Former Ravens cheerleader brings dance moves to Frederick

By Adam Behsudi
FrederickNewsPost.com
October 16, 2009

After a stint cheering for the Baltimore Ravens, Christina Heller didn’t wait long before getting involved again with a sports-affiliated cheer and dance team.

Now director of the Frederick Lady Outlaws, the cheer squad for the semi-professional Frederick Outlaws football team, Heller is looking to choose the best women to rev up the team and the fans.

“This is for girls who did it in high school but don’t have an outlet to do it anymore,” Heller said.

The team will hold tryouts Saturday.

A love of all forms of dance drove Heller into what could be considered a second career.

The Frederick native is a graduate of St. John’s Catholic Prep, where she started a dance team her senior year.

She went on to Goucher College and graduated in 2001 with degrees in business and communications. Along with an early career in the mortgage industry, Keller kept dancing.

She earned a spot on the Ravens cheerleading team in 2001 and danced with them for five years. The strenuous part-time gig required Heller to be employed elsewhere full time. She said five years was enough.

“We were nicknamed around the organization as the track team,” she said. “Athleticism was a major part of that team.”

Heller, who lives in Frederick with her husband and their 13-month-old son, said she wants to bring that same athletic style to the Lady Outlaws.

She will balance that with her full-time job as a federal employee of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid in Baltimore.

“It’s a big commitment,” she said. “But I think we’re going to get a good group of girls together for this.”

Both the football team and the dance team will operate as nonprofit organizations.

Giving back to the community will be an important duty for any prospective team dancer, Heller said.

“We’re going to do a lot of community service for local kids in school programs.”