PHOTO GALLERY: Fort Osage Indianettes
Practice for the Indianette dance team at Fort Osage High School did not end with the last day of school in May.
Instead, the squad of 16 girls have practiced throughout the summer, preparing for their first Universal Dance Association camp outside of the state of Missouri. The result was success.
“We did amazing,” said Alyssa Goldsmith, squad co-captain and senior at Fort Osage. “We did the best we have ever done. I think it was because we started having more practices before camp, and it really helped out.”
The Indianettes received several awards at the camp, which was July 6 to 9 at Illinois State University in Normal, Ill. These included first place in large varsity for the squad’s home routine; a superior trophy; the Team Full-Out Award and a spirit stick, given to squads that demonstrate leadership, discipline and leadership.
In addition, four girls – seniors Natalie Upton, Kara Wilson and Alyssa Goldsmith and junior Chelsea Standifer - were named UDA All-Stars. Upton and Wilson were also nominated to be on the UDA squad at camp next year.
One of the largest awards the squad received was the Team Leadership Award. Indianette coach Terri Fletcher said this award is the most prestigious because it was voted on by the more than 400 participants at the camp this year.
“Everyone there was able to vote on who would get the leadership award,” she said. “It really was our crowning achievement at camp.”
The Indianette squad performs throughout the year at varsity football and basketball games as well as at boys’ soccer matches. Now that camp is over, the squad is continuing to practice four days a week to prepare for the upcoming school year. The squad will also compete in regional and state events in early 2009.
“We started practicing as soon as camp was over, so that we could put in a lot of practice time,” Fletcher said. “I think that because they have never known this kind of success before, it has really motivated them to start the school year off well to show everyone that their hard work has truly paid off.”
Senior Paula Eames said she is proud of how the team did at the UDA Camp. She said she believes the key to their successes this summer has been all of the extra practices and hard work the team put in prior to the camp.
“We were practicing almost every day, and I think that showed,” she said. “The girls really worked hard to get that routine down, and we did it well. The whole experience was very exciting.”
Junior Terra Etzenhouser said she thought the team was “fabulous” at camp.
“We were really focusing as a team, which is one of the reasons why I think we did so well,” she said. “I joined this team because I loved to dance, and I wanted to make new friends. But I have also found this experience entertaining and fun.”
