The 2007-2008 season for the Indianapolis Alumnae Chapter Step Team was unbelievable. The year before when discussing forming a team, their main purpose was to make a good showing at the Circle City Classic Greek Stepdown and possibly even the Delta Regional Conference or National Convention. No one suspected that a win at the Classic would launch the team into a whirl-wind season of competition throughout the Midwest, and then onto the National Stage.
The buzz began to get around and they were extended many more invitations to compete than they could accept. After Classic the first show the team competed in was at the Illinois State University Homecoming. Once again they wowed the audience and took 1st place. The next invitation was the Marshall University Homecoming Step Show in Huntington, West Virginia October 26 - 28, 2007. All of the Sorors on the team were excited as this was going to be their first road trip of some distance. However, by this time funds were running very low.
Collectively the team had spent over 15 hundred dollars of their own money up to this point and were feeling the crunch when evaluating the cost of fuel, three rented vehicles, and other expenses. And that's when God really started to work on them.
Miraculously a request to use a Surburban turned into all expenses paid for our vehicles to West Virginia. The father of Team member Karissa Rates only asked for someone with a credit card to secure the vehicles and he would pay the rental company in cash upon our arrival.
Rates stated, "All my daddy asks is for us to go down there and show out. He says he supports us."
With that emotion overflowed has Sorors had once again felt the blessings of the Lord.
Having been brought to tears, Team Member Lena Holton gathered her composure and addressed the team, "I love ya'll so much. I mean, I have never been with this many women - I have never been with this many people where it has been such a blessing for me. The fact that we can call sit here an praise God and how he continues to have favor on us everyday. This is awesome! Wonderful, wonderful Lord, I thank you Jesus!"
At the end of the week, members of the the IAC Step Team were on the road to Huntington, WV. Upon arrival the team was greeted by members of the Theta Omega Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. The host Sorors hospitality was unmatched. They had supplied the Team with paid registration for the show, a two bedroom hotel suite, a welcome gathering, and plenty of food and snacks.
The Theta Omega members also let the Step Team know that the local chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority had a history of winning this show and that it was not only homecoming but their Chapter's 35th anniversary.
The IAC Step Team was not intimidated. The next evening after another spirit moving prayer in the dressing room, members of the Indianapolis Alumnae Chapter Step Team truly put on a good show.
There was much delay after the competition and the announcement of the winners did not take place until around a half hour after the last performance. The Sorors took the time to mingle with other attendees of the show. Meanwhile, a woman in green was spotted speaking to the host during the majority of the long intermission.
Later when the winners were announced, to everyone's surprise, the IAC Step Team learned they had placed second in the show. The AKA's had triumphed once again. Theta Omega Chapter President Shauntae, teary eyed, hugged members of the Step Team and thanked them for all their efforts. Another Theta Omega Chapter member cried out,
"This is a shamble!"
Then a member of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. walked acrossed the stage and approached team member Tayisha McGuire.
McGuire then informed the team of the conversation,
"...she said that everyone thought it [the show] was really tight. The part that she saw was really tight. Basically she was saying that she realizes that this is games. She said um, she said that if we were going to lose, she said she would have hoped it would have been to a team that was better than us. So she said [because] she was a woman of Finer Womanhood she said that she wouldn't say something like that publicly but she wanted to come over and say that to us so, that was really nice."
Despite the outcome at Marshall University, the second place win still brought money into the Indianapolis Alumnae Chapter for programs and initiatives that benefit the Indianapolis Community. God still had a plan for the team. Little did they know, someone with ties to the Producers of Step Correct was in the audience. The team was invited and would take first place, winning a national championship title and a spot in the Disney's Wide World of Sports Step Show in Orlando, Florida.
Brittiny N. Clinton
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