The Poms competition season is very important in preparing for post-season competition. The girls compete with a dance style of their choice, for example: hip-hop or jazz, to earn a spot at  the state tournament. State is the most important competition for any sport. It determines your schools placement in the state for the next year. Getting to state involves a lot of sweat and tears, that is, after all, what hard work consists of. Improvement is important, and Steel Poms did exactly that. From their second competition to the last, their score improved 30 points. They competed at about six competitions and that’s roughly five points a competition. Our steel Poms competed with a kick routine which was seen at basketball games and sports assemblies. Last year in the Poms world, there were different categories to compete within. For example: Jazz, Hip Hop, Pom, Kick, etc. This year, they took those categories out so every dance style is judged with the same rubric, making it tougher to place.  The best score our steel Poms got this year was a seventy-seven, and their average was between sixty and seventy. In order to place higher, the head coach, Allison Troc, often made adjustments to the routine. The judges will give the team notes referring to the girls’ performance and the team will take those and work off of them. Although Steel Poms did not make it to state this year, there will be other chances. For instance, next year Coach Troc will do a Pom routine rather than a kick routine. The team keeps improving and in the future we will see our Steel Poms at state.