In what could be deemed as one of the most competitive auditions the Silver Dancers have ever faced, the 2008-09 team has finally been selected. Choreographer Raquel Garcia said that she is confident that this year's squad will be the best team she has put out on the floor.

As a former five-year member of the San Antonio Spurs Silver Dancers, Garcia took some time to give us the inside scoop on the rigorous process the ladies went through.

The auditions started Saturday, August 3rd with more than 150 women bidding for a spot in the top 16.

"We worked Saturday with the process of elimination and then on Sunday morning we interviewed them," she said. "Sunday afternoon they were able to show us the routines that demonstrated their creativity and their dance ability, and other things that maybe we didn't get to see."

Contrary to popular belief, these girls aren't just fit bodies, beauty and glamour. Part of their try-out consists of an interview session to scale how well the girls would correspond with the persona of the squad and to a larger degree, the entire Spurs organization.

Director of Game Operations Chris Garcia said that during the audition process there were legitimately 40 ladies that sustained the capability of joining a number of other dance teams in the NBA based solely on their looks, ability or personality.

"What we try to do here that I think makes us a little unique is we truly do look for the total package," he said. "So we're looking for someone that has the looks. We're looking for someone that's in shape. We're looking for someone that's career-minded. We're looking for someone that can perform and we're also looking for someone that's going to be a great ambassador for Spurs Sports & Entertainment."

Throughout the audition process, each portion of the try-out accounted for about 15 percent of the dancers' total score, thus making the last day with 24 dancers the most heavily weighed and the most important.

On the final day of auditions, the dancers arrived at Incarnate Word and prepared for their performance.

"Today they'll be put in pairs and they'll go out and perform one of the trial dances that they learned on Saturday," Raquel Garcia said. "They will be evaluated and their scores have all been compiled together since day one. We'll put those all together, deliberate, and we'll get our team chosen tonight."

The final audition is the most important part of the judging process. Chris Garcia explained why the final audition weighed substantially than the previous days.

"We see a couple things, one is we see how they dance with someone else that they don't necessarily know," he said. "We also see how they act and perform under pressure, because it is open to the public."

He said that some dancers can perform completely different when the spotlight is not on them. There is a night and day difference when performing out in the open with music blaring, all the fans cheering and judges scrutinizing.

"The final audition really can make or break someone," he said.

Prior to their introductions and performances, the dancers stretched and mentally prepared for their routines secluded from the public.

Silver Dancers veteran, Yasmeen said competing on the final day was nerve-wracking.

"I'm definitely a lot more nervous even though it's cut down to a minimal amount of girls," she said. "Everyone is very beautiful and very talented, so the competition is pretty tough."

Through each individual introduction, each paired performance, the deliberation of the judges and all the way up to the final proclamation - excitement, anticipation, and suspense filled the air. After the initial selections were made, 15 of the 16 spots were filled.

"This year is the first year in the history of our organization that the 16th dancer will be selected by our fans," Chris Garcia said. "That's the goal for this season and every season – to make sure that we can incorporate our fans into our experience as much as we can and we think it's going to be a great catapult to start the 08-09 season."

Fans were able to log on to spurs.com the following five days and were able to vote for their favorite dancer to fill the 16th spot. With more than 50,000 votes submitted and tallied, Leandra was selected as the 16th to complete the squad.

For a moment the newest member of the team sat anxious and in appreciation of her selection to the Silver Dancers.

"I was telling one of the girls that if felt like the NBA Draft Lottery and you're getting ready to see who they pick next," she said. "I felt like any moment it could have been any one of us."

Leandra wanted to assure the fans who voted for her that she greatly appreciated the support and she did not forget her promise to them.

"I would definitely like to thank all the fans who voted for me. I'll get to baking because I know I owe a lot of them cookies."

With the roster complete the Dancers will now only have to wait a short time before Boot Camp begins and all the preparation for the season.

"It's going to be tough," Raquel Garcia said, "but we're going to have an amazing team."