Local grad is Chargers cheerleader

David James Heiss, Staff Writer
Record Gazette
April 23, 2010

Maria Baldi heads to a San Diego Chargers cheerleading “mini-boot camp” this weekend, on the path to living out her lifelong dream.

The 22-year-old Cherry Valley resident, who graduated from Beaumont High School in 2005, has been named one of the 28 members of the class of 2010-11 Chargers Girls — whittled down from an initial field of more than 400 girls, including three former Chargers cheerleaders who did not make the cut this year.

She spent a few days in San Diego at various locations, performing prepared and impromptu dance routines and undergoing panels of interviews. Baldi had tried out three times before. “The first few times I tried out, I was really nervous and stressed out, and they see that,” she said. “This time, I just went in there hoping to have fun.”

According to Baldi, the first performance at the Jenny Craig Pavilion on April 13 included “a few eight counts, and if you make it past that you’re part of the first 100 to get called back.” From there, participants redo the routine with “more eight counts,” which helps judges narrow the field to 68 candidates; then there’s an interview, an opportunity to redo the routine — as well as perform one on their own; then there’s a span of time that seems to stretch for a long hour as panelists deliberate and determine the final 28. Overall, it was a three-day tryout. “If your number is called, you’re a Charger Girl,” Baldi said. According to her, “Performing in front of 10 people was the hard part.” She’s now looking forward to performing at home games in front of a crowd of thousands, which doesn’t seem to unnerve her, though she admitted, “The first game I might be a little nervous, but I’ll be with a group of girls who have wanted this their entire lives.”

This weekend she will have a chance to meet her colleagues and start working on routines as they go through orientation.

Baldi said that she thinks she will be paid $75 per game — and though the stipend doesn’t sound like much, there’s prestige and career-building and travel opportunities involved. And should the San Diego Chargers make it to the Super Bowl next year, she would likely join them to perform on the sidelines there.

“This has been her dream since she was 3,” according to her mother, Veronica Baldi, who co-coached her along with Sonya Balingit. “It’s something she has always wanted to do. I’m so excited it finally came through for her. She stayed dedicated and never gave up. She told me she was going to keep trying out until she made it.”

Baldi works part-time as a secretary at her family’s construction firm, Baldi Bros Construction in Beaumont. She also teaches cheer classes at Noble Creek Community Park, and is finishing up getting her business license for her cake decorating business.

A picture of this year’s final squad appears on the San Diego Chargers’ Web site at www.chargers.com/charger-girls/index.html.

She spent two seasons as a cheerleader on the Inland Empire 66ers baseball team from 2007-09, which she was recruited for (and hence, her “tryout” was much easier, she said).

Although she is a member of this year’s squad, she said that no one is guaranteed a spot for the next year, and that she will have to start from scratch and try out all over again in 2011.

“Even when she was at Chavez Elementary School” in Beaumont, “she was a dancer. She stood out for her passion,” said former Beaumont High School cheer coach Sonya Balingit, who is now principal of Hoffer Elementary School in Banning. “She was on the varsity cheer team all four years, and was varsity captain for two years. What’s been so great is, she shows others that you don’t give up on your dreams. She’s always excelled in cheer and dance, and she’s always had that spark and that passion, but she also has drive and ambition.”

To say that coacheing Baldi makes Balingit proud is an understatement.

“You’re always giving advice and encouraging your students to not give up on their dreams,” Balingit said. “To see her dream come to life is so exciting as a coach. For anyone who knows her, this won’t be a surprise. They’ll say, ‘Well of course she made it.’ And she really deserved it, because she persevered so hard.”