Businesswoman by trade, cheerleader by passion

Barnstormers’ Emily Collins picked to perform tonight at ArenaBowl XXIV
Kristin Danley-Greiner
Des Moines Register
Aug. 10, 2011

During the day, Emily Collins sports business attire and a professional demeanor.

At night, she can be found dancing on a football field and cheering from the sidelines as a Barnstormers cheerleader.

The one thing Collins carries over from cheerleader to her position in the Des Moines city manager’s office is a beaming smile and optimistic attitude.

“Emily is always upbeat, positive and encouraging to others. She is a ray of sunshine in the office,” said Amelia Hamilton Morris, chief communications officer for the city of Des Moines. “However, she is also a professional, educated female who is very serious about her career and climbing the ladder of success both in City Hall and in the Barnstormers operations.”

Collins, 28, of Des Moines is a Lincoln High School graduate who started dancing at age 4. Her passion for entertaining a crowd carried over to her high school drill team. She later danced with the Central College pom squad. As a transfer student at Iowa State University, she coached and choreographed the Ballard High School dance team and choreographed for the squad at Collins-Maxwell schools.

Collins has a bachelor’s degree from Iowa State in mass communications and is pursuing her master’s degree in public administration at Drake University. Four years ago, she was selected to be a Barnstormers cheerleader and became a co-captain her second year with the squad, a position she still holds.

She said she tried out for the team because she missed performing. The schedule pairs well with a daytime job at City Hall.

“We practice Wednesday evenings and Sunday mornings and most of our games are on Saturdays — unless it’s an NFL Network game, then that’s on Friday nights,” she said.

Previously, Collins choreographed more of the routines for the squad, but has since relinquished most of that duty to her “talented and very artistic” co-captain. She fulfills administrative-type duties, such as handling promotions and costumes.

“The promos are a lot of fun, because we get to be out in the community,” she said. “We’ve been with the Girl Scouts, the Marshalltown Farmers Market, lots of parades and we had our kids’ clinic at the July 9 game, which was really fun. Those little kids are just adorable and you don’t realize how much they look up to you.”

This season Collins was selected to be part of the Arena Football League’s AFL Dream Team. Each franchise’s management submitted two cheerleaders’ names to the league. In an online voting process, one girl from each team was selected to perform in ArenaBowl XXIV. That game is tonight.

“This is the second year they’ve done this and I’m really excited,” Collins said.

“I’ll get to meet other girls from all across the country. It’s the Superbowl of the AFL. There’ll be a commissioner’s awards dinner, photo shoots and more.”