Family togetherness

All teams are close making for good chemistry, but E-Squad’s bond goes beyond is consider family like.

“It’s just a bond you can’t get anywhere else,” says coach Djuwanna Frazier.“The team is very tight knit, the girls who have graduated are still friends, they are very close,”

Typically step routines and songs are passed down through generations of families or through fraternities and sororities. The passing on of these traditions gives step teams a family-like bond.

“We have two volunteers that come in and help with choreography, and we also have coach Frazier,” says coach Michelle Lyle. “Between the three of them they creatively come up with the pieces.”

This year with only 10 team members it’s one of the smallest groups E-Squad has had to work with in recent years.

“It’s easier to focus with less people to teach at practice” junior Rakell Drape says.

“I scan through the radio, Youtube and I do a lot of studying. I try and stay on top of it and see what you all are listening to,” says Frazier.

E-Squad’s coaches had a great experience when they did step in middle school. They didn’t participate in high school, but they loved it enough to come back and coach.

The step team spends time outside of practice together to keep their team chemistry strong and bond outside of their activity.

“We also have our old team that we try and incorporate with them,” says Lyle. “Sometimes we’ll have lunches, and dinners on the weekends so they can have mentors to look up to because some of them have gone off to college.”

Step traditions are passed between friends, families, and some organizations. Step creates a close team that ends up with long lasting relationships.