Joyce Kelly
Daily News
It wasn’t long ago that 20-year-old Jessica Aiello stood in line at the Burlington Mall, eagerly awaiting a chance to meet Patriots Cheerleaders and snag a few autographs.
Now, Aiello is signing autographs for young girls, juggling a hectic schedule of cheerleading practice and promotions for the Patriots.
In mid-March, Aiello, who captained the cheerleading team at Waltham High School before she graduated in 2007, beat out about 300 women for a spot on the New England Patriots cheerleading team.
The competition was stiff, with cheerleaders from all over Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York City and one even hailing from China – vying for a coveted position, she said.
“I was very nervous. You never really know what’s going to happen. It all depends on that day, if you perform to your best. It was very nerve-wracking,” said Aiello.
Aiello has been perfecting the art of cheering since she was just 9 years old, rooting in the Pop Warner League. She continued cheering in middle school and at Waltham High, helping bring home second place in the Greater Boston League cheering competition her sophomore year.
“I definitely always wanted to be a Patriots Cheerleader, being a huge Patriots fan,” she said.
Aiello is studying dental hygiene at Middlesex Community College, where there is no cheerleading squad, she said.
So rather than waiting until she finished college to pursue her dream of being a Patriots Cheerleader, she tried out her first year of college.
She made the finals last year, but didn’t make the cut.
After speaking with other Patriots Cheerleaders, she learned that a number of young women didn’t make it the first time they tried out. Pats Cheerleaders have to try out every year to stay on the team, she said.
Aiello, who says her best moves are jumps and tumbles, is still getting used to her dream being a reality.
Her days are filled with college classes, practices twice a week, a lot of training camp promotions, selling calendars and signing autographs for fans, she said.
“It’s really weird – I always think, ‘They want an autograph from me?’ It’s a very surreal feeling,” she said, laughing.”
“But it’s a lot of fun,” she said.
The Cheerleaders certainly have a good contingent of male fans, she said, but the biggest fans seem to be young Cheerleaders, like she was.
The best part of being a Patriots Cheerleader, she said, “is meeting all the girls and having so many new friends, and being able to talk to all these Patriots fans – we love them.”
“Being able to cheer at the Patriots’ games it’s very exciting,” she said.
Aiello will make her debut on the team on Aug. 20, at the preseason football game.
Tracy Sormanti, the Cheerleader Director for the New England Patriots Cheerleading Squad, called Aiello “a talented performer with a wonderful personality.”
“She works hard at rehearsals, is very personable at appearances and is a great asset to the New England Patriots Cheerleading Squad,” Sormanti said.
Aiello has already done a promotion with the Patriots in early July, she said, but the Cheerleaders don’t really mingle with the football players.
Said Aiello: “I just love the whole team aspect of it, and just performing and getting the crowing going for the football game.”
Auditions for the Washington Capitals Red Rockers were last week, and the new squad of 14 has been announced. There are eight returning vets and six rookies. Not all vets who re-auditioned made it through the three-day audition process.
Front Row (Left to Right): Corrie, Jessi
Middle Row (Left to Right): Kristie, Emme, Kristen, Joanna, Kim
Back Row (Left to Right): Elana, Ashley, Beth, Laura, Rachel, Milly, Danielle
You may recognize Kristie and Joanna as former Washington Wizard Girls.
The Red Rockers are choreographed by former Wizards Dancer Sarah Davis, and Sarah was kind enough to send us a few photos from auditions:
Watch videos of the Red Rockers auditions here.
Back in the spring the Washington Redskins Cheerleaders traveled to Marco Island Marriott in Florida to shoot their 12th annual swimsuit calendar. On July 30th the Cheerleaders held their calendar release party at the Public Bar in DC.
I was unable to attend, but loyal reader of the blog Ron was there and he did a great job of taking photos and we really appreciate that he’s sharing them with us.
Attorney-at-law Khlover
Michelle S.
Talmesha
Ambassadors
Former Redskins Cheerleader Rebecca Mejia (now with RedskinsTV) and Director Stephanie Jojokian
2nd-year veteran Melanie graces the cover
Order the calendar here.
From WKYT.com
An NFL Cheerleader will lead the East Kentucky Diamond Girls as the dance team’s choreographer. Letcher County native Sarah Gilliam – a member of the Cincinnati Ben-Gals dance team – has been named Diamond Girls choreographer. East Kentucky Miners President of Basketball Operations/Head Coach Kevin Keathley has officially announced Gilliam’s hiring. Gilliam is nearing her first season as a member of the Cincinnati Ben-Gals dance team.
A two-year member of the Diamond Girls (official dance team of the East Kentucky), Gilliam welcomed the opportunity to return to the East Kentucky professional basketball franchise for a third season.
“I’m excited to have the opportunity to work with the East Kentucky Diamond Girls out of a choreographer role,” Gilliam said. “It’s a great opportunity and I look forward to having the chance to return to the organization.”
Gilliam made the cut with the Ben-Gals dance team earlier in the year. Her tryouts with the Cincinnati squad started in April and ran into early-May.
“We are so proud of what Sarah has been able to accomplish,” Keathley said. “To earn a spot on the Bengals dance team says a lot about her ability and passion for performing and entertaining fans. We as an organization welcome the opportunity to have Sarah back with the East Kentucky Miners dance team. She has proven over the last couple of years to be a professional in every sense of the word. I really appreciate her commitment to the Miners organization. We know Sarah’s role will be limited to some degree because of her new role with the Bengals.
However, her expertise and input will be valued. Sarah is a great example for the youth of Eastern Kentucky. She is proof that if you work hard enough and believe in yourself any dream is possible. She will be able to provide great leadership and mentoring to our new group of Diamond Girls. Sarah is a prime example of what this organization has been about – to give talented individuals the opportunity to hone the their skills in order to pursue their dreams at the highest level. Now, Sarah can come back and help make the next Diamond Girls’ dream come true.”
Tryouts for the East Kentucky Diamond Girls will be held during the second month of September. Gilliam will be present for the upcoming Diamond Girls tryouts. A date for the Diamond Girls tryouts is currently in the process of being finalized.
The Tulsa Oilers Ice Girls made a big splash in their inaugural 2008-09 season, being listed in the CHL Best of the Best poll, and now are opening opportunities to join the elite entertainment squad.
Auditions for the 2009-10 Oiler Ice Girls will be Saturday August 22nd starting at noon at Woodland Hills Mall (71st and Memorial). The location is by the customer service desk on the lower level in front of Dillard’s. The auditions will be for women 18 years and older.
From noon to three is open registration which will include an interview process. Call backs will begin at 4 p.m. with training for a brief dance routine from 4 to 5 p.m. At five o’clock, entrants will then audition with their dance routine.
Pre –registration is encouraged. In order to pre-register for the auditions or for more information, prospective Ice Girls should contact coordinator Jessica Barrett at icegirls@tulsaoilers.com.
The auditions are open to the public.
Josan Crawford made the dance team for the Arena Football League’s Minnesota Fighting Pike, while still a senior in high school. That was just the start of her professional cheerleading career that saw her dance for Minnesota Arctic Blast Professional Roller Hockey Team and perform as a member of the WNBA Minnesota Lynx Stunt Team.
Josan spent four seasons as a Minnesota Vikings Cheerleaders over a ten-year span, and this past NBA season was an assistant coach for the Timberwolves Dancers.
She may have finally hung up her poms, but Josan is still keeping busy. She’s mother of twin girls (Adrienne and Isabella). She’s also the owner and co-founder of Splayback.com, a start-up founded by Josan, her husband Wes, and Josan’s brother Billy Hengen, that went live a couple of months ago.
The idea behind Splayback.com was to simplify the process of looking up sports video highlights so that people didn’t have to sort through all of the clutter just to see a short video clip.
And when they say all sports they mean ALL SPORTS. Everything from traditionally popular sports like and football and basketball, to less mainstream sports like squash and badminton are featured. There are instructional and training videos, and even cheerleading and dance.
Splayback.com gives users the very best experience in not only finding and watching sports highlight video clips but it also allows amateur athletes and the parents of youths in all sports to upload their very own videos. And with privacy controls users can share the videos with as few or as many viewers as they like.
So far Josan says they’ve been most successful with high school sports. She’s gotten great feedback how Splayback.com boosts morale by allowing students to watch highlights of events they never got to attend.
Splayback.com has also developed unique partnership deals with high schools, allowing the schools to earn revenues from site advertising.
And it’s really important to Josan that users can be assured that all the videos family friendly. Before any video goes online, it’s screened by Splayback’s staff to ensure it’s appropriate.
Splayback.com has the ability to bring people together when they are miles apart. The goal was to create a safe place where people of all ages could go to watch, enjoy, interact and most importantly share this amazing thing that we all call sport. So no matter what kind, what age, or what level, if it is a sport…it has a home…. And that home is Splayback.com.
The weather was brutally hot and humid for the 2009 Fan Appreciation Day at Redskins Training Camp on Saturday.
The Redskins Cheerleaders took precautions with extra sunblock as their appearance began shortly after 12 noon.
Ashley A.
Fans were treated to performances giving a little hint of what to expect this season at FedEx Field.
In addition the performances the Cheerleaders signed autographs…
tossed t-shirts to the fans and….
and posed for photos.
[Washington Redskins Cheerleaders]
I asked our resident uniform expert Sasha, about the arm band trend, and she tells me it all started in 2004 with:
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers Cheerleaders
Then the Tennessee Titans Cheerleaders adopted it in 2006
In 2007 the NFLE Hamburg Sea Pearls and…
the MLS Houston Dynamo Girls started wearing them.
In 2009 it’s a part of the new Washington Redskins uniform.
Any readers out there that know of more instances of the arm band, please let us know.
Update: How could I forget
The Philadelphia Soulmates!
The Charlotte Lady Cats
Redskins Ambassadors
Roses Entertainment presents the 2010 San Antonio Roses Auditions
The San Antonio Roses are independent pro cheerleader/dancers for San Antonio, Texas. They perform and make appearances at many high profile sports, community and charity events and have been providing the San Antonio Semi-Pro Football community with their cheerleaders since 1999.
They will be providing the San Antonio Warriors Semi-Pro Football Organization their semi-pro cheerleaders for the 2010 season. Auditions will be held Saturday August 22, 2009 from 10 am to 3 pm at the San Antonio Roses Studio 13330 Western Oak Drive, Suite #2, Helotes, Texas 78023. Judges will include former NBA and NFL Cheerleaders. Ladies ages 18 and up can register free online before August 18th and attend two free audition prep classes August 18th and 20th at the Roses studio from 8 pm to 10 pm.
Reader Mike sends us some more photos from some recent Eagles Cheerleaders appearances.
5k run in South Philly
Flight Night at the Linc
End Zone Shop in Lancaster
I started a new gallery with the rest of Mike’s photos and undoubtedly we’ll have more throughout the season.
