2010 Pro Bowl Representatives: The Seattle Sea Gals
Clare Farnsworth
Seahawks.com
The Seahawks will have a representative at the Pro Bowl after all. It’s Sea Gal Amanda Janner, who has quite a story of her own to tell.
As a cheerleader at St. Pius X High School in Houston, Amanda Janner never expected to become a Sea Gal – let alone the squad’s representative at the Pro Bowl.
But here she is, about to be the Seahawks’ lone envoy at the NFL all-star game, which this year is being held in Miami on Jan. 31.
“I was very surprised to be chosen,” Janner said. “Because this was never anything I planned to do. Once I finished my senior year of high school, I really thought that cheerleading would be something in the past.
“So it is very cool.”
How did this happen? How is it that an on-line media host who moved to Seattle three years ago, after getting her B.A. in broadcast journalism from Loyola University in New Orleans and marrying her high school sweetheart, is Pro Bowl bound?
“Amanda is absolutely a great choice,” said Sherri Thompson, director of the Sea Gals and a former member of the dance team that has graced the sidelines at the Kingdome, Husky Stadium and Qwest Field for the past 34 seasons.
“She’s extremely well-spoken and, with her background, working with a microphone and public speaking and all that, it’s just easy for us. She’s just very well composed. She’s obviously beautiful. She’s got a ton of energy in her dance. And she’s photogenic. That’s why she was chosen.”
That might be how Janner got from Seattle to South Florida. But what about the Houston-to-Seattle segment of this saga?
“It was just time for us to move,” Janner said. “We were getting married and decided that we wanted to start our life in a different part of the country and experience something different from Houston.”
The decision process came with a quartet of destination must-haves: A major city; career opportunities; climate; and a NFL team.
Seattle won out as far as size and climate. “We visited Seattle and just loved it,” she said. “It’s just so naturally beautiful. The mountains, with skiing nearby, and the water. Just all these things to do.”
Her husband, Adam, got a job as a financial analyst.
Then there was that fourth item. “One of my criteria was I had to have a NFL team, and it had to have a cheerleading squad that I would want to dance for,” Janner said.
Once here, however, she still had to make that squad.
“Having come from another professional team, and knowing that my director and Sherri knew each other, I felt more pressure,” Janner said. “I thought, ‘Well, Sherri is going to expect a lot from me.’ And I’m not a trained dancer. So it really put on the pressure.”
Pressure that Janner, 27, obviously was able to handle, since she just completed her third season as a Sea Gal.
Janner had put cheerleading, competitive cheerleading/dance and gymnastics on hold after high school to focus on her studies at Loyola – while Adam attended the University of Houston.
Then her present crossed paths with her past, and set the stage for her future.
“My first job out of college was for a local ABC affiliate close to Houston (in Bryan),” Janner said. “And my first assignment was to go and interview the Texans Cheerleaders, along with the players. They were in town visiting the Boys and Girls Club.
“I didn’t know that side of NFL Cheerleading. I didn’t know they did all these appearances and all this charity work. It was obvious they really liked what they were doing and when I talked to them I saw their passion and just how enthused they were to be there.”
Janner had missed the camaraderie, which she still labels as the most enjoyable aspect of being part of a dance team for a professional sports team. So when she moved back to Houston, she spent three years as a member of Texans Cheerleaders before she and Adam decided to make the move to Seattle.
“I love it,” Janner said of being a Sea Gal. “And I’m so happy I made the squad, especially my first year. Not knowing anyone here it made the transition easier because I had 27 friends automatically. They’ve been my family away from home, so I’ve been really thankful for that.”
Now, she gets to add another line to her already impressive resume: Pro Bowl representative.
This wasn’t just an oh-yeah-her selection. Thompson has a list of criteria that a Sea Gal must meet before she gets the annual nod: How she will photograph with representative from all the other teams; how well she will learn the dances; being punctual; appearance when not in uniform; and approaching the game and everything that will surround it as a business trip.
When it came to Janner, it was check, check, check, check and check.
“She’s always on time. She always wears the right thing. She always looks good. And in her free time, she also will make really good choices and represent us well,” as Thompson put it. “It’s an honor and an opportunity.”
Janner is making the trip a family affair. Her husband is going. So are her parents, as well as Adam’s father and brother.
“I feel a lot of responsibility, because I will be the only Sea Gal there,” Janner said. “To be the only representative to show everyone this is what a true Sea Gal is, it’s a difficult task.
“It is an honor, but I do feel a lot of responsibility with it.”
