In Chaifetz Arena, the only men performing on the court will have balls in their hands.

The Athletic Department recently announced plans to merge the dance and cheerleading teams into a spirit team that will entertain spectators at athletic events-without the men on the cheerleading squad.

“We are going to an all-girls format [next year], and I’m calling it my power team,” said Casey Faye Mills, the spirit team’s coach, who is in her eighth year coaching at Saint Louis University.

“It’s going to be a group of girls who are skilled in dance and all areas of cheering,” she said about the team, which will combine elements of dance and cheerleading.

Mills said that officials within the Athletic Department have been “thinking about this for years,” and saw the impending opening of Chaifetz Arena as an ideal time to begin the revamped program.

While men will not be included in next year’s spirit team, Mills remained open to the possibility of returning to some sort of co-ed format in the future.

“I love [the men on the team],” said Mills. “They have always offered good things to the program.”

One benefit of merging the teams and cutting the amount of women who are able to participate to a maximum of 20, Mills said, is that every member of the team will have a partial athletic scholarship.

Kosha Irby, associate director of the Athletic Department, cited safety during dangerous stunts as an issue that motivated the move from a co-ed team to a women’s team, as men must be highly trained to effectively fulfill their duties.

“We’re not recruiting the top caliber [of men],” Irby said. “We don’t have a surefire base [of men to draw from].”

Irby said that bringing the talents of the dance team and the cheerleading squad together as a spirit team would “improve the quality and experience of both teams.”

Junior Jermaine Duffis, a cheerleader this year, said that he first learned of the new spirit team during a tournament in mid-March.

“It was an out-of-the blue thing,” Duffis said.

While Duffis said he was upset for men who would not have the opportunity to participate in the spirit team in future years, he said that he had more sympathy for women, who would have to quickly learn unfamiliar skills and abandon established ones. He said that dancing and cheerleading require different sets of skills.

Duffis said that he feels merging the two separate sports is “a step backward” that will leave “a dent in our athletic program.”

Maggie Grindler, a junior with three years of experience on the dance team, said she was notified of the merger by an e-mail from Mills on March 10.

Grindler shares Duffis’ concern that the spirit team will fail to showcase the extent of its members’ talents.

“The skill level was lowered for dancers,” she said. “It’s not going to be much of a dance team.”

Grindler also said that it was challenging for dancers to learn certain elements of cheerleading: “Most of the dancers I know can’t tumble.”

Mills said that she is offering any interested women the chance to train in anticipation for tryouts. Training will take place on Mondays from 6 to 7:15 p.m. at West Pine Gym until tryouts are held on April 4.

“I offered to do that . to help people feel more confident,” Mills said.