A San Diego Charger Girl
I think this the 18th year in a row that Pro Bowl Dan has gone to the Pro Bowl. He was kind enough to pass along a few photos from his trip.
By Ed Waters Jr.
Fredricksburg News-Post
Maigan Torre has been a Washington Redskins cheerleader for more than three years, but she was especially excited to participate Jan. 25 in the NFL’s Pro Bowl in Hawaii.
Fellow cheerleaders selected Torre, 24, of Thurmont, to represent the team at the Pro Bowl. A cheerleader from each team was part of the group.
The players were divided into an Orange Team and a Yellow Team. Torre was on the Orange Team.
Torre said she began dancing at age 3 with teacher Debra Lewis, but she has been with Elower-Sicilia Productions of Dance and Music in Thurmont since age 11.
“I fell in love with it,” Torre said of dancing, which led to an audition for the Redskins cheerleading team. Over the years, she has performed in “Cats,” at the professional football draft party, children’s hospitals, charity events and military bases. She teaches at the Ashburn Academy of Dance in Ashburn, Va.
“Some of the Redskins cheerleaders just got back from a tour of military bases in Afghanistan, but I didn’t go on that tour,” Torre said.
“She started taking dance at ESP at a young age, she was a member of the ESP Performing Company, later becoming a teacher and choreographer,” said Linda Sicilia, owner of Elower Sicilia Productions.
“This young lady is and always has been as beautiful inside as she is outside,” Sicilia said. “She was a hardworking student and developed into a very talented dancer, lighting up every room and stage with her dancing and smile.”
Sicilia said Torre is blessed with a supportive family who gave her the freedom to pursue her dream.
ESP is a small studio, and dancers feel close to one another, Sicilia said. “Upon graduating and moving on, Maigan has continued to inspire and support her ESP family. She stops into the studio to visit the staff and students.”
Torre said dancing offers many opportunities. Her advice for those
considering a career in dance: “Take dance classes. When when you hit a failure, don’t let it stop you. Nothing is handed to you, you have to work for it.”
Torre does jazz, tap, lyrical, and other types of dance styles.
[P-R-O Convention All-Star Maigan]
Raiderette Erica Arana – Photo from her Wikipedia page
January 25th was a very long day some of the Baltimore Blast Cheerleaders.
In the morning they were at the Sideline Prep DMV Workshop…
and that evening they were at the Baltimore Arena cheering on their team.
[Blast Cheerleaders on Facebook]
In the original posts, I forgot to include links to the galleries from the Sideline Prep Workshop and the Philadelphia Wings Angels Season debut
[Philadelphia Wings Angels Gallery]
By Alex Pena
Stars and Stripes
Two former players for the Miami Dolphins and five members of the team’s cheerleading squad swapped the sand and sun of South Florida for snow at Camp Marmal in northern Afghanistan to meet with troops on the eve of the Super Bowl.
Troops based at Camp Marmal turned out to meet the former players and cheerleaders and get autographs.
Former Miami Dolphins linebacker Derrick Rodgers, who served in the Air Force before being drafted into the NFL, spent two of his four years in the service in Okinawa.
“Me coming over here is part of my giving back, because I understand that being over here sometimes can be monotonous,” Rodgers told Stars and Stripes. “You’re going through this situation, and not being appreciated is one of the biggest things that goes on in their minds.
“So when I get back and tell everybody what happened, I’m going to tell them there is a lot of individuals out here that care about their country,” Rodgers said.
Rodgers, former NFL fullback Lousaka Polite and the cheerleaders were on a trip organized by Armed Forces Entertainment, a Defense Department agency that provides entertainment to U.S. military overseas.
They signed autographs for the troops, posed for pictures, and had servicemembers sign a Dolphins banner that was to be brought back and hung in the stadium in Miami.
Jamie Quadrozzi, events coordinator for the team, said the Miami Dolphins have been participating in such “morale booster” trips since 2001.
“We do at least one tour a year, and sometimes we do more than one. This is our third tour in Afghanistan,” she said. “All the rest of the 37 cheerleaders that we left at home are dying to be here. For a trip like this, it’s a big deal for us. So we chose our top five girls, and they always say yes. They always want to be here.”
As Super Bowl Sunday turned to Super Bowl Monday in Afghanistan — the game aired live at 4:30 a.m. — the troops made their way to the USO at Camp Marmal for the official viewing party. Most of those interviewed admitted to not being fans of either the Denver Broncos or the Seattle Seahawks, who won 43-8, and said they were disappointed with the play.
“I’m from Miami, so I like to support the Dolphins. So I was watching it for the thrill of it,” said Pfc. Luis Ortiz, with Company D, 1st Battalion, 227th Aviation Regiment. “Usually you hope for the Super Bowl to be a really close game, but it was just a blowout. I was disappointed that it wasn’t even close at all.”
“Manning has to do better next time,” said Sgt. Sergio Lujan, also with the 1-227 and a Redskins fan, referring to Denver quarterback Payton Manning. “The Manning curse is going on, so he has to break that curse and keep the family going strong.”
Lujan and Ortiz both said the outcome of the game was not that important. “It’s pretty much about trying to have as much fun as possible. You’re in a combat area, but you’re just trying to have a good time with soldiers, fellow enlisted and officers,” Lujan said. “We’re just trying to make the best of the situation. We’ve got snow out here and it can’t get any worse I don’t think.”
“It’s different, because we don’t have the same amenities that we have at home,” Ortiz said. “But I’m with the people I’m close with, my boss — we’re all friends, so it was good watching with them.”
The Dolphins contingent had planned to travel to some of the surrounding forward operating bases in Regional Command North, but heavy snow prevented their travel.
Grace — one of the cheerleaders, who were not permitted to give their last names — welcomed the change of scenery from her home in Florida. “It’s completely different from Miami.”
By Geoff Folsom
Tri-City Herald
A Kennewick native will help lead Seattle Seahawks fans in cheering on their team today in Super Bowl XLVIII.
Natalie Cain, a Southridge High School graduate, flew to the New York area Thursday with the Sea Gals cheerleading squad and will be on the field at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., when the Seahawks take on the Denver Broncos.
Cain is in her fourth year on the squad, which dances on the sidelines at each Seahawks home game.
And her father and boyfriend will be able to see her perform at the big game, thanks to another Seahawks fan from Kennewick who couldn’t use his tickets.
Season ticket holder Fred Petragallo, 72, won the right to buy Super Bowl tickets in the Seahawks’ lottery. But he decided to give them up because he has mobility issues and the seats he has tickets for might be difficult to reach.
Then there was the cost of a trip to New York.
“I wish I had the funds and that kind of stuff,” Petragallo said. “It would have been big money to stay anywhere nice downtown.”
So the longtime Tri-City plumber decided to put his tickets up for sale. While he was disappointed to miss the game, he was pleased that his former colleague Michael Cain — Natalie’s father — wanted to buy them.
Making it to the game is the culmination of a dream for Natalie, Michael Cain said.
“I told her this is the biggest stage in the world and you’re on it,” he said.
Cheerleading comeback
Natalie was the only girl of six children, but is the only sibling to make it to the Super Bowl, her father said.
“They’re all good athletes, but obviously they were never good enough to go to the NFL,” he said.
Natalie participated in gymnastics from the time she was 3, training at Mid-Columbia Gymnastics in Richland, her father said. She took up cheerleading in high school, cheering for both the Southridge team and a competitive club.
She graduated from high school in 2004 and cheered for a year at Washington State University in Pullman before leaving the school. She considered transferring to the University of Washington to be a cheerleader there before ultimately deciding to perform on the other side of Seattle.
“A year went by and she said she was going to take it up another notch and try out for the Seahawks,” Michael Cain said.
But getting to the Super Bowl wasn’t easy for Natalie, he said. She first made the team in May 2007, a little more than a year after the Seahawks’ first Super Bowl appearance in February 2006. She competed for two weekends to become one of 28 women selected as Sea Gals.
Natalie, who now lives in Kirkland, left the team after three years when she was pregnant with her son, Keoni, Michael Cain said. But she decided to give it another try after getting some advice from her father.
“I said if you are ever going to get back on the team, now is the time, because they’ve got a shot at the Super Bowl,” Michael Cain said.
Natalie’s first year back with the team was a big one. She got the honor of being the schedule girl in the squad’s 2014 swimsuit calendar. That means she appears over two pages where the calendar folds out.
“It was a huge decision for her to come back,” said Natalie’s mother, Janelle Stromstad. “It’s even more scary to try out again and make the squad again.”
Natalie serves as a bit of a mother figure to the younger members of the squad, Michael Cain said. She works as an aesthetician for her day job.
Michael Cain and Stromstad, who are divorced, split the tickets Natalie gets, with each attending some of the games in Seattle. They sit in Section 122 in the end zone, allowing them to be close to Natalie during much of the game. But Sea Gals’ families don’t get tickets to the Super Bowl.
A busy trip
The trip to New York has been eventful for the Sea Gals, Stromstad said. They filmed a segment Thursday for Inside Edition with Olympic gymnast Gabby Douglas. Friday they appeared on the Today show — along with the rival Denver Broncos cheerleaders — and then had a rehearsal at MetLife Stadium, where they practiced dancing to the songs that will be played. They have appeared at parties and on Regis Philbin’s Fox Sports 1 show.
“It’s a whirlwind of appearances and being able to represent the Tri-Cities and Seattle and Washington,” Stromstad said.
The women will be on the sidelines during the entire game on Sunday and will be on the field for Bruno Mars’ halftime show, Stromstad said.
They will attend a party after the game, which Stromstad said is the only time during the season the cheerleaders are allowed to communicate with players.
“It’s a very strict program,” she said.
Stromstad, who is taking care of Natalie’s son in the Tri-Cities while she is in New York, doesn’t know of another Sea Gal who has taken three years off to return to the squad.
“It’s been worth it,” she said. “It’s fun to see her so happy. They’re just good girls. There’s no cattiness or ill will between all of them.”
The team is scheduled to fly back to Seattle on Monday.
Crossing off the bucket list
Michael Cain flew to New York for the game Friday, and will meet up Sunday with Natalie’s boyfriend, who gets the other ticket.
It is Cain’s first time in the city. Going to the Super Bowl allows him to cross another item off his “bucket list,” he said. He already ran with the bulls in Pamplona, Spain, and swam with sharks in Australia’s Great Barrier Reef.
“I’ve been to China for 17 days, I’ve been to Mexico, but never to New York,” he said.
Natalie Cain could not be reached for comment on this story. Interviews with Sea Gals must be set up with their director, Sherri Thompson, Seahawks officials said. Thompson did not respond to numerous calls and emails for four days.
Petragallo will likely watch this year’s Super Bowl at his daughter’s house, he said. He got tickets when the Seahawks played in the Super Bowl in Detroit in 2006, and sold those as well.
He feels better about going should they make it — and he gets lucky for a third time in the ticket lottery — when the game is played in sunny Arizona in 2015.
“I don’t see any reason why the team can’t get there,” he said. “This team is good.”
By Kathianne Boniello
New York Post
Rah, rah, brrrr!
Cheerleaders set to hit the field at the Super Bowl on Sunday have special moves to keep them looking good even in the cold — including adjusting stunts to avoid pulling muscles, stocking up on toe warmers and crafty layering techniques.
“We wear layers as long as they’re not visible [under the uniform]. You have to try it out and make sure it works with the uniform,” said Seahawks cheerleader Alicia, 25.
She wears ski socks and tights and makes sure to constantly stay moving — so the blood keeps flowing, said Alicia, who will perform in temperatures that could dip to the low 30s late in the game.
“We’re dancing around the whole time so we stay warm,” she said.
Green Bay Packers cheerleader Leah Buege, 19 — a chilly cheering pro who sometimes performs in below-zero temperatures — says “we stretch out. Muscles get stiff and it’s not as easy to throw someone up in the air, so we do more jumping and dancing. You have to constantly keep moving.”
From Saturday Night – Philadelphia Wings Angels Laura and Kristina with Mad Dog
