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Did you know the Houston Texans Cheerleaders have a set of twins on their squad that were featured prominently in a magazine?

Continue reading P-R-O 2010: Houston Texans Cheerleaders

By Matt Samuels
Jewish Herald-Voice

It’s a safe bet to assume that there are more Jewish doctors than NFL cheerleaders.

Michelle Lewis, 21, is on the way to becoming both.

Lewis, a native of Bellaire, Texas, already has passed the first test—she was chosen for the Houston Texans cheerleaders, making the final cut from a field of more than 500 women who tried out in April.

Her next challenge soon will follow, as the pre-med student wraps up her four-year degree at St. Thomas University next year before taking the medical boards and applying to medical schools.

Lewis is the only known Jewish cheerleader in team history, according to Texans cheerleading programs manager Alto Gary, and definitely the first who hopes to be delivering babies as an obstetrician/gynecologist after she retires her pompoms.

“It’s been a lot of hard work to get to this point—it’s very challenging, both school and making the Texans,” Lewis said. “I’m definitely glad to represent the Jews on the team. I’m enjoying every moment of it.”

Except for perhaps that moment when she was sitting at Texans headquarters anxiously waiting for her number to be called as the final team of 29 girls was announced.

“It was real nerve-racking because it came down to that final moment,” Lewis said. “I had mentally prepared for a year and then physically prepared for several months.

She added, “I had my parents waiting out in the parking lot in case I didn’t make it.”

Lewis didn’t have to wait long: Her No. 32 was the sixth number called as the announcements were made live on Texans TV.

“Michelle really gained my attention with her determination and poise,” Gary said. “She is a beautiful person inside and out and has been a
great addition to the team. I’m excited for her.”

Lewis was excited, too, but had to keep temper some of her emotions as she was surrounded by those who tried out but did not make the squad.

“I let out a little shriek, but I couldn’t really celebrate too much right there,” Lewis said. “I felt my eyes water up, but I didn’t really cry.”

Keeping that even keel could pay off for Lewis in the medical field, something she really is looking forward to.

“I want to be an OB/GYN because I feel like that’s the one field in medicine that a doctor can experience it all and more,” Lewis said. “You can experience the physician aspect of medicine when performing annual woman wellness exams. You can work with diseases and viruses if faced with an STD patient. And you can also perform surgery.

“And on top of all of that, you get to deliver babies—the one thing that no other field of medicine enables you to do.”

While Lewis finishes up her pre-med requirements, she will take advantage of her opportunity with the Texans. It is something she has been building toward her entire life.

While she didn’t really decide on wanting to be a doctor until she entered college three years ago, Lewis has known since she was little that she wanted to be a dancer.

In the first grade she took ballet and tap classes at the local JCC, as well as piano lessons and gymnastics.

“In third grade I was falling off the balance beam, and I had to pick one—so I picked dance and really stuck with it,” she said.

Together with Lewis all the way has been her twin sister, Rachel, who also is into dancing—more on the ballet side—and also hopes to apply to medical school. Rachel was interested in trying out for the Texans as well, but ended up keeping her focus on school.

“It’s always great to have that person there, your best friend, for support,” Lewis said. “She helps me out in school and we are just there for each other.”

At Bellaire High School, Lewis was vice president of the dance company and was a member of the cheerleading squad. After graduating from Bellaire in 2007, however, there was a bit of a void in her life.

“Once I entered St. Thomas, all of that went away,” Lewis said. “They don’t have a dance team and the cheerleading squad isn’t as big. So my mom said, ‘You live in Houston. You can try out for the Texans.’ And I said, ‘This is the year I’m going to do it.’ ”

So began the intense process of trying to make the team. After three rounds, the field of competitors was cut to 50.

“It takes a lot of work to be able to get in shape to do this,” Lewis said. “The girls that woke up that morning and decided to try out are the ones that got cut in round one.”

To stay in shape, Lewis does several intense training regimens, including a cross-fit program and a boot camp. She has changed her diet to stay in shape. And before every performance is two hours of hair and make-up.

“I really have no social life,” Lewis said. “This is my life. If I’m not doing school stuff, I’m doing Texans stuff. If I’m not stressing about school, I’m stressing about the Texans.”

“But this is the greatest opportunity in the dance world; it is elite. I just wanted to go for the best—NFL, pro. And now I can relax a little bit because I’m in.”

Besides the practice and dancing at games, each cheerleader is required to make 40 appearances a year on behalf of the team at various functions. The cheerleaders are paid—minimum wage and two season tickets, which Lewis already has promised to her parents.

“No one does it for the money, for sure,” Lewis said. “But it’s really awesome to see the kids look up to you. A little girl at an appearance the other day asked me my name, and she went and painted a T-shirt for me and gave it to me. It was very sweet. The kids look up to you and their eyes are really bright. It’s just a really good feeling.”

So which is going to be more exciting, cheering and dancing in front of nearly 100,000 fans on Sunday afternoons or delivering babies as a doctor?

“That first game is going to be a huge adrenaline rush, for sure,” Lewis said. “I’ll be soaking it all up. It will definitely be a rush, which I’m looking forward to.

“But delivering babies is the one thing I look forward to most because you get to literally bring life into the world. I’d be performing a mitzvah by delivering a couple’s baby, and I would also be fulfilling the final part of that couple’s blessing from God when He enabled them to conceive a child.”

And who wouldn’t cheer for something like that?

From CBSNews.com

We’ve all had our ups and downs, but few have had such highs and lows at such a young age as 34-year-old fitness model Jamie Eason.

After a few entry-level office jobs following college, Eason went to work for her family’s roofing company in Texas. But being chained to a desk was not for her, she realized.

While managing a crew of roofers, she tried out to become a Cheerleader for the Houston Texans - and got the job. Life was going great.

Great, that is, until she found a suspicious lump in her breast.

It turned out to be cancer. She had a lumpectomy, and eventually all was well. Except that she had missed so many practices that she had to quit the cheer leading squad and had to take a job as a computer instructor.

Four years later, she realized that she was what she calls “skinny fat.”

“I was soft and flabby,” she tells CBS News. “I had cellulite. I drank Dr. Pepper and ate Goldfish and fast food almost every day.”

It was her wake-up call. She hired a personal trainer and visited a nutritionist, and the new and improved Jamie Eason was born.

“Within a few disciplined months, my body began to transform,” she says. “I felt physically fit and emotionally, I had a true sense of accomplishment and well-being.”

She won the first fitness competition that she entered, and since then has graced the covers of countless magazines including Oxygen, Muscle & Development, and Fitness.

“I realized I had found a path for my life,” she says.

[Jamie Eason Gallery at CBSNews.com]

Profiles and uniform photos of the 2010 Texans Cheerleaders are now online. Click here to go there now.

You may notice something has changed since the team was selected. The squad is noticeably larger than it used to be. A couple of cheerleaders are missing, and some familiar faces have been added. Why? Your guess is as good as mine. All I know is that eight of the women currently on the roster were nowhere to be found on the list of finalists published last spring. I’m talking about Alisha, Ashley Si, Erica, Lindsey, Lynette, Rebecca, Larisa, and Marisa. Six of the eight are returning veterans, so perhaps they are captains and didn’t have to audition? But what of the other two? It remains a mystery.

Oh man, this is going to bug the crap outta me until I find out what’s going on…

Update
Here’s the scoop: Lindsey was the final cheerleader selected to the team via fan vote. Duh! I should’ve known that. The other seven are part of a new Texans Cheerleader appearance squad, which will represent the team at various venues and events in the community. Mystery solved!

MyFoxHouston
7/19/2010

HOUSTON - There will be more incentive to mark down what days the bills are due with the release of the 2011 edition of the Houston Texans Cheerleaders calendar.

The Houston Texans Cheerleaders 2011 Swimsuit Calendar goes on sale starting on Friday, July 30. Calendars will be available at all open training camp practices and at Academy Sports + Outdoors locations throughout the Houston-area.

Calendars cost $10 and proceeds from calendar sales benefit the Houston Texans Foundation and the Methodist DeBakey Heart & Vascular Center.

All of the cheerleaders featured on the calendar will be signing autographs at the first three open training camp sessions and on Friday, July 30 from 5 p.m. until 7 p.m.at the Academy Sports + Outdoors on Westheimer Road near South Voss Road.

From the good folks at DFWReporting.com:

2010 Houston Texans Cheerleaders auditions [Norrelle Dickson] from DFW Reporting on Vimeo.

When I arrived in Atlanta, I had an idea of the type of article that I was going to do, my customary event report.  I knew that James was going to cover each and every squad in attendance, but I wanted to do something different and I was searching for another angle.  So, when Saturday began, I took the opportunity to talk with each sponsor.  I wanted to find out a little more about their business and why they were here.

One sponsor stood out immediately. The Line Up is one of the leading designers of performance dance apparel.  I was impressed by the number of teams that wear their fashions and in talking to owner Deb Erickson, I discovered that many of the squads here would be wearing her designs.  I figured a little article covering the Line Up’s fashions might be in order, so I spoke with the organizers of PRO and received clearance to pose a few girls in their Line Up designed uniforms.

First up is the N.Y. Jets Flight Crew (NFL) and Houston Texans (NFL).

Continue reading P-R-O Convention Sponsor Spotlight: The Line Up