Dancer Jinelle Davidson from East Hawthorn Wins Place in Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders Squad

By Catherine Lambert
Herald Sun

Ms Davidson, 27, of East Hawthorn, said it was a dream come true when she made the squad, after competing against 500 hopefuls for a spot.

“When I first learned about the Dallas Cowboys, they made me fall in love with cheerleading for all the right reasons,” Ms Davidson said.

“It’s a real family team; the cheersquad has the American sweetheart image and is the most famous squad of all. I really wanted to get close to that iconic uniform too. We do a lot of charity work. It teaches you a lot about leadership, as well as being part of a team.”

Ms Davidson has been dancing since she was four and started her first cheerleading job when she was 11, going on to become a member of the Melbourne Storm squad for five years before auditioning for the Dallas Cowboys.

She trained closely at Storm with Trish Squire-Rogers, who gave her the impetus to pursue her US dream.

She had to audition with 500 others from around the world before even making the first cut of 18 hopefuls, who progressed to training camp for the final auditions and 12 were selected for the team.

“At the camp we trained every day, sometimes until midnight, for four to seven hours a day.”

She was lucky to be chosen and shares the squad with girls who are mostly from the US, but a range of nationalities are represented.

Ms Davidson is in Melbourne for a holiday to spend time with her family and boyfriend of six years and still trains daily.

But when she returns to the US in a couple of weeks she is off to Mexico to shoot the Dallas Cowboys’ swimsuit calendar, and a reality TV show about their lives behinds the scenes will go to air in the US later this year.

“I receive fan mail most days of the week and write back to everyone — it’s very flattering,” she says.

“In America, the cheerleaders are just as famous as some players. It’s looked on in a really different light over there.

“We don’t stop and (we) learn about 30-50 different routines but the kick line and jump split that starts off the game is the most famous.”