed for the Pom team to go to Nationals once they started seeing better results from them. However, the coaches can’t single-handedly take a team to the next level, so I asked Rake what the dancers did to bring their team to Nationals and ultimately win it. 

Picture of Owasso Pom team taken by Mike Simons

“We always try to have a positive mindset while at practice. We encourage each other to do better and try to never have a negative attitude.” explained Rake. 

This mindset is hard to maintain, especially in a sport where there is so much trial-and-error, and you have to make sure every little detail is perfect to get the best possible score you can get. That made me think about the bond these teammates must have with each other in order to have a positive mindset and not get discouraged when something isn’t as perfect as they’d like it to be. 

To this Rake replied, “I know this sounds cliche, but we’re like a family. I think of these girls as my sisters and we’re all best friends.” 

I always hear that a team is like a brotherhood or sisterhood, but I could tell with this team it was true. The team had to wake up at six in the morning to practice and once they got closer to nationals they had to have practice before school and after which takes serious dedication and commitment to one another. Not only did the team have to take on the challenge of practicing twice a day, but they also had to perform this dance virtually, which is a serious challenge in this sport because when performing you always want to have some sort of audience. 

“This year was especially difficult for us because we couldn't experience Nationals in Florida like we did last year. We just had to perform our routine in front of a camera with no audience which was really tough.” said Rake. 

However, the team overcame these challenges and ultimately won Nationals for the first time in school history which is a huge accomplishment. The Pom team will look to repeat next year and hopefully get the opportunity to experience the true Nationals environment in Florida.