Collierville pom teams win big at nationals

Collierville High School’s varsity and Collierville Middle School pom teams, under the direction of coach, Carol Lloyd, recently competed in Universal Dance Association’s 2017 National Dance Team Championship hosted Feb. 4-5 in Orlando, where they took home high honors for their pom and hip-hop routines.

The high school varsity team was second in the nation in the High School Large Varsity Hip-Hop division, and seventh in the nation in the High School Large Varsity Pom division. Participating in this very competitive division were 24 teams from across the nation.

“This program has been under the direction of coach Carol Lloyd for only four years, and they’ve made major strides to compete against some of the best teams in the nation,” said team teacher sponsor, Ashley McCullar. “I believe the Large Varsity division is the most difficult of all. These girls dedicate their lives to dance, and we’re proud to say we beat our own personal best this year and brought home two trophies for our school.”

The middle school team took home two second-place trophies for their hiphop and pom routines. They competed against 16 teams from across the nation, and Collierville Middle School out-performed the best-of-the-best in both Semi-finals and Finals competition.

Hip-hop and pom routines require significant athleticism and technical dance skills. In addition, each dancer must display great showmanship, mental toughness and precise timing to pull off each unique trick that the choreography requires.

“These girls demonstrate what it means to be a student athlete, and they love competing on behalf of their school and their community,” said Terrance Moore, the CHS varsity team’s teacher sponsor. “They took every ounce of energy, every bit of passion and every second of practice and combined them in a beautiful fashion to get to this point at competition, and they just shined. When