Buffalo Jills Open Practice

Phil from the Buffalo Pro Cheer Blog was at the Jills open practice early this week:

NFL Cheerleaders didn’t just start out in the pro ranks. Most pro cheerleaders don’t even wait until high school to start cheering and start out in grade school. To reach out to the young cheerleaders in Western NY, the Jills staged their 1st Open Practice on Tuesday night and the event was a bigger success than most expected. Well over 100 young girls came to the Buffalo Bills Fieldhouse to learn from the pros along with their parents and, in some cases, their coaches as one squad even sent a busload of their cheerleaders to learn from the Jills.

After check-in, the Jills led their young charges through some stretching exercises before splitting off into groups around the Fieldhouse where 2-4 members of the dance squad worked closely with groups of girls to teach them a cheer. While this was all going on, the Jills Ambassadors walked around to sell raffle tickets and talk to parents about the Jr Jills program and about what they wanted their children to get out of the experience.

After training with the Jills dancers, it was time to perform and each group performed with their squad leaders before a large cheer with all of the young cheerleaders. But that wasn’t it as the Jills had a special treat for their young charges as they put on a performance to show off a lot of what they do on gamedays in pregame and at the 3rd intermission of the game. The session finished off with photographs and autographs for the kids before the Jills finished off their night with their customary closed-door practice.

Photos and Video at Phil’s Blog