The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Pommies Take China
11.19.2015 | Spirit Squad
The Texas Pom Squad traveled to China to cheer on the Men's Basketball team!
In early November, Stacey Arnold, Taylor Cox, Holly Matthews and Allison Young, the four seniors of the Texas Pom Squad, had the opportunity to cheer for the Texas Men's Basketball team far away from their home in Austin, Texas. The Longhorns traveled across the world to Shanghai, China to take on Washington University. They arrived a couple of days before the game, which allowed for some sight seeing! For the entire trip, the girls were accompanied by a tour guide who taught them a bit of the Mandarin language as well as some of China's history.
The squad spent their first full day traveling to the "smaller city" of Hangzhou. There they took a boat out on West Lake where they were able to see beautiful pagodas and temples. The next day was spent at the Alibaba Campus where the girls got to meet Jack Ma as well as the University of Washington dance team. Both teams practiced and rehearsed for the upcoming game day.
The team returned to Shanghai to make some special appearances. They walked along the Bund and performed with Bill Walton, a retired NBA basketball player and current sports broadcaster, on ESPN. They made an appearance at one of the top business schools in the world and got to meet and interact with lots of students.
When game day finally came, the girls were ecstatic to cheer for their favorite basketball team! The Longhorns played hard and the Pom Squad enjoyed every minute of cheering on the court. Senior and squad captain, Stacey Arnold said, "one of [her] favorite moments on the trip was getting the audience to participate in Texas' traditional Stadium Yell despite the language barrier." The whole team was very sad to leave China.
The girls have returned home with many memories and experiences to share with the rest of the team. The trip to China was an exciting beginning to the 2015-2016 Texas basketball season. We look forward to cheering on the longhorns for the remainder of the season!
Players Mentioned
