View From the Endzone – Cheerleader’s Training Camp

Well, it’s Wednesday people, and that means it’s time to check in once again with Bari, our resident cheerleader alumni and expert on the beautiful ladies in red. As the Arizona Cardinals have opened up training camp this week and are preparing to dominate the NFC West once again, Bari has a few stories about some more intense training going on at the same time. This week’s topic of discussion: Training Camp for the ladies!

Well Cards fans, August is officially here and that means so is the NFL Pre-season It’s time to dust off your grills, get out your Cardinals gear, and start planning those tailgate parties for the weeks ahead, because the 2007 football season is upon us!! Everyone knows that the players are up in Flagstaff training for the upcoming season, but do you ever wonder how the cheerleaders prepare? The cheerleaders don’t just show up on game day, put on a uniform, and prance on out onto the field. In fact, Cardinals Cheerleaders endure one of the toughest training regimens around.

You may think that I am being biased to say that the Cardinals Cheerleaders (my alumnus), is the hardest working NFL cheerleading team in the league… but let me ask you this… What other NFL cheerleading team weight trains, conditions, and practices outside in a summer heat that is almost always beyond the 100 degree mark???

Cards fans what I am going to do is take you through a “typical” practice of the Arizona Cardinals Cheerleaders. Notice I said “typical,” because as the season gets closer and closer, the intensity of the practices increases!! So here’s how it all goes down… everyone usually gets to practice a little bit early to “practice.” Yes I said to practice for practice because you are expected to know all of your material (dances & formations) perfectly. There is no room for error!! At exactly 6:30pm practice begins with a brisk 2 mile run followed with an hour of weight training and conditioning. That’s right fans, there’s more to NFL cheerleaders then just short skirts and pretty faces, there’s a fiercely trained dancer and performer with biceps to boot!

After our conditioning, we would warm-up with dancer stretches and work on dance technique. Next we would also drill our turns and kicks and then the real practice would begin. The last few hours consist of repeatedly doing our routines until every bit was perfect, and this is not an easy task. Every single arm angle, tow point, head look, and dance move of 30 + women has to be flawless and in sync!!! Every spot on the field has to be exact… down to the yard line we stand on!! So when you are at the games this year remember what I told you, that every Cardinals cheerleader out there is fiercely trained to be the BEST at what they do, to be the BEST because the fans expect nothing less!! So that’s it fans… an in side look into a Cardinals Cheerleader practice!! Until next week!

-Bari-