Step Sisters : Drill Team Coaches Get a Kick Out of Uniting Archrivals Squads

Naturally, Glendale’s two high schools--Glendale High and Hoover High--are archrivals.

So why were their drill teams flashing friendly messages to one another across the football field and dancing together during halftime ceremonies at Glendale High’s homecoming game last Friday?

You can credit two sisters--Carmen and Laura Poloni.

Carmen, 28, is a dance instructor at Hoover, and Laura, 24, is a Spanish teacher at Glendale. Both also coach the drill teams at the competing schools.

“When I learned last August that I would be coaching Glendale High’s drill team,” Laura said, “the first thing I thought was, ‘Wouldn’t it be fun to perform with Carmen’s team at the Glendale High homecoming, the biggest game of the season?’ ”

So, on a crisp autumn night, 86 dancers donned fringed and sequined flappers’ dresses in the schools’ colors of red (Glendale) and purple (Hoover), wrapped white feather boas around their arms and danced the Charleston to a medley of 1920s tunes.

The crowd of almost 7,000 in the stands cheered and clapped as the drill team members climbed atop chairs, waving their arms and shimmying their hips in synchronized movement. Aligning themselves in rows, the girls clutched each others’ waists and kicked their legs, their white plumes fluttering in the air.

“I thought it was really great,” said spectator Juania Jara, a 16-year-old Hoover cheerleader. “It showed that even though we’re rivals, we share good things.”

Bill Wild, Glendale High’s assistant principal, applauded enthusiastically after the performance.

“It’s fantastic to have the two sisters bring the schools together like this,” he said.

As the colorful dance routine showed, drill teams have changed dramatically over the last six to seven years. They no longer simply perform military drill-like movements; teams these days use modern dance, jazz and even ballet in their routines.

As former members of the Hoover High drill team, the Poloni sisters are well aware of these changes. Teams from Japan, Great Britain, South Africa, Poland and the United States have made drill team competition an international sport, they said.

Recently, the two Glendale schools learned that they were among three U.S. drill teams chosen to perform during the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain. They have also been invited to perform at next year’s opening of a Disney amusement park in France and at a May Day celebration in Russia.

Hoover High performed at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games, at the 1985 unveiling of the refurbished Statue of Liberty in New York and at the Pope’s 1987 visit to Los Angeles.

Barcelona will be Glendale High’s first international performance.

“The first time the Hoover team ever traveled was in my senior year, to San Jose,” Carmen Poloni recalled with a laugh. “Back then, it was such a big deal to just leave the city.”

Although the sisters attended the same elementary and high schools, the same college and later became teachers and drill team coaches, they have not been affected by sibling rivalry or jealousy, they said.

“When people find out we’re sisters, they just assume there’s competition between us,” Carmen said. “But it’s never been like that. We’ve always been best friends.”

The sisters’ closeness has been infectious. The two drill teams have shared dance shoes, costumes, and they attend each other’s shows, they said.

“It’s fun to cheer for the other team,” said Bernadette Reyes, a 15-year-old Glendale High drill team member. “We’re all sisters.”

For Carmen Poloni, coaching the Hoover drill team has been a dream since her sophomore year at the school. In her six years at the helm, she has led the team to numerous national and local titles.

“She works very hard to make our drill team be the best,” said Marikit Laurico, a Hoover senior and member of the drill team. “She can make a person who’s never danced before into a very good dancer.”

Laura officially began coaching at Glendale High in September, but she scheduled team practices before the school year began. She also expanded the performance schedule and extended practice periods. The girls say they love the changes.

“Last year’s adviser was totally different,” said Tina Dimaranan, a junior and member of the team for two years. “Laura teaches us new dance techniques and works on our routines.”

“She’s great,” Essayan added. “She’s energetic and funny. She’s your friend. We all want to be like her.”

Both teams practice rigorously. They meet two hours before the school day begins and schedule additional practices during lunch, or after school when they have special performances.

The coaches stress such rules as punctuality, self-discipline and practice, practice, practice. Team members must maintain at least a C grade average and must sign contracts agreeing to the team rules.

“Drill teams are important school spirit promoters,” Carmen Poloni said. “But they also teach confidence and self-discipline.”

The sisters deny that drill teams promote stereotypes of females, as some critics have charged.

“Some schools have the girls make cookies or treat bags for the (boys’ athletic) teams, but we don’t do that,” Carmen said. “I think that’s deplorable.”

“We work at dance. We have goals,” Laura added. “We also go to girls’ athletics events.”

Carmen added that she was the first drill team coach to include boy dancers--more than half of whom are football players--in some performances. By last year, mixed dancing had become so popular that it was added as a new category in national and state drill team competitions.