A Phoenix Suns Dancer
This past weekend, I made a road trip to visit the Phoenix area and to see the 2015 Arizona Cardinals Cheerleaders in person. I have covered their auditions over the past several years, but this year I was not able to attend and I was very interested in seeing the new squad in person. They have a new director, Kristina Ferdig who was a Minnesota Vikings Cheerleader and I was looking forward to seeing the changes she brought to the sidelines being that it has been a couple of years since I last attended a game here.
And I was very pleasantly surprised. The girls are gorgeous and there are more opportunities to photograph the girls interacting with the crowd, which for me was the reason why I came to Phoenix.
An old proverb says that it is better to be a lion for a day than a sheep all your life. Well if that day was Sunday, it might have been better if the Lions were sheep because at least the Rams won.
The NFC North division Lions made a rare appearance in Southern California and many of us fantasy football players were excited to see how a couple of rookie running backs would play. Lion Ameer Abdullah played like…a lion and had himself 129 all purpose yards and a touchdown, while his Charger counterpart, Melvin Gordon, had 51 rushing yards and a costly fumble. Well at least the Chargers had Danny Woodhead to bail them out. He scored two clutch touchdowns. Quarterback Philip Rivers passed for 404 yards and threw two second half touchdowns to rally the Chargers to victory.
Final Score: Chargers – 33, Lions – 28.
Well Philip Rivers wasn’t the only one having a good day, so was The Hottest Dance Team in the NFL, your Charger Girls.
It was another hot and sunny day in San Diego…I can’t wait for cooler weather because I really hate being all hot and sweaty…but that’s how it usually is for me when I photograph the Charger Girls. And speaking of hot things, let’s begin this week’s coverage of the Charger Girls with the Captains: Tawnie, Katelyn, Kayla, and Tina.
This week’s Charger Girl of the Day is a former Arizona Cardinals Cheerleader who found her way back home to California…introducing Laguna Niguel’s own Roxi.
Former New England Patriots Cheerleader Stephanie Sanchez and 3 other former teammates, Amber, Angela and Steph P., are going to be on a new television show called Dance Battle America. The show, produced by Julianne Hough and Maria Menounos, features two surprise celebrities who will host eight teams from all over America. They will be facing off in four battle rounds and the first ever Dance Battle America Champions will be selected by a studio audience.
Tune in on Monday, September 14th at 10pm following the season premier of Dancing with the Stars on ABC network to see how Stephanie and her former NEPC do! Their team name is The Squad! (Retired Cheerleaders) and you can follow them on Instagram: @TheSquad_RetiredCheerleaders.
Congratulations to former Ladies of Ontario Fury Dancer Michelle C. for being selected to the 2015 – 2016 Laker Girls.
For the past several years, I have been fortunate to photograph this lovely dancer, first as a Anaheim Bolts Dance Team Member and for the past two years as a member of the Ladies of Ontario Fury Dance Team. I first saw her at tryouts for the Anaheim Bolts Dance Team and I knew she would be special. More recently, Michelle has been delighting fans while cheering on the Ontario Fury at the Citizens Business Bank Arena.
Under the direction of Dance Team Director Lynae de Leon, Michelle and several other members of both dance teams have blossomed and gone on to greater challenges with such squads as the Clippers Spirit, Charger Girls and now the Laker Girls.
A Laker Girl
A member of the LA Clippers Spirit
Week 3 of the preseason saw the Seattle Seahawks fly into San Diego to play the Chargers in a titanic battle of…okay…it was just another preseason game. The defending Super Bowl Champions…uh…Super Bowl runner ups survived the unseasonably hot weather to prevail in the last minute on a 60 yard field goal by Steven Hauschka, 16-15.
If you like kicks, this was a game for you as three kickers combined to score six field goals. Yawn. Me? I like kicks of a different sort.
The San Diego Chargers honored the men and women in uniform at this past Saturday’s game, holding their 27th annual Salute to the Military celebration. The Charger Girls were adorned in military themed uniforms to cheer on the boys in blue, but it was to no avail as the Chargers succumbed to the defending Super Bowl Champion Seahawks.
Side note: I never played a down of football in my life, but I am smart enough to know that if you are on the opponent’s one yard line in the Super Bowl with seconds left in the game and you have a player nicknamed “Beastmode”, you feed him the ball…on second down…on third down…and on fourth down.
I am a proud San Diego Chargers season ticket holder and a Charger Girl fan…like most of you reading this article. So let’s kick off this week’s coverage of the Charger Girls with the captains: Tawnie, Katelyn, Kayla, and Tina.
This week’s Charger Girl of the Day is a second year veteran who really caught my eye this year…introducing Delani!
A member of the San Francisco 49ers Gold Rush
A pair of Phoenix Suns Dancers
