The auxiliary team was faced with the challenge of learning a new choreography for this year’s halftime show.

The team’s coach, Daisha Levy, designed the show to push the girls’ limits. In comparison to last year’s show, Levy said, “This year it’s more of, ‘Alright, let’s take it up a notch and do something a little different, add a little bit more technique, a little bit more of a challenge for the girls so that they can grow’.”

One of the biggest obstacles the team had to overcome was learning how to handle the flags, which Levy didn’t have prior experience with. “I literally learned how to flag this summer, so it was just different for myself and different for the girls because I know some of the girls just danced; they really didn’t flag,” Levy said.

Sophomore Megan Linsky, a member of the auxiliary team, thinks it was difficult for the flag girls to learn the choreography. “I know for me, since I’m more dominantly a flag person… it was a little difficult to get more confident doing the dance routines just because I don’t have any dance experience,” Linsky said.

The young coach thinks the girls have improved since last year. She said, “Last year was like the trial period to determine whether or not the girls could do certain choreography, and also they weren’t written into drills last year so it was kind of like a new concept to them; they were kind of on the sideline whereas now they’re written into the drills and included into the band.”

Linsky agreed with Levy about the increased difficulty of this year’s show. “Last year’s show I definitely feel like there was more walking than actual dancing going on… [whereas now we] do choreography while we walk and I feel like we’re more noticeable now because we’re actually doing things,” said Linsky.

Heidi Ngo, a senior on the auxiliary team, also thinks the new choreography has increased complexity. She said, “We’re doing a lot of moves that aren’t as repetitive as they were last year.”

Along with the improvement, the girls on the team became closer this year after the flag and cattetes team were combined into one. Ngo said,“I feel like we’re a lot closer… instead of flaggers just being together and cattetes being together, it’s everyone inside of one big group rather than having cliques.”

Linsky believes the team hasn’t only become more tight-knit, but also more positive overall. She said, “Now we’re much more positive, and Ms. Levy is always just encouraging us and telling us we can do better and all that, and it’s just way more positive and more fun.”

Despite the new challenges this year posed for the team, the auxiliary girls are still going strong. In reference to their progress on the choreography, Levy said, “They have it, [and] it looks good, so I’m excited about that.”