A new season equals updates and upgrades for Worlds teams, and World Cup has a few team changes that are making waves.

In 2017, World Cup was represented by Odyssey in Senior Small Coed and Omni in Senior Medium Coed, but changes are on the horizon for the Freehold, NJ, program.

Next year, Odyssey is preparing to come back stronger than ever as the World Cup's ONLY Senior Coed Level 5 team. World Cup fanatics may know Odyssey as the typical Medium Coed team representing the program, but in 2017 they made the switch to Small Senior.

As for Omni, after earning the top spot at UCA Nationals, the team continued its success in 2016-17 by finishing seventh at Worlds. Although Omni won't be a contender in Senior Medium Coed this year... can we still expect to see big things from the Omni crew in 2018?

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The new "Big O" (Odyssey) will be coached by current coach Angel DeJesus and former Omni coach Samantha Cetnar! Odyssey began in 2002 as a Small Senior team and transitioned to coed in 2006.

"What makes this team so iconic to our program is the fact that it's the first coed team in World Cup to truly make a mark competitively," DeJesus told FloCheer.

Think you know everything about Odyssey? We were lucky enough to catch up with the coaches to hear more about this iconic World Cup team!

How did red become a staple look for Odyssey?

Our very distinct red bows that have become a staple for our team began as surprise. The bows were first worn at Cheersport in celebration of Valentine's Day. When the curtains opened, the girls had on the red bows, and the boys had red roses for former coach Dana Gibson. The bow tradition continued by honoring an athlete from Fame All Stars who had tragically passed away right before Worlds that season, and because the bows were good luck the team has worn them ever since. 

*Fun fact: The first red bows were made by Cetnar's mom when her sister was on the team!

​The start of the infamous red bows!

What has it been like transitioning between medium and small?

After the 2016 season we be graduated six of our eight boys who were longtime members of the team. This prompted a discussion to figure out if Medium Coed would still be an appropriate division for us competitively. Omni had struggled competitively in Small Coed that season so we thought we'd switch the divisions to give both teams the opportunity to be equally competitive. Unfortunately, this season we've found ourselves in a similar predicament graduating all four Odyssey boys and four out of seven boys on Omni so as a result we felt it was the smartest decision to have Odyssey return to its original division.

How are you feeling going into next season?

I couldn't be more excited about the upcoming season. We just had call-backs for our second round of tryouts, and the talent displayed is just outstanding! Seeing this new group of kids in form as a medium team just felt right. I can't wait for our first official practice tonight. I feel very confident knowing that we gave Small Coed 5 a try, but Medium Coed 5 is truly where we belong and it gives more athletes the opportunity to be on this historic team for World Cup. We're going back to our roots! 
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Tell us about the tryout process

Once Shooting Star tryout invitations have be handed out, we look at the pool of talent that is left and how many positions we have to fill for the next season. During the first round of tryouts, athletes showcase their individual skills to determine whether they are level appropriate. After this process, we have call-backs, which is the second round of tryouts. Athletes are selected for preliminary teams and put into stunt groups to determine each candidates ability to work within a group. We also evaluate jumps and tumbling skills to ensure that we have an appropriate quantity to score in the high range at competition during the season. Over the first week of practices, we continue to evaluate and make adjustments as necessary before finalizing the roster. We want to get it right, and so far I think we've accomplished that. 

How are the athletes feeling about this transition?

The new Odyssey team and the entire gym is really excited to see Odyssey return to Medium Coed! The majority of the kids from last season's Odyssey and Omni teams are now on Odyssey together so it's nice to see them come together and merge both teams' traditions! They are a great group of kids that are already determined to take the Odyssey team to a whole new level! 

Will we ever see a Small Coed team from WC again?

Never say never! :) We determine our teams and levels each year going off of the talent and kids we have and what division we think the team could be most successful in! So if all the stars align, it could always be a possibility!

[WATCH] World Cup Odyssey's 2017 routine: