J-E-T-S: Fair Lawn woman is member of Gang Green Flight Crew

BY Rich Mardekian
Community News (Fair Lawn Edition)
NorthJersey.com
10/5/2010

Fair Lawn — With a spanking new stadium and a team expected to do big things in the National Football League (NFL), this may be one of the most memorable years ever for the New York Jets. A borough woman will again be leading the cheers from the sidelines.

Christie Artinger, 25, a 2003 Fair Lawn High School graduate, is in her second year as a member of the New York Jets Flight Crew, a 35-member cheerleading squad that pumps up the crowd during home football games for Gang Green.

Artinger made the choice to try out for the squad last year after being laid off from her job as a marketing executive for Capizio in New York City. She has an extensive dance background and was trained locally at Dance Designs in Fair Lawn, Art of Motion in Ridgewood and Gotta Dance Performing Arts Center in Elmwood Park. She attended Sacred Heart University in Connecticut where she competed on its nationally ranked dance team and then transferred to Montclair State University where she was on the cheerleading squad.

“I had to go back and find a way to make myself feel complete again,” Artinger said of her decision to try out for the Flight Crew.

She made the squad and the experience was one she called the best of her life.

“It was awesome,” she said. “I made a lot of lifelong friends and improved my style of dance. [Being a Flight Crew member] helped me grow as a dancer.”

Just like the players fighting for roster spots, being a member of the Flight Crew every year is not something guaranteed. Artinger had to try out again in May to keep her position.

“I now had an idea of what I had to lose if I didn’t make the squad,” she said. “Last year was the best year of my life and it gets to you the feeling of you might not be selected and someone else might take your spot.”

Artinger passed the audition process and was picked for another year on the team.

“I jumped 5 feet off the floor when I was picked,” she said. “I get to spend another season with my friends.”

The life of a member of the Flight Crew is a busy one as Artinger has practice for three hours, two days a week plus game day rehearsals and her own conditioning routine in addition to a freelance career in marketing and public relations.

“I have never had to juggle so much in my life,” she said. “It helps you learn time management.”

Even though she is busy, she still finds time to help out her alma mater as she choreographs the routines for the Fair Lawn High School dance team’s competitions.

“It’s so great how badly these girls want to win,” she said. “I see so much of myself in them.”

This year is a particularly big one for the Jets, a team with Super Bowl aspirations and a new stadium, the new Meadowlands, which at a construction cost of approximately $1.6 billion, is the most expensive sports facility ever built.

“The new stadium is unbelievable,” she said. “It is great to step out in a new stadium that is our home. I felt uneasy (last year) it being called Giants Stadium.”

Like the Jets, Artinger also has dreams of the big game.

“My ultimate goal is to cheer at the Super Bowl,” she explained.

While the Super Bowl is not until February, just like the old sports cliché, for now Artinger is going to take it one game at a time and enjoy her time on the squad.

“I want to stay focused and perform the best I can for the fans,” she said. “Our fans are even more excited this year. They are the best in the NFL.”

For more on the Flight Crew, go to http://www.newyorkjets.com/flight-crew/.