Argos cheerleaders warming up to Moncton

by Jesse Robichaud
Times & Transcript
September 24th, 2010

A city’s friendliness can be judged by many standards, but when your civic congeniality impresses CFL cheerleaders, it doesn’t get much nicer.

On top of being totally pleasant, Moncton is also a little lovelier today after the cheerleaders of the Moncton Argonauts and Edmonton Eskimos touched down at Greater Moncton International Airport yesterday.

“You guys are just the nicest people, you are,” said Rachelle, who at 23 is already a five-year veteran of the Double Blue cheerleading squad.

Truthfully, the Argos cheerleaders weren’t that surprised by Moncton’s cheerfulness considering the fact they have been cheering alongside a Moncton native all year, Stephanie B.

“We stole her from you guys. She is great, she is awesome, she is really excited to come back and she was telling us stories all week before we left about how great you guys are,” she said.

Mystie, a three-year veteran at 22, agreed.

“You know what, you can tell that she is from Moncton, now that I am here and I know her, she has something about her that is so sweet and such a positive energy, and it’s what you get off everyone we have met so far.”

And the squad is looking forward to returning the friendly welcome to Moncton football fans, no matter which team they are cheering.

“It’s all about the experience. Back at home in Toronto the main goal is the fan experience. Even if we win or lose we want our fans to have fun, that’s the main thing,” said Rachelle.

“We try to have a lot of giveaways, a lot of prizes, and we want to try to meet the fans face to face. We’re in the stands walking around meeting people.”

Rachelle said the close proximity between the players, cheerleaders, and fans guarantees spectators will enjoy the CFL experience.

“I hope that’s what you guys get when we come to this game and you guys see us in the stands. Don’t ever be afraid to come up and talk to us,” she said.

“We’re real people, the players are real people. We really want to show you guys you deserve a team here because we really want you to have one.”

In addition to getting the fans fired up at the Stade Moncton 2010 Stadium, they are looking forward to working with six local high school cheerleading teams while they are here.

“That is one of the main things we are going to enjoy doing here,” said Mystie.

“Hopefully someday we will have a team here and those girls will be able to be on that cheerleading team.”

The girls don’t usually travel with the team, although they have had the chance to make a few trips to places like Montreal and Calgary. This, however, takes the cake, said Rachelle.

“New Brunswick is the furthest I’ve been with the team so it’s totally new and it’s probably one of the best trips we’ve ever had so far.”

It didn’t take them long to say what they are looking forward to doing here.

“Eating lobster fresh from the ocean, I’m not going to lie, I love seafood and I can actually smell it right now and it’s actually making me so hungry.”

Like many CFL players, cheerleaders in the league also have day jobs. Most were cheerleaders in high school and football, and this is the apex of their cheering careers.

“If you want to become a professional cheerleader full-time I guess the NFL is where you want to go but we love the CFL and I plan on staying here and retiring as a cheerleader here,” said Rachelle.

“I’m a florist full-time and a wedding planner so that is kind of like my real job. It’s wedding planner by day, cheerleader by night, so once I finish this that will be the end of cheerleading for me.”

Mystie sees cheering as a fun pursuit rather than a career path.

“This is something I do more so for fun, I just enjoy it, it’s something like going out now. I’m a full-time student and I’m looking to start a career as a teacher,” she said.

She says she gets hooked on the adrenaline rush she gets when she runs onto the field each game.

“Game day is like no other, you can’t get that feeling anywhere else where 20,000 people are cheering for you, it’s amazing,” said Mystie.

“Practices can get really tiring but when you get to game day it all pays off, you run out onto the field and it’s great.”

Rachelle said it’s gratifying to perform for the fans.

“Game day is what you live for, nobody likes to do practice, but game day, and promotions, the people we meet and getting to work with kids and getting to help out on occasions like this is amazing.”

Neither Mystie nor Rachelle can say how long they will cheer for, but they want to keep doing it as long as they can, and they’re happy to do it here in Moncton.

“Life takes you in a different direction every day, right, so it’s hard to say I think we would all like to, we all talk about how hard it would be to stop because it’s such an incredible life, but again we have other careers and other dreams,” said Mystie.

The Argonauts have long had a strict policy on protecting the full identities of their cheerleaders from potential stalkers.

One of their cheerleaders was followed from a Toronto Transit bus, raped and murdered just steps from her home back in 1982.

Because Times & Transcript news stories are available online in Toronto and everywhere else, this newspaper has respected the Argonauts’ security measure and not given the cheerleaders’ last names