Inside a Practice with the Texas Tech Pom Squad

By: Julissa Garcia / Alpha Media Intern

Fans only get to see the finished product of the dances that the Texas Tech Pom Squad performs, but how do they prepare and practice to get to the finished product?

The Texas Tech Pom Squad practices every Tuesday and Thursday from 5:30-8:00 p.m. These practices start with a 15 minute stretch and warm up that finishes with 3 minutes of abs. Depending on what the Pom Squad has in store for the weekend or upcoming weeks affects what happens in practice.

Since there was a game this past week on Saturday and Monday, that meant the pom squad had to prepare two different timeout dances to perform at the game. For Saturday’s game we reviewed a dance that we had performed during football season, but for Monday’s game we put together a new routine. Any time the pom squad dances a new routine, we learn the minute long dance off of a video and then come into practice to audition the dance for our coaches for them to set the formations. After formations are set, we clarify and clean the dance to make sure everyone is doing the same movements, then we run the dance several times to get more reps in our bodies to make sure no mistakes happen on the court.

Practice always finishes in a team circle to talk about reminders, spread positivity, reflect on what things to do better or work on for the next practice, and our team break. Being a member of Tech Pom has taught me so many incredible lessons and each practice our team looks for ways to improve and be their very best at every performance.

The practice and preparation for a perfectly polished routine may go unnoticed but the execution and high energy of dances impact the crowd and bring more hype to the game. Hard work and dedication is the main structure for the pom squad and is a key factor in every practice for their routines to be produced weekly at games.