Susan of the Washington Redskins Cheerleaders
By Sean Keeler
FOX Sports Kansas City
She’s baaaaaaaack.
Rachel Wray, the former Kansas City Chiefs cheerleader-turned-fighter, is returning to MMA for the first time in more than a year. The Arkansas native tells FOXSportsKansasCity.com that she’s received an offer to fight on July 12, in Memphis, Tennessee, on a card put on by Attitude MMA.
“I was scheduled to fight in June in Mississippi but the entire show was canceled,” says Wray, who sports a 2-1 record. “My coach has been getting several offers for me to fight more of the big-name girls, title fights, et cetera. But he tells them while he does think that I could beat them, I haven’t fought in (more than) a year and I’ve only had three fights. So we need to wait and get some more fights under my belt before I accept a title fight or a more high-status opponent. We need to see where I’m at first.”
After her original opponent for the Memphis bout backed out, Wray says, she’s now slated to fight Jamie Clinton.
“She is a two-stripe white belt (as am I),” Wray says, “so I expect she will have some good ground game.”
The 24-year-old, who was on the Chiefs’ cheerleading squad in 2011 and ’12, bowed out of a bout with Bobby Bedard last August because of a weight issue.
Since then, everything in her MMA circle is new — new gym, new trainer and a new weight class.
“I was cutting way too much weight,” says Wray, who’ll fight at 130 pounds now after cycling between 115 and 125 pounds the last two years. “Fluctuating 20 pounds every couple months just isn’t healthy, especially for a girl. Ten years of gymnastics caused my body to be more naturally bulky and muscular. So I discovered that if I started lifting heavy and went up a weight class, I would feel 10 times stronger, more explosive and powerful.”
As to the latter, well, thank her new boyfriend, Geo, who’s also her strength and conditioning coach. The routine: CrossFit-style workouts at 6 a.m., followed by Olympic lifts and cardio circuits with fighting-style elements.
She’s also been fine-tuning her fighting style, having won gold at an American Grappling Federation tournament last fall, and two silvers at the NAGA World Jiu-Jitsu Championship last December in Dallas.
Tweets by @SeanKeeler“I have really been developing my fighting style and I don’t want to give anything away to my opponent,” Wray says. “But let’s just say what you see on YouTube is not how I fight anymore — at all.”
She’s teaching at UFC Gym in Fayetteville, Ark., and signing some autographs locally in June. But the bulk of the next two months is centered on training. Training and keeping a relatively low profile.
“All of my focus really is on getting ready for my return to the cage,” Wray says.
“When everyone first found out about me going from being a Chiefs cheerleader to an MMA fighter, there was a huge uproar with the media and caused sort of a frenzy. It was very stressful to me and brought many emotions that got in the way of my training. ‘Step right up, folks, see the amazing cage-fighting cheerleader!’ That’s how it all felt.”
Goodbye, pompoms; hello, Pedro Sauer Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Association. Next up: Wray plans on being tested for her blue belt in the mixed martial arts style.
“This has been my most important goal — more important than winning fights — since I first started fighting,” she says. “The reason why it’s so important to me is because it’s the best way to display my discipline and dedication to the sport.
“I also believe that it will force the MMA community to respect me. Nobody will be able to say that I’m ‘not qualified’ or ‘not experienced enough’ or ‘don’t deserve it’ or any of that stuff (that) I used to hear when I first started. Nobody can say that I haven’t put in the work, because I will have a great way to prove them wrong.”
From Saturday Night – Carley of the Philadelphia Soulmates
In this segment, taped for KDFW’s “Eyewitness News” in 1976, Dallas-based reporter Jim Ruddy covers the first open tryouts held by the Dallas Cowboys to select the team’s cheerleading squad for the 1976-1977 football season. The tryouts, which took place at Texas Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Irving, drew over 130 cheerleading hopefuls. Included in the footage are interviews with several of those cheerleading hopefuls, as well as scenes from the selection process.
Washington Wizard Girls
By Kristi Turnquist
The Oregonian
Just in time for Wednesday night’s NBA playoff game between the Portland Trail Blazers and the San Antonio Spurs, comes a special video message from the Blazer Dancers. Except this one isn’t a rah-rah shout-out to the Blazers.
Nope, the Blazer Dancers are sending out a cheer asking for Emmy votes for “Portlandia.” In the video, the Blazer Dancers make a “polite request,” as the clip says, for Emmy voters to consider “Portlandia.”
The synergy of it all!
This isn’t the first time the Blazer Dancers have shown up on the satirical sketch show. In a sketch from earlier this season, Toni (Carrie Brownstein) and Candace (Fred Armisen), the ever-judgmental feminist bookstore duo, tried to raise the feminist consciousness of the Blazer Dancers.
Attending a Blazers game, Toni and Candace are horrified to see the Blazer Dancers jumping around in revealing outfits.
“Why are they barely wearing anything?” Toni and Candace wonder. “Let them speak!”
Toni and Candace managed to get a meeting with Blazers General Manager Neil Olshey, who agrees to let the feminists come up with a new routine for the dancers.
It doesn’t go so well. Later, Toni and Candace are in the team locker room, where Blazers LaMarcus Aldridge, Thomas Robinson, Robin Lopez and Damiam Lillard are too bummed at losing a game to work up any enthusiasm for the new Blazer Dancers routine.
PREP CLINIC
Date: Thursday, May 29, 2014
Time: 6-10 p.m. | Registration will begin at 5:30 p.m.
Location: Atlanta Hawks Practice Court – Philips Arena
Cost: $30 (Cash or money order only. No credit cards or checks will be accepted at the door.)
The Prep Clinic will consist of dance/cheer instruction, along with a Q&A session with current team management and members. Please wear comfortable dance attire. Attendance is limited, so RSVP today!
Prep Clinic registration fee is $30. Cash or money order only. No credit cards or checks will be accepted.
Must have the following the day of Prep Clinic:
Prep Clinic Fee of $30 | Cash or money order only
Download, print and bring these PDF’s: Application | Waiver
AUDITIONS
Date: Saturday, June 7, 2014
Time: Registration – 8:30 a.m. | Clinic – 9:30 a.m. – 6 p.m.
Location: Georgia World Congress Center
Cost: $35 (Cash or money order only. No credit cards or checks will be accepted at the door.)
The Atlanta Hawks Cheerleaders are made up of dancers AND cheerleaders! Do you have what it takes? Join us on June 7th for auditions! Make sure to read through the following information and details and RSVP by clicking the link below. Also, don’t forget to download the PDF’s for the Application, Employment Form and Waiver and bring them with you on June 7th! Dancing and tumbling experience is a plus but not required.
Audition registration fee is $35. Cash or money order only. No credit cards or checks will be accepted.
http://www.atlantahawkscheerleaders.com/1415_Audition_PrepClinic.htm
2014 Pro Bowl MDC Natalie at Dolphins Cheerleader Finals
