Fridays at ETHS look like something straight out of a high school movie. The football players wear their jerseys, the cheerleaders wear their bows and then, of course, there’s ETHS’ dance troop, the Pomkits, in their uniforms with their signature pom-poms.

Each halftime at home football games, the Pomkits take over the field and perform self-choreographed dance routines. Although these halftime productions are primarily what the team is known for, as ambassadors of school spirit, there’s also so much more they do.

“Pomkits is all about school spirit,” says senior varsity team member Allie Allocco. “In the past, we’ve done Fourth of July parades and competed in a lot of competitions. This past year, we competed in Nationals virtually and won fifth in our division.”

In the 2020-2021 season, the Pomkits placed 12th out of 15 teams in their sectionals—taking down rivals New Trier, Niles North and Lincoln Park. While their next competition won’t happen until Nov. 20 at the Deerfield Warrior Dance Team Invite, the team has many other events in store before then.

“Something I’m looking forward to is [the] pep rally. We’ve been working so hard on it and can’t wait to perform it next week,” Allocco said prior to the Sept. 24 pep rally.

The Kits’ hard work certainly paid off as they had the crowd to their feet at the pep rally, which preceded the Homecoming football game that night. Despite their audio cutting out mid-performance, the Kits recovered seamlessly and continued the routine with essentially no error. After a season without pep rallies or any sort of audience, the dancers truly brought their all.

“We were all so used to having a huge crowd at our games [before COVID-19, so] it was difficult to get excited to perform, at least for me,” Allocco remarks. “However, I think my team did a really good job given the obstacles we had to overcome.”

Following the football season’s end as early as late October, the Pomkits will compete in dance tournaments throughout the winter. Soon enough, fans can catch the team continuing its halftime performances at basketball games, which start in early December.

Though to an outside eye, the Pomkits seem just like any other sports team or dance troop, Allocco and the other team members feel the Pomkits are a family of like-minded, close-knit dancers.

“I have so many lifelong relationships now because of Pomkits,” Allocco said. “Pomkits has helped me grow as a person and a leader.”