Renton’s Sea Gal afjusting to life on the NFL sidelines

by TRACEY COMPTON
Renton Reporter
October 5, 2014

The Renton Reporter caught up with Errin Williams recently, one of the newest Seahawks’ Sea Gals and Hazen High School grad of 2014.

Breezing into Top Pot Doughnuts at The Landing, in a burned-out Seahawks’ tee and jeans, hair perfectly coifed, she told me her experience on the squad thus far has been wonderful.

Her first home game on the field against the Green Bay Packers was an adrenaline rush, she said.

“It was nerve-wracking, but we were really prepared for it,” Williams said. “It was just nerve-wracking to see all the fans for the first time up close because you always see them on TV, but to actually be there was, like, unbelievable.”

Williams tried out for the squad last April for the first time and made the cut, competing against 200 other contestants and veterans. Now she dances at all the Seahawks home games and participates in promotional events for the team.

“When the game starts, we jump right into it, coming out doing our first opener routine, then going straight into the five lines and cheering and dancing,” she said.

Williams is still trying to get used to the idea of someone always watching her on the field, be it TV cameras or 60,000-something fans. She calls the players “co-workers” and said their paths really don’t cross much except for an occasional “hi” in passing.

The cheer squad and the players are in two different worlds, doing their own thing, according to Williams. She’s a fan of all the players, saying each one brings their individual talents to the game, making them a Super Bowl-winning team.

But Williams seems more blown away by the spirit and enthusiasm of all the team’s fans.

“Just meeting the fans and some many new people is just awesome,” she said. “I think that’s the biggest thing for me is meeting all the different kinds of fans we have and just seeing so many different faces.”

The Sea Gals are also required to take part in promotional events and sell their calendars. Promotional events could be signing autographs, performing, cheering on runners at community races, attending charity events, filming commercials or other activities.

Williams is just beginning to balance her time with school work as she just started classes at Bellevue College. There, she is studying organizational communications and hopes to transfer to the University of Washington. Williams has three classes and practice twice a week, a schedule that isn’t as rigorous as her days at Hazen with six classes and being on the drill team, she said.

“It’s still pretty rigorous because I think for drill we just performed and just did the dancing side of it,” she said. “[With] the Sea Gals there are so many other components besides dancing on the field, with practice and promotional events and just managing your schedule and things like that.”

More than anything, it’s still the dancing that Williams likes the most.

“Just getting out there and getting in front of the fans and just knowing that they’re all admiring you and just love watching you – so, I think the biggest thing is just getting out there and performing for me.”