To some they might be known as the “chaps” girls, cheering and dancing with the band during the gridiron spectacle of the University of Texas football games. However, these highly selected young women are much more than college-aged dancers who enjoy bouncing around with pom-poms.

Nicole Ruggiano, currently a junior at UT, is one of the oldest rookies on the pom squad. The team keeps up with their tireless duty of performing at home football games, men’s and women’s home basketball games, basketball tournaments, and other university functions throughout the year. That’s all along with keeping up with their schoolwork.

While the squad loves the excitement of performing during the football season, Ruggiano says the team is ready to shine during UT basketball season, the sporting event they were created for. “No one actually gets to see our technical dancing,” she says. “We have some really strong dancers on the team and it’s a shame a lot of people mainly see us cheer.”

Nearly every woman on the 20-member squad was an officer of their high school dance team or at the very least studied dance throughout their life. Each member has to tryout in the spring, among approximately 50 other girls, regardless of whether she had been on the team the previous year. Ruggiano spent two years at Oklahoma City University, a school known for its dance program, and actually made the UT pom squad before she was accepted into the university. “I tried out for both UT and Texas A&M’s dance team before finding out which school I got into,” she explains. “I was accepted at A&M first and was on the team with them for awhile. Then when I got into UT, I knew that’s where I wanted to be.”

After cuts and alternate members are made, the squad begins the year. Pom squad nearly takes ten hours every week, but Ruggiano actually enjoys the practice and training, “Here we get a lot of recognition; at my other school everyone is a dancer, but here it’s almost like being an athlete.”

The squad also demands major discipline to attend all of the events, appearances and practices. And if anyone on the team makes a mistake, the whole team has to run a half-mile at the next practice. If there are several mistakes, the number fits the miles. Nevertheless, Ruggiano almost expects this to be a factor on any squad.

Growing up in Austin, Ruggiano spent hundreds of hours studying with Shirley McPhail School of Dance, and then went on to serve as captain of the Anderson High School Trojan Belles. “My director taught me outstanding discipline, which I brought with me to the pom squad.”

Now Ruggiano has the rest of the basketball season to look forward to before the year cycles again for her and her teammates. As for spring tryouts, “If I make it, I would love to stay on,” she says. “What you make out of any organization depends on how much you appreciate being there. Dancing [with the pom squad] is so much fun and I feel I have made the most of it.”