Y'all already know the answer to the old question, "Are dancers athletes?" Well, duh! But how about this one: can athletic kids be considered dancers? And who gets to be on a dance team? What kind of an athlete do you need to be to have a functional spot on a dance team? We run through 3 types of athletes who might try out for poms or dance, and then compare those roles in the past to how they are in today's dance team scene (in Illinois, at least). For sure--the path used to be a lot easier to be part of the sport. We look at the role of studio accessibility, the time scale of developing core skills, and the eliteness we've built up in the world of dance team. Cafeteria-trained dancers, we're sending ya high fives! And studio bunheads, we've always loved ya, too.