…either that, or she just wanted to avoid getting flattened like roadkill by the Broncos’ wide receiver. Wow, she really hauled it! Holy evasive maneuvers, Batman!
Pfc. George L. Rivas/5th MPAD
Northwest Guardian
December 9th, 2010
The Sea Gals, the professional cheerleading squad for the National Football League’s Seattle Seahawks, performed and entertained servicemembers and their families as part of the 2010 Holiday Show at Joint Base Lewis-McChord Saturday.
During the show, the group performed game-day dance routines, and Christmas carols — and even got the crowd involved with a dance-off and a relay for children. The winners received prizes from Blitz, the Seahawks official mascot.
“This is the fourth time in the past five years that we have done something like this for the JBLM community,” said Miranda, a four-year-veteran of the squad. “It’s our way of giving back to the Soldiers and their families.”
Sea Gal Miranda said the cheerleaders volunteered for the opportunity to interact with children. Working with the youngest members of the audience is the best part for many of the cheerleaders, she said.
Almost 150 children participated on stage. The Sea Gals split them into three age groups. The groups consisted of children in the ages of 5 to 6, ages 7 to 9 and ages 10 and older.
Sea Gals Miranda, Andrea, and Alexa arrived on base at 9 a.m. the day of the show to rehearse with the children scheduled to participate. Esmeralda and Giselle Caro, children of Sgt. Francisco Caro, currently deployed with the 864th Engineer Battalion, were two of the children who ran down the aisle and up the stairs to the stage when their age group was called.
Adriana Caro, mother of the two girls, said they performed with the Sea Gals last year but she was unable to attend due to an illness so her husband went to the show.
“This is my chance to see them perform,” said Caro. “I’m very excited, not only for myself but for them as well.”
She mentioned the girls had a lot of fun.
Prior to the Sea Gals performance, a long line of community members waited outside Carey Theater to receive gifts donated to the event by vendors associated with JBLM’s Post Exchange. Roughly $100,000 in gifts was donated for the event, according to Patrick McGhee, the JBLM Exchange manager.
After receiving gifts, families were ushered inside the theater, where more prizes were given away through raffle drawings. Prizes included Nintendo Wiis, flat panel televisions, Apple iPads and iPods. One audience member was chosen as the biggest Seahawks fan and given two tickets to a Seahawks game.
After McGhee raffled off the last prize for the night, the lights dimmed and the night’s main event began with the Sea Gals taking the stage to a standing ovation that lasted for most of their performance.
“It’s an honor for us to be able to perform for not only the Soldiers but their families,” said Miranda. “Anytime we can do anything for the troops who serve our country, it’s always an honor.”
Click here for a large collection of photos as the DCC film their holiday greetings. Note: Photos are larger than they appear in the slide show, so right click (or whatever you Mac users do) to view them full size.
The Arizona Cardinals Cheerleaders announced today that 3 year veteran and team captain Taryn will represent them at the 2011 Pro Bowl in Hawaii. Congratulations Taryn!
Photographers captured cheerleader action across the NFL this week. Among other things, the Redskins Cheerleaders got soaked in their Santa suits and a group of Dolphins Cheerleaders met up with the Jets Flight Crew at New Meadowlands Stadium. Click here to check out the photos.
Chicago Rush (December 4, 2010) – Saturday marked the conclusion of the 2011 Adrenaline Rush Dancer auditions after four weeks of extensive training and preparation. Eighteen ladies were awarded a spot on the squad after a panel of judges determined that they best exemplified the skills, appearance and attitude of an Adrenaline Rush Dancer.
Several faces on the 2011 team will be familiar to Rush fans with seven veterans of the last season’s Adrenaline Rush Dancers returning this year; Mekial, Ashley F., Brittanie, Courtnie, Lindsay, Raquel and Vicky. Mekial is the Adrenaline Rush captain entering her sixth year with the squad. The other eleven members are entering their rookie campaign as Adrenaline Rush Dancers; Ashley M., Ashley C., Corina, Crystal, Nicole, Kara, Michelle, Amber, Kim, Emily, and Caitlin.
“The final audition was one of the most exciting and nerve-wracking experiences I’ve ever been through! Knowing I had just a few minutes to make a lasting impression on the judges was the most stressful part,” commented Adrenaline Rush Dancers rookie Michelle. “But the second I saw how many supporters and fans we had out there, it was totally exhilarating and reinforced how much I really wanted a place on the team. Being a rookie, I’m not quite sure what to expect this season but I know there will be a lot hard work and fun times. I’m thrilled to be a part of the awesome RUSH organization!”
”On top of the jitters the girls already were feeling, we had to throw in a potentially dangerous drive downtown in the midst of a snow storm, but despite all that pressure the girls performed extremely well,” Dance Coordinator Gloria Esposito said. “I couldn’t have been happier with the way they performed. We had a huge range of talent to choose from and the final decisions were hard, as each judge had their favorites. I think in the end we picked a great team of 18 ladies who will represent the Chicago Rush in every manner that is expected of us.”
Redskins.com: Congratulations to Chelsea for being selected by her team mates to represent the Washington Redskins Cheerleaders at ProBowl. We were happy to surprise her at the game November 28th with her parents and fiancé on the field as she received flowers from former Pro Bowl cheerleaders Tiffany and Jamilla.
Chelsea will head to Hawaii January 24th to become a part of an elite group of NFL cheerleaders. Besides performing at the Pro Bowl game, she will make several appearances in Hawaii to speak with community, military and corporate leaders.
Chelsea has served as a co-captain of the team for three years and had been a member for five years. She helps plan team social events and assists in leading her line’s rehearsals. We know that Chelsea will be an excellent representative of the WRC!
John Rice
The Forest Park Review
December 7, 2010
On a snowy Saturday morning, the Chief called with breaking news. Vicky Rosjana, a teller at Forest Park National Bank, was fighting to keep her spot on the Rush Adrenaline Dance Team. I had to get to the Tilted Kilt immediately to cover the audition.
I had been hoping to interview one of the bobcat cowboys who plow our sidewalks. Instead, I had to endure another dance audition. Plus, I was warned that the waitresses at the Tilted Kilt wore Catholic school uniforms. After looking at those outfits for eight years, I had no desire to see knee socks ever again.
When I got to the packed pub, I noticed the waitresses wore very abbreviated red plaid skirts, tight white shirts tied in front and some sort of suspension bridge device on top. The dancers favored sports bras and shorts. Surrounded by all this pulchritude, I had only one thought – would the food be good?
My French Dip sandwich was excellent and I finished just in time to see Vicky and her partner Racquel take the floor for the last audition routine. First they answered questions from the judges. Vicky spoke of how the Rush football players, dancers and fans were like a big family. In fact, Vicky’s mom and dad were there, along with members of her fiancé’s family.
Their eyes were on Vicky, as the hip-hop strains of “Hey Baby” started and the two veterans began whipping through their moves. They broke the laws of physics several times and moved muscles that most humans don’t have. There was an edge to their dancing that set them above the competition.
Vicky later told me they had drilled those dance moves for six hours that week. Their work paid off because their twists and twirls were as identical as their outfits. After they finished to huge applause, the judges deliberated. This was tense. Thirty girls had tried out and only 18 would make the squad. If Vicky was cut, the Chief might kill the story.
Then I saw him: my personal hero of Chicago journalism. Elliott Harris, author of the Chicago Sun-Times “Quick Hits” section, was one of the judges. If you’re not familiar with “Quick Hits,” it features large photographs of assorted cheerleaders, dancers and well-toned female athletes accompanied by very few words.
After the results were announced and Vicky was safely on the squad, I told the great man that I was covering Vicky for the Review. I’ll never forget his reply, “So, you call this work, too.”
Work it had been and now I had to get my picture taken with Vicky, painfully uncertain about where I should place my left hand. I smiled for the camera but inside I was worried – would the bobcats be finished plowing before I got back to Forest Park?
Imagine Bring It On: The Post-College Years and you’d have something like Cheer NY, the pioneering, all-grown-up cheerleading squad. Take a closer look in this photo essay.
By Jennifer Armstrong,
Photographs by A. Jesse Jiryu Davis
November 17, 2010
Details.com
Words you don’t expect to come from a cheerleader’s mouth: “I’m a Yale Ph.D., and here I am counting pom-poms.” But they’re commonplace among the members of Cheer New York; it’s as standard as megaphones and backflips: The eight-year-old organization—one of a growing number of post-collegiate cheerleading teams—includes about 50 urban professionals in their twenties and thirties who yell, dance, and tumble not for school spirit but for charity. And, yes, most of these cheerleaders are male, most of them gay. “People think, oh, gay cheerleaders, campiness, just like a Halloween costume,” founder and coach Felipe Hernández says. “But we’re real cheerleaders.”
Indeed, the team performs at events all around New York—fund-raising walks, the New York City Marathon, and the Pride parade, to name a few—and they go at it with as much gusto as any cheer squad half their age. “I mean, 13-year-old girls in Kentucky do it,” Hernández quips. “It’s not that hard.” And with only about a quarter of its members female, the group’s guys are often the ones flying through the air and balancing atop teammates, a fact that makes Cheer NY a gender pioneer of sorts.
“Cheerleading,” Hernández says, “is such a sexist sport now. But we’re different.” Here’s a look at a week in the wild, high-flying, wide-smiling world of Cheer NY, from practice to performance to final cheer. [Click here for slide show]
