Most people watch NFL games from bars or  couches, but a handful of University students get to be right on the sidelines with the likes of Drew Brees and Reggie Bush.Annie Albert, communication studies junior, is one of five students who performs for the Saintsations, the dance team for the New Orleans Saints. But Albert said the biggest challenge is to manage class during football season.”We have Monday night football games, and I’ve had to miss a whole day of school,” Albert said. “I’ve had a lot to catch up on.”The Saintsations perform on the sidelines at all Saints home games and make appearances each year at private parties and other events in the state, said team member Meagan McDaniel, communication studies senior.The team practices twice a week, with one practice held in Mandeville and the other in Baton Rouge. Afternoon classes make arriving to practice on time difficulty, McDaniel said.”I’ve sometimes had to leave class early,” McDaniel said. “Last semester I had a class to 4:30 and had to leave early to get to practice on time.”The Saintsations hold tryouts every year in May, which often inconveniently coincides with final exams at the University. Team member Hope Hanley, elementary education sophomore, said it was intense having to study for all her exams while preparing for tryouts.Returning members are required to audition each year to maintain their positions on the team. Team member Brittany Hamilton, political science junior, said her roommate who is a former Saintsation was forced to miss tryouts to study and was subsequently cut from the team.In addition to studying around their performance schedule, the women often have to reschedule assignments or leave classes early, McDaniel said.McDaniel said her professors have never had major problems with her rescheduling or making up assignments. But Hamilton said she has been treated differently by a professor for asking to reschedule a test to make a Saintsations event.”I took a class over the summer, and I was trying to take a test early.” Hamilton said. “But he said, ‘Absolutely not.'”University Policy Statement 22 [PS-22], which addresses student absence from class, states students can miss class for reasons like illness or serious family emergencies.Jeannine Kahn, assistant vice chancellor in the Office of Academic Affairs, said individual professors determine whether a student’s absence is excused.PS-22 states, “The course instructor will determine the validity of a student’s reason(s) for absences and will assist those students who have valid reasons.””In other words, the determination of if a student’s absence is one which should be accommodated resides with the instructor of record,” Kahn said.The student has the right to appeal the instructor’s decision if “the instructor and student disagree over the validity of a reason for an absence,” according to PS-22. But Hamilton said she will keep her participation with the Saintsations to herself.”Over the summer if I missed a class, I’d be in big trouble,” she said. “So this semester I haven’t told them [that I perform with the Saintsations].”The University Policy Statement extends excusable absences to students participating in varsity sports, including the LSU Tiger Girls, Kahn said. McDaniel and team member Danielle Hall, allied health sophomore, are former Tiger Girls team members and said dancing professionally is a totally different experience.”They’re both really fun,” McDaniel said. “The Saints are more grown up — a lot of the girls already graduated and have jobs.”Regardless of whether a Saintsation is in school, performing requires a great deal of time and dedication, Hamilton said. The girls said they enjoy being on the sidelines to support the Saints despite studying and catching up on sleep while carpooling to practice.”All of us have school, but we never miss an LSU game,” McDaniel said. “We’re happy both of our teams are undefeated.”—-Contact Ben Bourgeois at [email protected]