Detroit Lions up next
Justin Engel
MLive.com
September 21, 2012
KAWKAWLIN TOWNSHIP, MI — Attending her daughter’s performances — whether it be a dance number, musical recital, beauty pageant or play — has been a regular routine for Kawkawlin Township’s Sonya Rouech and family since her child was in grade school.
These days, the daughter is 28 and her stage is an NFL football stadium in Tennessee.
The distance isn’t dissuading the Rouechs.
Three of them will make the 10-hour trek to Nashville, Tenn., where daughter Angie Rouech will perform as a Tennessee Titans cheerleader during the Detroit Lions game at 1 p.m. Sunday.
“She’s always been involved in everything,” said Sonya Rouech, who will drive with her husband, Kim, and adult son, Nick. “We’ve always been there for her. It’s no different now.”
The Rouechs have been regulars at Titans games since the youngest sibling clinched a spot on the 27-woman cheerleading roster in 2011.
Earlier this month, both parents attended a Titans pep rally there, just a few days after traveling to watch a preseason game against the New England Patriots.
“We make it a point to attend every game she has,” the mother said.
Angela_Rouech_1.JPGView full sizecourtesy Tennessee TitansAngela Rouech, a Kawkawlin native, now is a cheerleader for the NFL’s Tennessee Titans.
That means at least 10 Tennessee trips yearly over the course of the NFL’s 7-month season.
“It’s exciting to see her on the field,” Sonya Rouech said. “We watched her cheer in high school, too (at Bay City Western).”
The family plans to return home Monday. Rouech may bring back more Titans cheerleading swimsuit calendars — with her daughter on the cover — in an effort to sell copies.
Rouech said she’s glad the family has made time over the years to watch their youngest develop as a performer, from taking dance classes as a 5-year-old to winning Miss Bay County in 2005 to landing a spot with the most profitable sports league in the world:
“She turned out really great, didn’t she?”
British Colombia Lions “Felions” dance team (August 2012)
Justin Engel
MLive.com
September 21, 2012
NASHVILLE, TENN. — A mid-Michigan native will cheer at Sunday’s Detroit Lions game against the Tennessee Titans in the Music City, but that encouragement won’t come from the bleachers and it won’t be directed at the home state team.
Meet Angie Rouech. The 28-year-old Kawkawlin native’s outgoing personality, charity and physical radiance have earned her a number of titles over the years, including Miss Bay County 2005.
She has a new role these days. On Sundays, she suits up in superhero-like fashion and transforms into one of those near-mythical creatures of American lore: The NFL cheerleader.
Rouech (pronounced roo-sh) is in her second year on the Titans cheer squad, and Sunday will mark the first time her team has faced the Lions since her arrival.
The road to those Tennessee sidelines was a challenging one, not always paved with success. But the payoff was worth the pain, she says now.
“I love gameday,” Rouech said in a phone interview from Nashville. “I love the feeling you get when you run out on the field.
“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience.”
Star from the start
Performing for others has been a constant in Rouech’s life.
Even before she wore that Miss Bay County crown, and even before the 2002 Bay City Western High School grad was a cheerleader for the Warriors football team, she was attracting the spotlight through song, dance and theater.
“She did a lot of pageants when she was young, and musical theater,” said her mother, Sonya Rouech, who still lives in Kawkawlin. “She pretty much used every avenue possible that was in our city, whether it was (The Bay City) Players or the pageants or the high school events.”
Tammy Pelletier, a Bay City resident, was first wowed by the younger Rouech when she and Pelletier’s daughter attended Curtis Nelson Dance School together in Bay City.
Rouech was 5.
“She’s just amazing,” said Pelletier, who remains a family friend. “She’s got a heart of gold, too. Her soul is just as beautiful as she is.”
During those childhood years, Rouech’s soul first felt the pull of Tennessee, where her family sometimes visited.
“I fell in love with the state,” she said.
Rouech — a fan of the Detroit Tigers and other Michigan teams growing up — was fond enough of Tennessee that, when the NFL’s Houston Oilers moved there in 1997, she was “instantly a fan.” Later, the Oilers became the Titans.
Fast forward to 2005. After a stint as a student at Saginaw Valley State University, Rouech packed her bags for Nashville, hoping to become the Music City’s next big songstress.
“Growing up in Michigan, I was trying to bring a Motown flair to a country world,” she said of her musical style there.
Rouech struggled in her search for stardom. She recorded some demo songs, but never launched as a recognized talent in a town rich with them.
“I’m a very practical person,” she said. “It came to a point where I decided to start a career.”
Putting the microphone down and stepping back from the spotlight, Rouech snagged a sales job in 2010. It’s a career she continues today, working Monday to Friday as a marketing manager at a Nashville credit union.
Her day job, though, couldn’t scratch the itch she had since she first performed in front of audiences as a child.
So, when she saw an online advertisement announcing Titans cheerleader tryouts in 2011, Rouech stepped back onto center stage.
Over a two-week span, she survived a series of auditions that whittled down a group of 300 women to 27.
Describing the minute-long dance routine that decided the roster, she said, “It was the scariest moment in your life.”
When she learned she made the cut, it was one of the most “exciting,” Rouech said.
A year later, she made the team a second time.
Commitment
Rouech said life as an NFL cheerleader doesn’t stop on Sundays … or after the Super Bowl:
“It’s a year-long commitment.”
Rouech works 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at her marketing job on weekdays. After a quick stop home to clean up, change and eat, she’s off to a practice or team event for the Titans organization.
“June and July are pretty packed,” she said. “Now that we’re in season, we’re down to two or three nights a week. We have community appearances every other day, if not every day.”
Rouech and her cheerleading colleagues rile up the Nashville crowds during 10 home games a year. They spend most of the three-hour matchups dancing on the sidelines, she said.
While the group doesn’t travel with the football team for away games, that doesn’t mean they don’t travel.
This summer, Rouech visited Sandestin, Fla., where the cheerleaders modeled for their annual swimsuit calendar.
On the cover now is Rouech, adorned in a Titans-themed two-piece as she stands sun-kissed in the foreground of a sandy-white beach with three teammates.
“That was quite a surprise,” she said about first seeing the featured photo.
A tiny Titan
Despite the crowded schedule, Rouech said she maintains a social life.
“You find time for your friends,” she said. “My days are just a little bit longer than most.”
Rouech rarely returns to her hometown these days, although she did manage a 72-hour visit last weekend.
She showed up with gifts for her brother’s expected child: Onesies, bottles, slippers.
All featured the Titans logo.
“That way,” she said of her unborn niece or nephew, “they know — even though I’m far away — which team they should root for.”
EXTRAS
Read Q&A with Rouech as she talks Titans, Barry Sanders, and Ross and Rachel
See her Titans profile web page
Monday Morning Cheerleader: Cat of the Eagles
By Lindsay McCormick
Esquire.com
September 17, 2012
Esquire magazine’s Lindsay McCormick talks football with Cat. Click here to read the interview.
Laker Girl auditions were super competitive this year, as always. Now is our first chance to see who made the cut. (Belated) congrats, ladies! [Click here for mini head shots.]
Left to right
Top Row: Jenny, Andi, Melissa, Deanna*, Kelsey*, Chloe, Rachael
Middle Row: Julie*, Lindsay*, Mekayla, Shelbie, Brandi, Brittney*, Ashley*, Dara*
Bottom Row: Rebekah, Karla, Maggie, Aubrey, Jacquelyn*, Teresa*, Maddy
The scoop on the newbies’ dance backgrounds:
Andi – Chivas USA ChivaGirl, former Clippers Spirit
Aubrey – ??
Brandi – Performs at DisneyLand
Chloe – Didn’t make the UCLA dance team, but turned around and made Lakers. I think she got the better deal.
Jenny – Former San Diego Charger Girl
Karla – Dance teacher
Maddy – Performs at DisneyLand, former Miami Heat Dancer
Maggie – a dance studio girl, I believe
Mekayla – Chivas USA ChivaGirl, former member of the Anaheim Bolts Dance Team
Melissa – Chivas USA ChivaGirl (interestingly, sister of Michelle from Clippers Spirit. But they still love each other.)
Rachael – another studio girl
Rebekah – Studied dance at Julliard (Yes. THE Julliard)
Aliana Ramos
Cary News
Sep 18, 2012
APEX – Six hundred women auditioned this year for the chance to wear the famous blue and white uniform of the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders. Only 39 made the team, and one of them was Carisa McMillan of Apex.
After two months of training camp, where McMillan feared getting cut from the squad nearly every day, the reality that she made it didn’t sink in until she saw her life-size photo hanging above a locker in Cowboys Stadium.
McMillan, 22, tried out for the squad while preparing for finals at Appalachian State University, where she graduated as a dance major with a minor in business.
“I was about to graduate when I realized I wasn’t done performing,” said McMillan, who was captain of ASU’s dance team. “I thought, what if I went out there and gave it a shot? I figured I would go big or go home.”
McMillan knew a little bit about the audition process for one of the most famous dance squads in the world from watching CMT’s reality show “Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders: Making the Team.”
But auditions were tougher than she expected.
“Every round was so hard,” McMillan said. “You think it’s going to get easier, but no. Toward the end it’s psychologically, physically and mentally draining. Every night you are worried it’s going to be your last night. Every night you hold your breath and hope Kelli doesn’t say your name.”
Kelli Finglass is the director of the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders. Anyone who has watched the show knows that getting called into Finglass’ office is almost never a good thing.
McMillan got called in during training camp.
She wouldn’t say much about what happenend [sic]; she didn’t want to ruin the surprise for viewers who tune in to the show’s seventh season, which is airing now. “But,” McMillan said, “it wasn’t what I expected. It was good feedback.”
McMillan said it was hard at first to get used to cameras following her every move.
“The first weekend it was really strange,” she said. “I just wanted to not sound silly. But by the next round you start forgetting they are there and you realize it’s about people getting to see your authentic experience. They got a couple of embarrassing shots of me crying my eyes out.”
They were mostly happy tears, like when McMillan found out she was one of 25 rookies who made it into training camp. She immediately hugged her mom.
“I’m proud of her for putting herself out there,” Cassandra McMillan said. “This was a real risk to move out to a brand new city not knowing if she was going to make it. I admire her for being willing to pursue her dreams.”
Making the squad doesn’t mean life is always easy, though. Carisa works two part-time jobs in addition to her part-time gig as a Cowboys cheerleader.
Green Hope roots
For McMillan, the road to Dallas began at Green Hope High School.
She was originally assigned to attend Apex High, which didn’t have a dance team. Her mother requested a transfer.
“I don’t think I would have fallen into this pathway if I wouldn’t have gone to Green Hope,” McMillan said. “It made such a difference in my life.”
Before joining the high school dance team, she had mostly performed solo. She began dancing when she was 3 and went on to dance in a Carolina Ballet production of “The Nutcracker.”
At Green Hope, she learned to appreciate team dancing.
“I loved the energy and atmosphere of team dance,” McMillan said. “I love the team camaraderie.” And now, she loves wearing blue and white.
“You always hear people say they don’t want to take (the uniform) off,” McMillan said. “It’s true.”
The Jaguars website has been updated with this year’s roster. Click here to check it out.
Pattonville High School graduate now a cheerleaders [sic] with the St. Louis Rams.
By Brian Feldt
Maryland Heights Patch
September 17, 2012
The St. Louis Rams made their 2012 home debut Sunday against the Washington on Sunday, in thrilling fashion, with a 31-28 win over the Redskins.
Also making their home debut were the 2012 St. Louis Rams cheerleaders, featuring a pair of women with ties to schools in Maryland Heights Patch territory.
The team does not release last names, but the Rams tell us one of the squad’s rookies is Sarah, a 2007 Ladue Horton Watkins High School graduate. Back again in 2012 is Holly, a 2007 Pattonville High School graduate.
The pair, along with the rest of the team’s cheerleaders, are featured in the squad’s 2012-2013 swimsuit calendar, which was released Friday. All proceeds from a downtown launch event held Friday night will go to the Siteman Cancer Center, including its Creve Coeur campus.
Jacksonville.com (Sept. 14, 2012): The Roar of The Jaguars held their annual swimsuit calendar party tonight at Suite. The cheerleaders arrived to a red carpet entrance followed by the introductions and the announcement of the calendar cover girl. Click here for photos from the event.
