Topekan enjoys being KC cheerleader

By Eric Smith
The Capital-Journal
January 9, 2011

Thousands of rowdy fans yelling and screaming, energy and emotion oozing out of every pore. Some of the world’s biggest and best football players on the field, playing their hearts out. A brisk wind blows as temperatures have dropped below freezing, with snow lingering.

It’s just another day at the office for Kansas City Chiefs cheerleader Belinda Post, of Topeka.

Except this office is Arrowhead Stadium, and it just happens to be the NFL playoffs against the Baltimore Ravens.

The 22-year-old Post, along with her 28 other teammates, is all decked out in her cold-weather uniform, helping the rowdy stadium hold true to its moniker as one of the loudest in the NFL.

For Post, who is in her rookie season, the year has been a blur of great memories and good times, and it’s all culminating at this moment, in the Chiefs’ first home playoff game since 2003.

And all of it started nearly a year ago, when she made the team in January of 2010. It’s something that she said she will never forget.

“I remember almost screaming,” she said. “I was so excited.”

Then the Chiefs opened the season at the remodeled sold out Arrowhead on national television with Monday Night Football against AFC West foe San Diego. The soggy, cold night saw KC upset the Chargers 21-14. And just as the wet weather helped the Chiefs stop Philip Rivers and the San Diego Chargers’ dominant passing game, it also helped the KC cheerleaders overcome any opening game jitters.

“(I remember) being so excited in a game where we were on ESPN doing our kickline in our ponchos just getting the opportunity to let loose and maybe be not so concerned with messing up,” said Post, a graduate of Washburn Rural and Kansas State.

“It was so much fun dancing in the rain.”

No matter the situation, with snow, rain or heat, Post said her and her fellow Chiefs cheerleaders remain happy, caring, energetic, driven and strong because, just like the players and everyone else within the KC organization, they have a job to do.

And while often times, that most noticeable job is at games, the cheerleaders also make several community appearances away from Arrowhead, and Post said it’s times like those her and her peers enjoy the most.

“The best part for me is seeing somebody’s face light up, is seeing somebody just so genuinely excited to meet you,” she said. “And you doing your best to go ahead and invest in that person’s life and hopefully make their day better.”

“On our team, it’s not just important to be physically fit and have the highest kicks and the dance ability, but (our coaches) really care about who you are as a person. They want knowledgeable, intelligent girls who know about football and are prepared to talk about the game.”

Post, who also works at Farm Bureau Financial, WIBW, and is a dance teacher, said she loves being a Chiefs cheerleader and hopes she will be one again next year.

“All these girls are my best friends and I think it’d be really hard to lose that,” she said. “I knew this year would change my life but I don’t think I realized how much these girls would touch my heart and how much I would be changed forever.”