By Jan Linville, Correspondent
Columbia Daily Herald
10/5/2011
If the Titans were looking for someone who had walked the walk when they were searching for a Director of Cheerleading, they found exactly that in Brentwood resident Stacie Kinder who is now entering her eighth season with the organization.
She enrolled in her first dance class at age three, was dance team captain in high school, studied ballet at the Washington School of Ballet and the list goes on and on.
“I am not a traditional cheerleader,” she said. “In the NFL, they call this cheerleading because that’s what the public understands, but all professional cheerleaders are dancers because our venues in the professional arena are so large you can’t hear us. And the women are almost, in my opinion, too old. I mean, if I told my girls to do a toe touch or turn a cartwheel, they would revolt. They wear three and a half inch heels — they’re not going to do ‘go-fight!’”
After some trips to New York, Kinder said she realized after high school that she probably wasn’t as talented as she needed to be to pursue a career as a professional entertainer/dancer, so she attended the University of Virginia (UVA), graduating in 1995 with a double major in finance and marketing and a minor in French. While at UVA, she served as dance team captain her junior and senior years and led the Cavalier squad to a rank of 17th in the nation. She also used her extensive dance background to compete in Fitness America finishing second at Fitness Atlanta and then ranking in the top 25 at the national competition in Redondo Beach, California.
After relocating to Nashville in 1996, Kinder auditioned for the inaugural AFL Nashville Kats Dance Team where she cheered and served as captain for 1997 and 1998. During the 1999 season, she continued to cheer, served as the dance team’s director and was in charge of sponsorship marketing for the Kats. She left the organization in 2000 to focus on her first child and pursue other interests. When the Titans called her in 2004 about the Director of Cheerleading position, she was ready to get back into the industry.
“My job right now is actually a great culmination of my talents,” said Kinder. “I feel like I’m a pretty good businesswoman and running cheerleaders, you know, we’re our own little business entity. We have our own revenue streams and I’m always selling a product whether it’s appearances or calendars or tickets to a calendar release party or audition party, so I’m marketing and I’m managing a pretty large budget. It’s great to be able to use the business degree I have in culmination with my dance/entertainment background.”
Kinder also produced the Music City Bowl’s halftime show for six years until her second son was three and she was just too busy with her children and the Titans to continue producing the show. She has also been involved in the Macy’s Thanksgiving parade and the Aloha Bowl in Hawaii and is currently choreographing for a band job in Manchester. When interviewing a potential Titans cheerleader, she looks for a woman who is the total package.
“Obviously, she’s got to be able to dance,” she said. “Does she need to have an extensive professional dance background? No. Do some of them? Yes. Brooke owns her own dance studio in Kentucky and does very well. Jessi is probably the best dancer we’ve ever had. She was on ‘So You Think You Can Dance,’ spent six years in Los Angeles, has done television programs and danced with Christina Aguilera, so those two are phenomenal dancers. Angela is a really smart woman, a banker, and she’s a good dancer, but she’s not a dancer by trade. She moved to Nashville to sing. Stephanie is the communications director for Cracker Barrel Corporation and she’s a wife and a mother and also a good dancer. So we’re looking for women who clearly can dance and keep up with choreography, but they also have to have a beautiful physique, a beautiful face and be pursuing something professionally that is driving them to be a better member of society and a contributing member of society. Almost all of them are college educated or in college and, if they didn’t go the college route, they went a route like Jessi where she really focused on her dance in LA and really built up a professional career or like Brooke who opened her own studio and focused on that. I just don’t hire women who are kind of floundering around who happen to be great dancers. They really have to have their real life going down a goal-oriented path.”
The audition process is a month long with the final audition open to the public at the Wildhorse Saloon. Before the finals, the field is narrowed down to 48 from over 200 women. Current cheerleaders have to audition every year to keep their spot. Eight years is the longest anyone has ever stayed on the squad and the average cheerleader stays three and a half seasons.
Kinder and the cheerleaders have their own training camp, rehearsing for two to three hours five days a week through the summer. During the preseason, that goes down to three days a week and then, by the regular season, rehearsals are two nights a week. They arrive at 7:45 am on game day and are the last to leave. Kinder spends the day primarily on the field.
“I’m my own water girl,” she laughed. “We don’t have an equipment person so I make sure all the girls are well-watered! I try to walk around the field because the girls are divided into groups, so I try to spend a little time watching each group and coaching them.”
Kinder and the cheerleaders just finished their Junior Titans cheerleading program which is a huge undertaking. They had 100 little junior cheerleaders and junior T-racs performing on the field during halftime of the Broncos game. The cheerleaders also keep busy with paid appearances and charity work within the community. Each cheerleader is obligated to do ten charity events throughout the season.
“There are 25 girls and with each girl doing 10 events, that’s over 200 events in the community,” said Kinder. “There are a lot of things the players can’t do because they’re so focused on game day, so we want to maintain that charitable presence in the Nashville community on behalf of the Titans.”
NFL cheerleaders don’t travel to away games, but the Baltimore Ravens squad chose to come to Nashville on their own recently to watch their game against the Titans.
Titans owner Bud Adams with Stacy Kinder
There are no age limits for cheerleaders, but you have to be 18 and a high school graduate in order to try out. The oldest woman to make the team was 38. Kinder likes to have a few girls over 30 to anchor the team and said she would never have a team with nobody over 30. There is an alumni association for past cheerleaders that is very active. They have a bi-monthly newsletter, volunteer to help at events and also do charity work of their own. Kinder enjoys seeing how each woman grows professionally while on the squad.
“One of my favorite things about what I do is the development of professional women,” she said. “Helping them go from being 22 or 23 and just getting out in the world, to then leaving me at 26 or 27 as a more polished professional woman who has real goals that are defined and knowing she is going to be a successful member of the professional society in whatever it is she chooses. It’s rewarding for me to see that metamorphosis happen – to see all the potential that she’s got in her little interview when she sits here and then see all that she can become after she’s been a Titans cheerleader.”
Kinder helps her girls polish their resumes and also writes recommendations for them.
“I think when people talk to a cheerleader in a job interview, they realize what an incredible manager of time she is and that is impressive to an employer,” she said. “If she was able to manage either a school career or a different career and this at the same time, then clearly she’s going to be a great employee — and it doesn’t hurt that she looks great!”
Originally from Prince William County on the Virginia side of Washington D.C., Kinder and her husband, Gary, moved to Brentwood in 2008. Gary was on the Olympic team in 1988 and won the trials in the decathlon. He now owns Kindersport Elite Athletics (www.kindersportonline.com) in Brentwood where he trains a lot of Williamson County athletes including Kevin Lazas who just won the Pan Am Games and is the American Junior record holder in the decathlon. The couple has two sons, Jett, 10, and Canon, 5. While she feels her job is amazingly awesome, she still makes time to make family her priority from working at the hot dog booth at Lipscomb Elementary’s Fall Fest to being the ‘mystery reader’ at Canon’s preschool.
“It’s a challenge to balance everything, but even if it means working on the computer at home until midnight after I’ve come home at 10:30 pm from Titans cheerleading practice, I’m always going to make sure I’m a mother to my boys. I want to be a role model to other women and show them that with good time management and prioritizing, you can excel in your career and stay very involved with your children’s lives as well.”
Coming from the Washington D.C. area, Kinder loves the size of Brentwood and that it is such a great place for families and children. She grew up a Redskins fan, but said the city was so big that you never met any of the players out on the town.
“In DC, it was never even a thought that I’d meet a Redskin,” she said. “It was just so huge, but because so many of our players live in Brentwood, you do see them. Two of my best moments in having this job were when we played the ‘Skins in preseason and Joe Gibbs had come back and was coaching for them again. I got to meet him in the tunnel and I just started crying. He was just such a hero of mine and I said, ‘you’ve made my night’ and he said, ‘no, you’ve made mine.’ And then one day downstairs in the lobby, Joe Theismann was there. He didn’t assume that I knew who he was and he said, “I’m Joe Theismann’ and I said, ‘yeah, I know!’”
Even with all of her other responsibilities, Kinder is also the co-founder and director of Professional Cheer and Dance and on the Board of Trustees for the Tennessee Chapter of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. She made that her charity of choice after losing a Kats cheerleader friend to leukemia in 2003 at age 34. She seems to thrive on having a hand in so many activities and thoroughly enjoys her line of work.
“I love my job,” she smiled. “I love the Titans organization. It’s so great to work for them. I adore Mr. Adams – he’s just a ball of fire. He loves his cheerleaders which is great for me. It’s a dream come true.”
Titans cheerleaders are always available for personal appearances and their calendar is now on sale for $15 at www.titansonline.com/cheerleaders.
For more information on the Titans cheerleaders, please visit www.facebook.com/tennesseetitanscheerleaders.
There are new individual photos on the DCC website. Hopefully larger pictures and individual photos will follow soon!
The Philadelphia Soul organization will be auditioning dancers for the 2012 SoulMate dance team in November. A great way to make sure you’re ready is to attend the prep class offered next weekend. The clinic will include stretching, jazz technique, sample choreography, and useful audition tips. Check out the details below:
Soulmates Pre-Audition Clinic
Date: Saturday, October 15, 2011
Time: 9:30am – 12:30 pm
Location:
Core Fitness and Dance
The Waterview Lounge
1020 North Delaware Ave., 3rd Floor
Philadelphia, PA 19125
(Directly across from the Sugar House Casino)
Fee: $25. Pre-register at www.philadelphiasoul.com or pay cash on the day of!
(Sign up for the clinic and receive $5 off 2012 dance team open call registration fee!)
Soulmates Open Call Audition
Date: November 6, 2011
Time:Registration begins at 9am, Audition begins at 10 am
Location:
Wyndham Mt. Laurel
1111 Rte 73 North | Mount Laurel, New Jersey 08054
Fee: $20 in advance at www.philadelphiasoul.com or $25 cash at the door
Requirements
– You must be a high school graduate
– You must 18 or older by 11/16/2012
– Bring valid photo ID
– Wear 2-piece dance attire (midriff top, hot pant/boy shorts and appropriate footwear)
– Provide a non-returnable headshot and full body shot
– You must be available to attend games, rehearsals, performances, and the key audition dates below
– Dependable transportation for SoulMate events and activities
Other important dates:
Boot Camp: November 7th, 8th, 10th & 11th, Philadelphia Airport Hilton
Semi-Finals: November 12th, Philadelphia Airport Hilton
Interviews: November 13th, Philadelphia Airport Hilton
Finals: November 16th, Chickie’s & Pete’s, South Philly
By Aaron J. Lopez
Nuggets.com
10-6-11
When your dad is a world champion steer wrestler and your knees are scarred from sliding into second base, it’s hard to envision a future on an NBA dance team.
Not only did a Longmont farm girl become a Denver Nuggets Dancer, but she enters her fourth season as the longest-tenured member of the team.
“I didn’t ever think I could be a cheerleader because they look almost untouchable in the public eye,” Krista said before a practice at Forza Fitness and Performance Club. “I was like, ‘I could never be one of those’ It never crossed my mind that was something I could do.”
Krista, who started dancing at a studio at age 3, became a Nuggets dancer in 2008-09 and fell in love with the job as the Nuggets advanced to the Western Conference finals for the first time in 24 years.
“For that to be my first year, it couldn’t have gotten any better,” she said. “I hadn’t really been to many Nuggets game before. Once you get to go to a game and sit on the court, I’m a huge basketball fan now.”
With her dad competing on the rodeo circuit in the 1980s, Krista was a self-described tomboy while growing up in rural Colorado. She was interested in competing herself, but her mom wouldn’t allow it because of the inherent dangers associated with roping, riding and interacting with various livestock.
Other sports helped fill the void, but dance was always Krista’s No. 1 passion.
She helped her studio, Dance Dimensions, win a national title in high school, but she wasn’t sure what the next step would be as she studied marketing at Colorado State University. Krista spent two years with the Eagle Chicks, the dance team for minor-league hockey’s Colorado Eagles, before making the move to the Nuggets.
“I planned on quitting dance after high school,” she said. “I didn’t want to go out to Los Angeles. I’m a family girl. I want to be around my family.”
Even staying close to home had its challenges. While going to school in Fort Collins, Krista spent the past three NBA seasons commuting to games and practices in Denver. Depending on the Nuggets’ schedule, she could make five or six trips along I-25 every week.
“People definitely don’t realize how hard we work,” she said. “They also think we do it to get somewhere else. They ask if I’m doing it to meet the players or become a model or get into show business. That’s not the case with the Nuggets. I’ve never done it to be on TV or hang out with the players. I already have my degree in marketing. I would love to go into marketing.”
In a difficult economy, Krista is content to dance for the Nuggets and provide leadership for a squad that features nine rookies among its 17 women.
“I definitely feel the most seasoned on the team,” she said. “I still think it’s fun to do this, but I take it a little more seriously because I’ve invested so much of my time. I’m very proud of it. A lot of the girls think it’s more for fun, but I remind them that it’s serious.”
From the first day of tryouts each summer, Krista goes out of her way to welcome perspective teammates. She gives them her e-mail address and phone number and encourages them to contact her if they need any advice that might help them succeed.
“Krista continues to be a solid team member and an excellent course of positive energy for the group,” said Denver Nuggets Dancers coordinator and choreographer Amy Jo Wagner. “Each season she takes on the responsibility of welcoming rookies onto the team and ensuring that all her teammates feel supported and appreciated throughout the year.”
Knowing that she can work in marketing at any age, Krista plans on dancing for the Nuggets as long as possible. In addition to the games, the 24-year-old enjoys the camaraderie of her teammates and the community work that helps make a difference in people’s lives.
During community appearances, some people are surprised to find out that the women in the Nuggets dance outfits are the same ones who perform entertaining routines during games at the Pepsi Center.
As a farm girl from Longmont, Krista sometimes can’t believe it herself.
Ann Gamble
TheDay.com
10/7/2011
Some servicemen come home from overseas to parties, parades and welcome banners. Marine Josh Go will come home to some of these and a little something extra: tickets to Patriots’ home games, thanks to a new Patriots’ cheerleader who happens to be his sister, Cassie Go.
Last May, the petite 2010 Montville High School graduate was living with her parents, working, involved in her community and as devoted to dance as she has been since age 2. Enter Facebook.
A former dance class friend found Go on the social networking site and told her of an upcoming Patriots’ cheerleader audition.
“You’d be great at it,” her friend said.
Although she thought it a long shot, Go thought it might be fun just to try out, so she went to the audition along with 300 hopefuls vying for 31 slots.
All of the cheerleaders have to try out each year to earn their spot on the squad. Over the month-long process, Go progressed through the preliminary rounds and finally to the final test: a grueling two-week boot camp to test how the women would perform under typical conditions and how quickly they could learn new routines.
The candidates were to receive roster emails after the last day of camp, but Go had no time to check her email. She headed straight to Providence, R.I., for a dance competition. Just before she went on stage, her friend called and asked if Go had checked her email.
“She told me I made it and I started screaming and jumping up and down,” Go says, laughing. “It was even more special because I was with my dance instructor who I’ve been with since I was 2, and she’s a big part of my success.”
Her excitement fueled her performance, and “the competition went great after that,” she notes.
Acceptance for the 2011 squad was only the beginning of Go’s great adventure. Since May, the squad has made more than 200 appearances and travelled to Aruba to shoot the squad’s 2012 swimsuit calendar.
Go is the youngest of the cheerleaders who range from 18 to 30 years old.
“It seems like we’re all the same age though,” Go says. “The group events have been great, getting to know the other women. Everyone is very friendly.”
Cheering for the Patriots is only a part-time job. The squad cheers at home games; NFL cheerleaders do not travel with the teams. Go also teaches dance and is a receptionist for a local business.
“My friends are very proud of me. They introduce me as ‘This is my friend Cassie, she’s a Patriots’ cheerleader.'”
A life-long football fan, Go says her parents and other older brother Jake, are “very proud and happy that I’m getting to experience all that goes along with being part of the NFL.”
Go adds, “It’s all just so amazing. We’ve had two pre-season games already and just being on the field, the fans, it’s all just so amazing to be part of the NFL.”
Mike O’Hara
Fox Sports Detroit
October 5, 2011
DETROIT — You can see the Detroit Pride Cheerleaders perform at Eastern Market and outside Ford Field on game day.
You can see them wave their pom-poms and cheer for the Lions during games from their seats in the end zone.
The 24-member team has a goal to get even closer to the action. They want to perform their routines on the playing field as sanctioned, official cheerleaders for the Lions, one of the hottest NFL acts around these days.
Formed in 2010 from the inspiration of director of operations Andrea Wilamowski of Grosse Pointe, as well as director of marketing and sponsorships Stacey Latona, the Pride have gained popularity largely through their own promotions and some media attention.
The Pride are launching a 2012 swimsuit calendar at the Skybox Lounge at Emagine Royal Oak at noon on Sunday. The team has been taking baby steps to gain official recognition since its formation.
“Our goal is to bring pride back to the Detroit area with a lot of classy, good, technical dancing,” said Latona, an account manager for Clear Channel Communications, parent company of seven Metro Detroit radio stations.
The Pride team holds audition tryouts to form its dance squad. Three other members serve as ambassadors. Appearances are booked through the squad’s website and Facebook page.
Not being sanctioned by the Lions presents some obstacles. The Pride pay for game tickets, raising money from sponsorships and donations to defray the cost.
The NFL maintains tight control of all matters related to licensing. That includes use of team names, colors and logos.
While the Pride’s colors are the same as the Lions’ — blue and silver — they aren’t identical.
For the Pride — or any other group seeking to be recognized as an official team entity — being sanctioned by the Lions would be the equivalent of a pro golfer earning a Tour card or a minor-leaguer being promoted to the majors.
Latona said she has communicated frequently with Lions management to discuss an official relationship.
Based on the Lions’ history of never having an official cheerleader team, the Pride’s chances of being sanctioned are like a fourth-and-never.
The Lions used to have high school cheerleaders who twirled batons in the corner of the end zone, but that was discontinued several years ago.
Lions president Tom Lewand reiterated the franchise’s long-held position that the primary source of entertainment is the team, which is off to a 4-0 start and has rallied from big deficits in its previous two games.
“We choose to focus on the football team,” Lewand said. “The most important entertainment we can provide on game day is between the lines on the field.
“Our fans want us to have a successful team more than anything else — like a lot of the other professional teams do.”
The Lions have won eight in a row dating to last season and will be rewarded for their success Monday with a nationally televised game against the Bears at Ford Field.
A sellout crowd will be there to support their Lions, including the Pride — but the cheerleaders will be in the stands, not on the field.
That old goat can really bust a move! Click here to view full size.
By Eric Hagen, Staff Writer
ABCNewspapers.com
October 5, 2011
Of the 12 members on the Minnesota Timberwolves Dance Team this season, two are from Andover and one is from Coon Rapids.
Alisa Hetrick
Mayem Metzger
Amanda Zulegar
Alisa Hetrick graduated from Anoka High School in 2008 and is now a senior at the University of Minnesota working on a major in communications.
Mayem Metzger graduated from Coon Rapids High School in 2009. She is attending the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul and is majoring in psychology and minoring in sociology and family studies.
Amanda Zulegar graduated from Andover High School in 2010 and is now a full-time student at Anoka-Ramsey Community College. She plans to transfer to either St. Cloud State or University of Minnesota and major in psychology.
This is the third year for Hetrick and second year for Metzger on the Timberwolves Dance Team. Zulegar is a rookie.
The team practices every Tuesday and Thursday evening for two to three hours depending on how productive the sessions are, Hetricksaid. The 12 ladies make multiple appearances at promotional and charitable events. Some were at the Minnesota State Fair. There are upcoming marathons they will be attending.
But they will not be performing at any NBA games in the foreseeable future until team owners and players can reach a collective bargaining agreement and end the lockout. The first game they performed at was Sunday evening (Oct. 2) in Game 1 of the WBNA Finals between the Minnesota Lynx and the Atlanta Dream.
The team’s coach Natalie Alvarado was a dancer for the Houston Rockets during the 1998-99 season, which was shortened by the last lockout, so she knows that the season could begin at any moment. Therefore, the team continues to practice and will be ready for a game whenever the lockout is lifted.
“It’s obviously discouraging to know that they have not come to an agreement, but we’re all optimistic,” Metzger said. “We still have practices and appearances and hope that something will be worked out.”
They all noted that outreach in the community is as much a part of their job as are dancing routines at NBA games. Each of them are expected to sign up for as many appearances as possible during the season.
Metzger said she always had a passion for dance, but one of the reasons she wanted to be on the Timberwolves dance team is to be able to do outreach in the community. She liked being at any event last year where there were kids. Fund-raising events for cancer research such as the Relay for Life in Blaine were also very important to her because her uncle died of pancreatic cancer in 1998.
One of Hetrick’s favorite events was when the team performed at a half-marathon at Lake Nokomis this past August. The runners and their families were very receptive and energizing throughout the event, and the team was able to dance on the stage to the music the band played.
Metzger and Hetrick were two of six dance team members who traveled to China for two weeks in early September. This was part of an eight-week outreach cosponsored by the NBA and the China Mobile Communications Corporation. The Timberwolves dancers made appearances with the Washington Wizards mascot at three universities. They danced four routines they had learned during the week-long tryouts just before the China trip, and they signed autographs.
The team was able to do some sight-seeing at a Buddhist temple, Family Temple, a historical garden and a tomb. They also were able to dine on the local cuisine. What stood out to Hetrick and Metzger was how fresh the food was. Hetrick tried a bunch of different foods and was not always aware of what she was eating, but she did not try the food if she recognized it as something she would not willingly eat.
“If it had a head on it, I didn’t eat it,” Hetrick said.
Hetrick loved seeing the culture of China as well. American culture tries to modernize everything, but the Chinese hold onto their rich traditions, she said. A Moon Festival was going on while the team was in China, which is a popular lunar harvest festival celebrated by the Chinese and Vietnamese.
The team made an appearance in Paris, France, in the fall of 2010 when the Minnesota Timberwolves played an exhibition game against the New York Knicks, but the team did not have the chance to do a lot of sight-seeing on that trip, so Hetrick was happy to be able to get out of the gym and see the country for the trip to China.
“It’s a great experience,” Hetrick said. “I obviously love to dance and perform, but to get to travel around the world with the dance team and friends is completely different than any other teams I’ve been on.”
How they got here
Any dancer must try out every year, including returning veterans. Zulegar estimated there were about 75 people when the tryouts began. After two rounds of cuts, the group got down to about 20 dancers.
The remaining dancers went through a week of boot camp to learn new routines for the upcoming season. Throughout the week, the coaches kept an eye on each of the ladies to see who could be a valuable member of the team. The week culminated with a performance at the Treasure Island casino.
Even though Zulegar was mindful that this performance was a key part of the audition, she was not very nervous because the dancers’ friends and family were able to see the show, which made it feel like less of an audition.
Zulegar was confident in her abilities after going through a few of the prep classes the Timberwolves Dance Team put on before auditions began, she was still shocked she made the team and was brought to tears.
“There was a lot of competition, a lot of girls on the same level of skills,” Zulegar said. “I honestly had no idea whether I’d make it or not.”
There have been 16 dancers for most seasons, so 12 is a low team number, Alvarado noted. Most dancers are from the Twin Cities, but there is a dancer from Orlando, Fla., one from Iowa and one from Wisconsin. Alvarado said it is not rare to have three team members who grew up in the same area.
Hetrick and Metzger had known each other before trying out for the Timberwolves Dance Team last year. Both danced at Stage Door of Performing Arts in Coon Rapids.
Zulegar was at Dance Fever in Andover and Studio One in Ramsey, so she never met Hetrick or Metzger. She attended the same high school as Hetrick — Andover High School — but they were separated by two years. Zulegar danced on the high school dance team during football season only during her freshman year. Hetrick never joined the high school team because she wanted to concentrate on the dance studio work.
Zulegar later found out that Hetrick’s parents live close to her parents. It is pretty cool for Zulegar to think that three of the 12 Timberwolves Dance Team members grew up so close to each other.
“It shows that this area has some pretty good dancers,” Zulegar said.
Cheerleaders ‘Living the Dream’
The Sydney Morning Herald
October 6, 2011
Cheerleading may evoke an image of bimbos and football groupies, but often beneath the cleavages and fake tans are smart, talented girls who just want to have fun.
Kymberley Roebuck
She knows people see her as a busty, blonde beauty, but Roebuck rankles at the stereotype.
“That’s what someone would think if they looked at me,” says Roebuck, 23, who is now coaching the Wests Tigers C91.3 cheerleader squad. “But they don’t know I go to uni, I have a full-time job and I run a business.” (And she donated her $2000 prize money to a terminally-ill six-year-old boy, Lleyton Giles.)
Elizabeth Commons, 27, Australia’s silver medallist at this year’s world cheerleading competition, sympathises.
“People expect a certain type of person, but I’m a chemistry teacher and I’m on a team with doctors, lawyers and bankers – but we’re also cheerleaders,” Commons says.
As Roebuck says: “Basically, at the end of the day, we have a job to do.”
And both girls have worked hard to get there.
Squad members have mostly trained as dancers or have a competitive gymnastics or acrobatics background.
Other than being selected for their appearance and skills, it’s ultimately their personality that helps them stand out from the hundred or so who try out at the exhaustive annual auditions held by each football club.
A squad, usually made up of about 24 girls ranging from 16 to 27 years old, is required to do at least one rehearsal session per week during the football season. There are sponsorship appearances and on match day, cheerleaders arrive three hours before the game to hand out flyers to fans.
Although the clubs are reluctant to divulge what they pay their dancers, it’s understood to be up to about $150 for the day.
“You’re definitely not doing it for the money. You have to have a love for the game,” says Roebuck, who admits she is a huge fan of the Wests Tigers.
Shaking pom-poms and doing dance routines throughout the game, cheerleader squads add an element of excitment to the game, especially when the players first run onto the field.
And it’s a sport that’s growing in Australia.
Under the guidance of Roebuck, the Tigers have introduced two new squads of girls aged between four and 17, the Tiny Tigers Club and Pre-Squad, which performed during games this season.
“I’m trying to come in and change the stereotype by building up from a young age a group of girls that want to do this when they’re older,” she says.
Two other Aussie girls who have helped the image of cheerleaders are former Newcastle Knights cheerleader Jennifer Hawkins, who went on to become Miss Universe, and more recently, former Manly cheerleader Angela Nicotera, who was this year picked for the prestigious Dallas Cowboys cheerleading squad.
Inspired by Hawkins’ business success, Roebuck has opened a dance school specialising in cheerleading in Blacktown with two more planned for Campbelltown and Leichhardt.
As Commons explains, competitive cheerleading is different from the NRL club squads. The focus is more on acrobatic tumbling, such as backflips and stunting.
“I don’t really follow football,” says Commons, international competitor and coach of four cheerleading teams.
“It’s just a different take on it … we’re cheering as a sport, rather than for another sporting team.”
After competing at state and national level championships for more than five years, Commons was selected for an all-girl 24-member Australian team to compete at the ICU (International Cheerleading Union) World Championships last April in Orlando, Florida.
Winning Australia’s first-ever medals, Commons’ team won silver and an Australian co-ed team won bronze.
“The crowd was amazing, like nothing I’d ever experienced before,” Commons says.
Whether it’s a sport or a spectacle, cheerleading is athletic and requires training and discipline – but there’s an element of glamour too.
As Roebuck says, when the Wests Tigers cheerleaders perform at the Sydney Football Stadium with flashing lights, flames and fireworks in front of 50,000 screaming fans, pumped to Guns ‘N Roses’ Welcome to the Jungle, “you think this is surreal”.
“It’s something I can tell my daughter about when I’m a mum. I’m living the dream.”
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/life/cheerleaders-living-the-dream-20111006-1lawh.html#ixzz1a0zBYzEV
