Timeout: Leaping through hurdles
Athena Markowski | Social Media Editor
Jessica Langer | Lantern TV Campus Producer
Framed by their trophies, The Ohio State University Dance Team poses together following their victory in the 2022 national championship.
Following four-time Olympic gold medalist Simone Biles’ historic withdrawal from events during the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, The Lantern is sitting down with Ohio State student-athletes to discuss the mental strain of juggling academics and athletics.
First was the 2014 ‘Undisputed’ national championship football team with the first CFP title, then came Nadine Muzerall’s Buckeyes with their first women’s hockey title in 2022.
These are just a few Ohio State teams that will be remembered for raising the bar at the already athletically successful university.
The Ohio State University Dance Team celebrates as confetti falls following their victory in the 2022 national championship.
In January, the dance team joined those teams.
After performing at the 2022 Rose Bowl, the team traveled to Orlando to compete in the Universal Dance Association College Nationals Jan. 14-16. They swept the entire competition, defending their 2021 titles in pom and jazz and winning their first-ever game day national championship.
That was the first time in UDA history that one team won every category.
“That was the best feeling I have ever had in my entire life,” senior Abby Takahashi said. “Our coaches all ran up to the front of the stage at the edge and we all ran up to meet them and we were sobbing. It was the most emotional thing I’ve ever experienced because no team has ever done it before.”
The dance program is no stranger to UDA Nationals –– they currently have nine titles, all collected from 2018 to 2022. Their continued success, however, comes with a challenge: stay at the top.
This pressure to succeed, while physically demanding, can also affect the mental health of the dancers, who say their benchmark of achievement is perfection.
“The whole basis of our sport is performing in front of people and then being judged on our performance, so we go through kind of finding the balance between taking that criticism seriously and applying it to get better and then also not letting yourself take it too personally,” senior Emily Placita said.
Charron Sumler, a licensed professional counselor and the team’s psychologist, said perfectionist tendencies are common with dancers. She said many dancers thrive in an environment where excellence is expected, but the weight of carrying a winning legacy takes a toll on them.
“We talk about perfectionism a lot, how difficult it is in their sport, how hard it is to not take things personally when the scores are based on your body, what your body did versus a ball going into the hoop — something objective,” Sumler said. “I need to help them in some way separate the sport from them themselves as humans and not taking that too personally to where it’s like, ‘Oh, I’m a bad person because I got this score.’”
Takahashi and Placita said head coach Melissa McGhee — a former member of the dance team who Sumler said engages with the sports psychology program more than other coaches — constantly reminds them that perfection isn’t automatically attained, but is rather earned.
“Our coaches have been an integral part of making sure that we feel that we don’t need to be perfect because they instilled that in us every single day that all they want from us is effort,” Takahashi said. “We really appreciate that from them and that builds on our mental toughness.”
The dance team and other parts of the spirit squad do not just compete for personal satisfaction. They have the added bonus of attending all home and many away games for other sports — including football, basketball and volleyball.
However, McGhee said these additional responsibilities can cause the dancers to feel burnt out.
“The actual time management of that is, I think, where the mental health piece comes in, because a lot of times, that’s putting in some really long hours and being fueled like you’re feeling pulled in a lot of different directions,” McGhee said.
Takahashi said while this element does add an extra element of stress, dancing on game day is something she’ll always treasure.
“It really is so fun and such an honor to be able to be on the sidelines and cheer for everyone because some of the most fulfilling memories that we all have from the team is getting to meet the little girl in the cheer uniform at the football game that says she wants to be just like you when she grows up,” Takahashi said.
During the fall, the team not only dances for fans at Ohio Stadium, but also learns their routines for the National competition. Placita said the team increases the number of practices around Thanksgiving break, with their final stretch in December as they clean up the routines.
The Ohio State University Dance Team performs onstage during the 2022 national championship.
Placita said while most Buckeyes have about a month off for the holidays, the dance team stays in Columbus during the majority of winter break for final preparations before heading to Florida in January.
Due to their jam-packed schedule, McGhee and Sumler have created a “structured system” for the team that allows for regular appointments with the sports psychologists. McGhee said Sumler attends practices on average every three weeks, but when there is a higher need, she comes more frequently to do sessions with the team as a whole.
“I think it is either building a well-rounded mental state and focusing on mental health and whatever that may be,” McGhee said. “We also have a focus on why it’s important and yes, it’s for the team, but ultimately, when I send our kids off, I want them to be mentally tough in whatever area of life they go to.”
Outside of the sports psychologists, student-athletes have access to the Student Athlete Support Services Office, which provides them with academic support such as tutoring services and academic advising, Takahashi said. The team benefits greatly from these resources, she said, which have been available to them since 2011 when dance became a varsity sport.
“It is hard and there’s a lot of time management that goes into it and luckily we have a coach that’s very understanding and allows us time off during finals week and stuff like that to be able to focus on our academics,” Takahashi said. “If we’re not performing well in the classroom, that affects what we do here.”
Takahashi said the closeness of the team allows the dancers to lean on each other — their shared experiences and stressors have created a family-like bond.
“We talked about being one all the time and we always like to tell people that are looking at our team that we’re not just a team, we’re a family,” Takahashi said. “We all love each other so much and that really has translated into our dancing, and I think that’s translated in the results that we’ve seen at Nationals as well.”
As the nine-time champions head into another full year, Placita said she hopes their closeness and love for each other will continue to grow. As long as the team keeps their shared love for dance at their core, success is already theirs, she said.
“I think one thing that really helps us with that is just finding the love and a passion for the sport again and not necessarily getting so caught up in being perfect to win or being perfect to continue to keep our titles because I think when we get in that mindset, you kind of lose sight of the reason why you chose a sport and the love that you have for the sport,” Placita said.
Words by Athena Markowski
Video by Jessica Langer
Dance footage courtesy of Katie Devine