On the day before the Austin Packer dance team went to celebrate Thanksgiving with their biological families, the team was getting together with its team family at a practice in IJ Holton Intermediate School Wednesday morning.

The Packers had some familiar faces join their practice as the team had several grads back in the gym to offer critique and see some old friends.

Maya Wuertz was one of the grads who returned to see her old teammates and it was a little strange for her to be back as a spectator.

“It’s always really hard leaving a team and seeing them be successful is super cool,” Wuertz said. “Seeing them from the sideline is inspiring. They saw how successful we were as a team and it’s cool how they have the same drive.”

Austin head coach Kayla Sellers is a former Packer dancer herself. She said the team has always welcomed alumni to come back and visit, but this is the first year the team has had an actual day of practice dedicated to alumni visiting.

“We always say that once you’re part of the family, you’’re always part of the family,” Sellers said. “I don’t have any daughters, so they all are my daughters. I follow them through life and it’s a really special bond to have after they graduate.”

Austin senior Taige Iverson is a captain on this year’s team and she said the bond between dance team members is a strong one that begins when the athletes begin dance as youngsters.

“Throughout the years we build a bond with the seniors, so when they leave and come back it means a lot,” Iverson said. “We grow a lot over the years. A lot of us have done this since we were little and we’ve been friends for a long time. We continue to grow and that makes the dance better. When we are one, we dance as one.”

Austin grad Abby Miller said that coming back to practice gave her a rare chance to see a routine she didn’t know and give the Packer dancers an outside critique that they maybe haven’t had in the past. She was also glad to back in the gym with her dance family.

“It was kind of hard not being in the formation, but it was also really cool to see how it is without being there,” Miller said. “I had a big role as a captain last year and it makes me proud to see the girls step up and take over what we left behind.”

The current Packer dance team members appreciate when their former teammates and other alumni come back to help them out and they’ll look forward to doing it after they graduate.

“It really means a lot to us,” Austin senior Baylee Phillips said. “They know what it’s like when they were on the dance team and now they critique us. It’s a whole different world to see them again.”

The Packer dance team will perform when the Packer girls basketball team hosts Byron in Ove Berven Gym Tuesday night.