Tryout season is wrapping up, and Spirit of Texas has announced the new members of A-Team for the 2018-19 season! The purple ladies are all set to have a solid season as they will be lead by 14 seniors, all of whom but one are veterans on A-Team.

FloCheer caught up with Krista Godbee, coach of Spirit of Texas A-team, to hear more about the 2019-19 team.

FloCheer: How excited are you for the next chapter for A-Team?

Godbee: I am so excited to get started! I haven’t seen the girls since Worlds, so we are all really missing each other right now. It’s been a nice little break, but I’m definitely ready to be back.

First Sunday practice was ?️mazing!! pic.twitter.com/VqFTpleihg

— A-Team (@SOT_Ateam) June 11, 2018

What does the 2018-19 team look like?

Luckily last year we only had five seniors, so the new team is mainly returners. There are only 10 new girls on the team this year — only one is new to the program, and only four that I haven’t coached before.  

So that makes it super exciting since they all already know each other; most are already use to my coaching style and already share the love for the program and for A-Team.  

Any standout leaders? 

This year’s group of seniors make up almost half the team with 14 seniors and all except for one of them has been on A-Team before, and most of them have been on the team for multiple years! Their love for this team is so strong. I can’t wait to see how they lead vocally and by example this year.

Sad to say, last one best one.
A-Team round 6????️

— kylana whitley (@KylanaWhitley) May 27, 2018

How rewarding is it to see the excitement of girls making A-Team for the first time?  

It’s so cool to see all the tweets and pictures in tears form when they found out! Some of the rookies to the team have been waiting patiently to be on their dream team for years. So it’s awesome to see their dreams become reality!

What did you look for most in an athlete when picking the team? 

After last year’s difficulty with stunting, we really focused on putting together strong bases and backspots even if their tumbling isn’t the strongest. I feel like we really have a great mix of tumblers and stunters this year to start the season off.

What can an athlete really do to stand out at tryouts?  

Tryouts at Spirit are really laid-back. We try and make it feel like home and just like a practice right from the start! Since most of our level 5 athletes come from within the program, we always use their year before as their tryout really. So it’s not based on one or two good days, but what you were able to do for your team the previous year.

When we get new athletes it’s always exciting to see how comfortable they are right away and how welcoming our old athletes are. Clearly, we want to see all of their amazing skills, but we also want to see their personalities and how well they mesh with others!

Does Spirit of Texas have any unique tryout traditions?  

Our tryouts have evolved over the years for sure. When I tried out in 1996, we went one at a time like an individual routine with our three jumps, running tumbling and a hard routine with all of our skills in it! It has definitely changed over the years.

Now half of our athletes do private tryouts where they come in and show Brad all of their skills and are done. While the rest do our group tryout which is two to three days that are really laid back and show their skills and learn a short dance. Then it’s about a week of team selections and then we send out our "SpiritMail"—which is an email with what team you made, when the parent meeting is, and when your practices are.  

? ✉️ #SpiritMail ✉️ ? pic.twitter.com/PftwfgPp2n

— Spirit of Texas (@Spirit_ofTexas) May 27, 2018

Any tips you would give to athletes looking to try out for A-Team in the future?  

For some reason, we always hear that new athletes are scared to try out for Spirit and think they won’t make it. That is so not true! A-Team was literally formed six years from new athletes to the program!

My main advice would be don’t be scared to try out. Almost every athlete that tries out makes a team at Spirit unless they request a certain level, team, or stunting position that doesn’t match their skills. We would love to have new faces at Spirit and on A-Team in the future, especially since half of the team will be graduating after this year!

Watch The Season Finale Of Spirit Of Texas A-Team: Making The Grade!

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