2012 Charger Girl Alexis Ann
The Anaheim Bolts begin their second year of play in the Professional Arena Soccer League and on Sunday, they held auditions for the 2012 Anaheim Bolts Dance Team. I was there to cover all the action for UltimateCheerleaders.com.
Registration was at 9:00 am and the auditions were scheduled to begin promptly at 9:30 am. Because I got home rather late from the previous night’s Charger game, I arrived at the Double Tree Hotel around 9:15 am to get set up for what would be a long day. I introduced myself to Lynae de Leon, the Anaheim Bolts Dance Team Director and Bernie Lilavois, Co-owner and coach of the soccer team. We chatted for a bit about the evolution of the team and the cheerleaders and how in the second year of existence, both sides of the organization faced the same challenges in building awareness and support throughout the community. Lynae indicated that seven veterans were trying out again this year, which meant that there were approximately eight open positions. With forty girls in attendance, ranging in age from 18 to 30, there was a very good chance that several rookies would make this squad.
The Dallas Cowboys moseyed on down from Oxnard, California where they were holding training camp, to play the San Diego Chargers in Week 2 of preseason. The Cowboys first team offense scored 10 first half points under the leadership of Quarterback Tony Romo while the hapless Chargers were shut out. To add to the Charger’s misery, Quarterback Philip Rivers picked up where he left off last season and promptly threw two first half interceptions.
Things were looking bleak after three quarters until the Chargers second string offense lit up the second string Cowboys defense by scoring 21 fourth quarter points to save the day for the boys in blue…Charger blue that is. Final Score: Chargers – 28, Cowpokes – 20.
A two thirds capacity crowd of mostly Cowboys fans filled Qualcomm stadium and were treated to a surprisingly exciting fourth quarter showdown, but the real excitement was provided by the Charger Girls.
So let us begin our coverage of this week’s sideline action with the Line Captains: Kara, Lauren O., Natalie, and Marissa.
This week’s Charger Girl of the Day has been a fan favorite ever since she first donned the uniform two years ago, introducing…Anjelica.
Ah! Preseason football!
When August rolls around, I look forward to the approach of Fall and my favorite time of the year…football season. But before we can get to the regular season, we have to get through preseason football where you rarely get to see some quality football. Now if you have been reading my articles on the preseason games the past few years, you know how I feel (it’s a rip off), so I won’t belabor the point.
What you do get to see are the cheerleaders in all their splendor, ready for prime time. So let’s take a first look at the 2012 San Diego Charger Girls, the hottest dance team in the NFL.
There’s a reason why you don’t see the starters play much in a preseason game and that is because you pretty much know what you got with them and you don’t want to risk your star players to injury. Well lightning stuck at Qualcomm Stadium and on his first and only carry of the game, starting running back for the Chargers, Ryan Mathews, broke his collar bone and is expected to miss 4-6 weeks. And you thought preseason football was bad as it is…an injury like this will make owners and coaches more reluctant to play starters in a game that means absolutely nothing.
We’ll I suppose you want a score, so here it is:
San Diego Scrubs – 21
Green Bay Pine Riders – 14
I suspect most of you aren’t here to read my game action report, so let’s begin our first look of the 2012 Charger Girls with the Line Captains: Kara, Lauren O., Natalie and Marissa.
Regular readers of my Charger Girl game day reports know that I select an individual who has given me the best images of the day and honor their achievement with the Charger Girl of the Day award. And the first CGOTD award goes to returning Charger Girl Amanda, who after taking a year off wins the coveted award on her first game back.
Welcome back Amanda!
The Anaheim Bolts Dance Team will be holding their auditions for the 2012-2013 squad on Sunday, August 19th. Please note the new location, the DoubleTree Hotel at 201 East MacArthur Boulevard, Santa Ana, CA 92707.
For more information, please visit the Anaheim Bolts Dance Team facebook page.
The Dallas Cowboys have come home to California for training camp…Oxnard, California to be precise. With sunny 70 degree weather and a crisp ocean breeze, one can imagine why the Dallas Cowboys flew half way across the country to train for the upcoming season in the Golden State. And as fortune would have it, they brought along the “often imitated, never equaled” Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders for Opening Day.
In years past, the opening of training camp was during the weekend and the DCC performed all weekend long in Oxnard, but this year training camp opened on a Monday and that meant fans only had one, brief opportunity to see the DCC perform in all their splendor. But as I have said in the past, if you get a chance to see the DCC, you should because they are an amazing site to behold. They are truly an icon of professional cheerleading and wonderful to see in person.
The Washington Wizard Girls have been a squad that has impressed me ever since I started covering the P-R-O convention. They have cute girls and sexy uniforms, which is to say they are a squad that is eye-catching. This year, the Wizard Girls got new uniforms from The Line Up and I must say the girls looked quite attractive in them. And one Wizard Girl that made a lasting impression was Joanna, who looked amazing in her new Wizard Girl uniform. See why she is a 2012 P-R-O Convention All Star.
What makes a good dance team a great one? Attention to details. Sweating the small stuff. And here we see Dance Team Manager Derric Whitfield attending to the little details that make all the difference in our photos.
There’s not much down time between sessions at P-R-O, so I didn’t get to photograph as many as the Wizard Girls as I would have liked. And this is truly a shame because they have so many gorgeous girls to photograph. But I did get to snap a team photo and wanted to share that with our readers.
Well, that’s all for now. There were many amazing cheerleaders in attendance at P-R-O and I only got to feature a handful of them. There was so much dance instruction and so little time in between sessions that it was a challenge to be able to snag a few girls to pose for photographs. Perhaps next year, I will be able to feature a few more and highlight their talents.
I hope you have enjoyed my coverage of the 2012 P-R-O Convention, the premier professional cheerleading and dance convention. See you next year, where we will be certain to feature more P-R-O Convention All Star cheerleaders.
A few years ago, I saw James’ coverage of the Jacksonville Shark Attack dance team and ever since then, I wanted to photograph their squad. The Jacksonville Shark Attack dance team is stacked with great looking dancers and it is a plus that they have many theme nights where the girls wear many colorful outfits. But, alas, I live in Los Angeles and Jacksonville is literally across the country. That pretty much means that covering them is a no go for me.
So when I read that the Jacksonville Shark Attack would be in attendance at this year’s P-R-O convention in Atlanta, I was pleasantly surprised because one of the great things about P-R-O is that I get to see some squads that I would probably never get to shoot. And the Jacksonville Shark Attack brought their 2011 Aaron’s Dream Team representative Randi, who looked amazing in her Shark Attack uniform.
Who knows. Maybe one day, I’ll make it out to Jacksonville and be able to photograph the Shark Attack in person. I hear Jacksonville has many wonderful dance teams and perhaps, I might be able to combine a couple shoots and make it worth the trip out to Florida!
In this edition, we feature Arizona Cardinals Cheerleader Tessa. I remember her from auditions a couple of years ago, but this past spring, she really stood out at the 2012 ACC auditions. She embodied their motto, “full out or get out” and gave it her all during the audition process. Tall, good looking and an amazing dancer, Tessa is what you expect a professional cheerleader to be and for this, she is a 2012 P-R-O Convention All Star.
There were many outstanding cheerleaders at the 2012 P-R-O Convention, stay tuned to see who we feature next.
I am a man and as such, don’t really know all that much about cheerleaders except for what I like from a fan’s perspective. I like my cheerleaders to be beautiful and sexy. I like them to be entertaining and look graceful while dancing during stoppages of play. And I must say part of a squad’s attractiveness to me is their uniforms. Do they make the girls look sexy? Do they flatter the feminine form? Do they convey a sense of movement when the girls dance?
Well I can certainly say that The Line Up’s designs do all of that and more. For over 20 years, The Line Up has created custom dance costume and creative performance apparel for professional sports dance teams. And for the past several years, they have been a sponsor of the P-R-O Convention.
One of my first impressions when I started covering this convention was the number of dance teams in attendance that were wearing The Line Up’s designs. Big name squads. High profile squads. And let me say, those designs certainly meet my criteria. They are sexy. They do flatter the feminine form. And visually speaking, they do convey a sense of movement in my still photographs…the dresses and skirts, that is.
So let’s take a look at some of The Line Up’s designs worn by the cheerleaders in attendance at the 2012 P-R-O Convention in Atlanta.
The Minnesota Vikings Cheerleaders
The Washington Redskins Cheerleaders
The Washington Wizard Girls
