Blue & Golden girls: Original Bomberettes will be back on the field to perform at halftime during Saturday’s game

Donna Fiala leads a rehearsal of Bomberettes who will relive their glory days from the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s in a performance at Saturday’s alumni game.

Barb Sloggett shows she hasn’t lost her touch when it comes to baton-twirling.

More than 100 women, including some who last raised a pompom in the 1950s and 1960s, will dance and cheer once again for their favourite team at this weekend’s alumni game.

The Blue Lightning, the Bombers’ current cheering squad, invited the original Bomberettes back to perform — and they answered by the dozens.

On Saturday, the current cheerleading squad for the Blue Bombers will clear the field for 129 of the former cheerleaders at halftime during the Bombers’ game against the Montreal Alouettes at Canad Inns Stadium.

“Yes, we are very pleased with the response!” Stacey Stone, head coach of the Blue Lightning Dance Team, said in an email.

“I’m so excited. I can’t even speak,” said Linda Reichert, who was a Bomberette in the 1970s. Reichert works in the Winnipeg Free Press marketing department.

The response underscores something special and innocent about the early squads.

Postwar boosterism of the 1950s created the Bomberettes in the first place. These women raised families of fans, children and grandchildren and set the course for generations of season-ticket holders. They made lifelong friends of fellow squad members, raised money for charity and even ice-skated with torches of real fire every March of Dimes, an Easter Seals fundraiser.

The Bomberettes appeared at many events in Winnipeg including the 1975 Schmockey Night, a variety show that raised money for charity

They performed with the RCMP musical ride.

Good memories explain part of the fervour, said several who recalled their time with the Bomberettes as some of the best days of their lives.

Bomberettes from the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s have been practising under their original coach, Donna Fiala.

At 80, Fiala still sports the lithe figure she had in the 1950s when she first led the Bomberettes as coach. Her daughters, who were child mascots with the squad — they are returning, too — smiled as one returning member observed Fiala hadn’t gained an ounce since her publicity stills shot 60 years ago. Their mother still wears the same dress, too, they said, laughing.

Fiala is the official record-keeper for the Bomberettes’ history; her collection of snapshots, publicity stills, programs and news clippings account for probably the most comprehensive souvenir collection of the Bomberettes of that era. It was her passion.

“I loved it,” Fiala said. “I loved the teaching. My mother and my sister made all the uniforms. My daughters were the mascots; it was a family thing,” Fiala said. “I was in the field for 28 years.”

“God, we’re good,” Linda Peter Boughton joked as Fiala led 23 of the former cheerleaders in a two-step while they simultaneously twirled batons at a recent practice.

Fiala instilled discipline, many recalled.

“We had a plan. No smoking. No drinking and we enjoyed the discipline of the Bomberettes. Donna was a very gentle person, but she had certain expectations,” Boughton recalled.

Bomberette members said Donna’s combination of good, clean fun and lots of discipline made a lifelong difference.

“It never leaves you. It changed my life, definitely.” Boughton said.

On the Blue Bombers’ field ready to perform.

By Murray McCormick
Leader-Post

Deb Ruhr said there were the usual challenges associated with organizing a 50-year reunion of the Saskatchewan Roughriders cheerleaders.

One of the tougher ones involved getting in contact with the hundreds of women who have been part of the cheerleading squad since it was formed in 1961.

“Do you know how many women have changed their names?’’ Ruhr, chair of the organizing committee for the 50 Years of Cheers reunion, said Monday with a chuckle.

That takes place with women, especially after they get married. Ruhr and her six-person organizing committee contacted many of the former cheerleaders and 110 are to be on hand this weekend for the reunion. There are many events planned, including an appearance at Saturday’s game when the Riders play host to the Toronto Argonauts. All of the cheerleaders and the members of the current Riders cheer team are to form a line and cheer on the Roughriders when they run out of the tunnel.

While that event will be exciting, Ruhr feels there will be other highlights.

“Seeing it all come together and all of the smiles on their faces will be one,’’ Ruhr said. “It will also be nice reminiscing.’’

Ruhr was a member of the Riders’ cheerleaders from 1969 through 1974. She joined the team while in high school and remembers it was far different from the modern-day cheer team.

“Today it’s a stunt team,’’ Ruhr said. “We’ve seen many variations of cheer teams over the years. We didn’t have any sponsors and the first team that had a sponsor was the Molson Golden Girls.’’

It’s the second reunion marking a milestone for the cheerleaders. One was also conducted for the 25th anniversary of the team which was formed by Carol Gay Bell in 1961. She directed the cheer team until 1977 and is to serve as the master of ceremonies during Saturday’s wrap-up dinner. George Reed is the keynote speaker.

“It should be a lot of fun,’’ Ruhr said.

By Anna Borowiecki
St. Albert Gazette

When a Canadian Football League team is undefeated in the rankings, you pretty much have to notice the cheerleaders, right? For one St. Albert resident, having landed a spot on the Edmonton Eskimos cheer squad as a flyer is a dream come true.

Yes, Riley Myck, 18, is the petite brunette on top of the pyramid. She’s the flyer that gets tossed from base to base. She’s the stunter that performs the scorpion standing with one foot on the muscular shoulders of her base. With the grace of a dancer, she grabs the loose foot and bends that leg upward behind her body until it touches the back of her head. Admiration mingled with a collective “ouch” at our own inability sweeps through the crowd.

“I love the adrenalin rush. It’s so empowering. It’s just me up there. I am in control of what I can do and, when I’m up there, it’s just me,” says Myck.

The Bellerose Composite High School grad is part of a mixed cheer squad of 18 dancers and 24 stunters. Coach Dianne Greenough explains that, this year, most of the auditioned cheerleaders are new to the squad, as is Myck. In their selection, Greenough looked at a wide range of elements from talent, experience and personality to their gymnastic abilities and daredevil spirit.

Of Myck, Greenough says, “She’s a natural gymnast and she’s a really hard worker. Her gymnastics abilities, her self-confidence and her maturity are huge. She’s very focused and she soaks up all new information and skills.”

The ability to juggle a school or work schedule, practices, 10 home games and about 200 promotional activities is crucial to a cheerleader’s volunteer role. So far this season, Myck has cheered at Edmonton Rush lacrosse games, the Edmonton Indy and various charity runs for diabetes and multiple sclerosis.

One event that had a lot of impact on Myck was the Capital Ex Monday Morning Magic. It is a program designed to assist handicapped children enjoy the fun of the fair in a safe environment. “They were so full of energy and excitement.”

Born in Drayton Valley, Myck has lived in various parts of the country, including Beaverlodge and St. John’s, N.L., before moving to St. Albert five years ago.

While attending Grade 7 at St. Peter’s Junior High in St. John’s, Myck was introduced to cheerleading. “I’m a bubbly, happy person full of energy and it suited me. It’s hard. I love the challenge and there’s always something new.”

After moving to St. Albert, she enrolled at W.D. Cuts Junior High and joined the competitive cheer team. Her decision to attend Bellerose was again highly motivated by the cheer group. And it paid off. Last year, the physically fit grad was captain of the Bulldogs cheerleading team.

This week, the stunt team gets to strut their stuff at the United States National Stunt Camp and Competition.

“I want to show people I can do things by myself. I’m an independent girl and I’ve worked my butt off. Being with the Edmonton Esks is my paradise and I’m enjoying my reward,” Myck said.

The Alouettes have updated their cheerleader pages.

Click here to see who made the team.

New headshots have been posted for the Toronto Argonauts Cheerleaders. Click here to check ‘em out. (No profiles or uniform shots yet, but the CFL season starts this month, so I expect updates will be posted sooner rather than later.)

Argos Cheerleaders Kristin, Alyssa, and Nadia

ROBERT MacLEOD
The Globe and Mail
May 10, 2011

As the students gazed upon Casey N. decked out in her Toronto Argonauts cheerleader uniform, it was hard for them to comprehend that she had been a victim of bullying.

But she had, in Grade 9 in Winnipeg.

During a class, her fellow students started giggling after the textbooks had been passed out. “I didn’t know what was going on,” Casey recalled of that moment when she was 15. “I can hear my name being whispered back and forth. I open my textbook and in my textbook on the inside cover it says, ‘Casey is a big fat slut.’

“I look at the person sitting next to me, there’s something really awful written about me in their book, too, and the person in front of me and the person behind me.”

Every text book in the class had something untoward written about Casey in permanent marker so that it could not be adequately covered up.

It was something she had to relive for the rest of the school year each and every time she had that class and the textbooks were distributed.

“Back then, I didn’t have Facebook,” Casey said. “But to me, that was the equivalent of Facebook. Instantly, 36 people saw something really horrible written about me and they talked about it.”

Casey, now 26, is the newest ambassador in the Argos’ efforts to combat bullying in schools.

For 10 years the CFL team has operated its Huddle Up bullying prevention program that started with players being sent to schools in the Greater Toronto Area to speak out against bullying.

Over the next week, the football team will be staging its fifth annual Huddle Up Student summits that will bring together student leaders from the GTA to share ideas that helped keep their schools safe from bullying behaviour.

The campaign, the only one of its kind in Canada involving a professional sports team, was spearheaded by Jason Colero, who is the Argos manager of community relations.

While a Grade 9 student in Toronto, Colero was constantly picked on and ostracized by many of the other students because of his small stature.

He said it nearly drove him to suicide.

Over the past two years, when it became apparent that bullying affects girls as much as boys, the Argos sensed their cheerleaders could do more than just shake their pom-poms.

The women – who do not want their last names published over safety concerns because of the public nature of their cheerleading jobs – are now a significant component of the Huddle Up campaign, regularly speaking to groups of girls in high school and elementary settings about bullying.

Both the Argos cheerleaders and the players are trained by the Canadian Safe School Network (CSSN) on how to properly counsel the students they speak to about bullying.

“Usually cheerleaders are only used as an accessory to an event where the players are the focus,” said Beth Waldman, an Argos spokesperson. “We’re the first CFL team to use our cheerleaders as actual mentors in a community outreach program.”

The main message they deliver is that the first step to stop the spread of bullying is to tell a person in authority – a teacher, a parent or a police officer – that they are being harassed.

That is not always the easiest choice if the person is being picked on because he or she is overweight, a loner or is struggling with grades.

Judging by the reaction of the contingent Casey recently spoke to at Harold M. Brathwaite Secondary School here, the endeavour is proving worthwhile.

“It was powerful,” Chantaine Green-Leach, a Grade 12 student at the school, said after the presentation. “I couldn’t even eat. It’s great to know that there are successful people out there with stories like this who we can relate to.”

Brigitte G., another of the Argos cheerleaders who is involved in Huddle Up, said the girls she speaks to view them as a role models.

“During one presentation one of the girls stood up and proclaimed that these other girls had been basically bullying the entire school,” she said. “She told us she wasn’t going to let it happen any more. That was very empowering for me.”

Studies in Canada have estimated that as many as one in five school-aged children have been bullied.

Stuart Auty, president of the CSSN, said a recent school board survey of 8,000 students in Winnipeg revealed that 50 per cent of respondents reported being bullied.

Auty said 9 per cent of those students said the problem was so bad they were fearful of going to school.

While both girls and boys will resort to physical violence when bullying, girls will often add a more covert psychological twist.

They utilize social networking websites such as Facebook or MSN to post derogatory comments about other students that quickly spread throughout the school community.

That form of bullying is commonly referred to as cyber-bullying.

“Now you’ve got bullies who’ve got weapons and more and more of them are girls,” Auty said. “The girls are significantly active in this whole Internet realm.”

ChrisD.ca
May. 02, 2011

The Winnipeg Football Club held open auditions on Saturday for its 2011 Blue Lightning Dance Team.

About 65 ladies came out to show off their moves in an effort to be chosen to dance on the sidelines at this season’s Blue Bomber games.

The competition at McPhillips Station Casino was tough this year, and only a handful of those who tried out will actually make the cut to fill the 18 to 20 spots available.

But it wasn’t all about looks — inner beauty was also being judged. As the Blue Lightning dancers will have to be ambassadors for the Blue Bombers’ brand, people skills were also a factor in the vetting process.

View the photo gallery [here]