How do I put into words what it has meant to be the Kansas City Chiefs Cheerleaders 2007 Pro-Bowl representative? Saying thank you is a wonderful place to start. And then, I’d like to share a little of the behind the scenes details with you. Thanks, Chiefs Fans! Enjoy!

PRO BOWL SELECTION
There’s no feeling quite like cheering at Arrowhead for the best fans in the NFL. But the game on December 10th was one of the most memorable ever in my four years. We performed a fun routine in the end zone, and then I heard an announcement, that Kansas City’s Pro Bowl Cheerleader was about to be announced (each NFL team selects one cheerleader). Our squad absolutely is crazy about each other - we all get along, contrary to what people might expect - so I was just excited about the moment. But, when I heard my name, shock set in. Anyone could have received that award, so it meant a great deal to me to be chosen by the other cheerleaders and staff members. What an honor!

PREPARATION
I don’t about the Pro Bowl football players, but the Pro Bowl Cheerleaders are expected to work hard to get ready for their Hawaii trip! Let’s see: twelve new routines, sideline dances, hair, makeup, practice attire, uniforms, photo cards and lots of other details. We were told we’d participate in NFL appearances and work with Chiefs and other team fans, but I had no clue that it would be one of the most memorable experiences of my life.

HEADED FOR HAWAII
After five weeks of preparation I left for the big island of Hawaii! This was to be my first visit to Hawaii and I found myself unbelievably excited just to see the ocean, the beach, and all the beautiful scenery.

My first stop was in Denver. While waiting, I saw another girl sitting by herself. Within a few minutes we introduced ourselves to one another and I found out that she was Megan representing the Dallas Cowboys. After boarding we also met Holly representing the Denver Broncos. Our eight hour flight only increased our anticipation of what was to be an amazing adventure.

ARRIVAL
When we landed we were greeted by our security guards from E2K (the organization responsible for the Pro-Bowl cheerleaders), Craig, Steve, Tony and Buds. Then, one by one, more cheerleaders gathered including Jessica from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Kimberly from the Washington Redskins. While getting our luggage we were greeted with our first Hawaiian lei and the traditional kiss on the cheek. We were finally here!!

WAIKIKI, HERE WE COME

Warm weather, fragrant flowers, and friendly people made us realize we were in a very special place. You hear about it, but there’s nothing like experiencing the beauty! We piled into vans and headed to the gorgeous Sheraton Waikiki hotel. Imagine how I felt when I stepped out of the van and immediately heard someone yell “Shanna!” I turned around and it was Stacie representing the San Diego Chargers. Stacie cheered for the Chiefs for four years and was a veteran when I came on the team as a rookie. It was so good to see a familiar face especially someone who had been on a team with me. After checking in we all decided to get into some beach appropriate attire and head to Dukes for dinner (a little restaurant right on the water). That was our first chance to really start to get to know each other and within a few minutes I knew that the week would bring close friendships. My roommate was from the New Orleans Saints, and we knew we need to sleep because our all day rehearsals were going to be ‘killers!’

DAY 1
Breakfast was a blast. 26 excited cheerleaders showed up, each wearing their team colors. Normally strangers my be a little shy but it took about two seconds for all of us to start introducing ourselves and striking up conversations. After breakfast we were introduced to the E2K staff. Michael, the founder of E2K, spoke first and talked about how the Pro-Bowl began without cheerleaders. It didn’t take the NFL long to realize the fan’s desire to not only enjoy the football greats but to get to see NFL cheerleaders as well. And the rest is history … cheerleaders became a huge part of the Pr-Bowl week, connecting with the fans, community and cheering at the game.

MAKING US INTO A TEAM
From there he introduced our staff and choreography team, Diane (main choreographer), Maria (schedule manager), John (group facilitator) and last but not least Ron (director). When Ron came up to talk I was expecting him to say that we needed to focus this week on our dances and make sure that we were ready for Saturday’s game. Instead he hit a cord with everyone one of us talking about why we were chosen by our teams to be here and what they expected from us in reference to motivation, innovative thinking and to make this week about getting personal not only with our other Pro-Bowl teammates by the team fans and community. The quote I liked the best from him this morning was, “If we made it just about 5-6-7-8 we would only be dancers and we have one week to become a strong successful team.”

MORNING PRACTICE
Immediately when we got into practice we lined up to begin stretching before reviewing our twelve routines. I am normally very positive and although I managed to stay encouraged, I got a little frustrated due to an injury that was limiting my flexibility. A week before I left for the Pro-Bowl I woke up and I had very little range of motion. For an entire day I couldn’t put on my own shoes, bend over to touch my toes or even sit still without a shooting pain from the lower part of my spine down my right leg. I started going to physical therapy and they said the pain was caused by a pinched nerve that ran from my lower back through the back of the right leg. The only thing to do for it was to stretch while not causing me more pain … that wasn’t as easy as it sounds. Whether people realize it or not, cheerleaders are athletes that train heavily and sometimes injuries go with the territory!

After stretching they drilled us on our dances. I had to explain to the choreographer why I was limited in my movement. She was so understanding and I was determined to not let this hold me back during our actual performances. They split us the AFC and the NFC team and then into our Cheer Line by height. Our Line was made up of the 6-7 girls that we would be cheering with at every appearance and game. My line was:

Aimee – Buffalo Bills
Tiffany – Houston Texans
Deanna – Cincinnati Bengals
Jaime – Miami Dolphins
Holly – Denver Broncos
Kristie – Indianapolis Colts

AFTERNOON APPEARANCE – CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL
After lunch my Line (AFC Line 1) was sent on the first appearance of the week. We were taken to the oldest Children’s Hospital on the island and the Shriners Children’s Hospital. It always amazes me when I visit the children’s hospitals how unbelievable the kids are. There was a boy I met right away that looked as if he was the age of four as a result of a growth disorder but was actually 14. There was another little girl we met that was 12 and she was getting ready for her third surgery to remove fluid build-up around her brain. When she saw us come in she was so excited and kept saying, “I just love your hair…I used to have long pretty dark hair too, but then they had to cut it off.” It took everything in us not to cry but how could we when this little girl was so unbelievable strong. At the end of our individual visits in the ICU we made our way to the wing play area where there were several kids ready to meet us. They were screaming, laughing, playing and right away my Line and I jumped in. I started playing the keyboard with this little boy who suffered from Cerebral Palsy and he kept playing two notes over and over again like he was a professional. I told him that he was doing a great job and he looked up at me and said, “I know I taught myself can you believe that.” I started laughing so hard that I couldn’t talk. We took a picture with the kids for the local paper and left to head back for evening practice. When we got in the van Jaime from Miami summed up the feeling best when she said, “wow…and that is something we just GET to do.”

Evening Practice
Not going to lie … by this time the jetlag was sitting in and we all looked like cheerleading zombies at our practice from 6 – 10pm. Diane worked with us all to learn our Pre-game performance and we did the best we could on no sleep but after the first eight count everything started to get fuzzy for us all. They decided to end practice around 9:30pm after Diane asked a question and the room was quiet as we all gave her blank stairs….hahahha it is funny now that I think about it.

Ron came in and the first thing he did was call out one of the cheerleaders and say, “Tell us your name, who you are and your story.” In the next 30mins we heard from 6 different cheerleaders. We laughed we cried and the surface getting-to-know you layer was being wiped away. So far the six we had heard from were anything short of amazing.

Day 2
Today we met for breakfast at 7:30am and Ron talked to us about expecting the unexpected. Kimberly from the Redskins stood up and talked about how she had been on the squad for 8 years and that she was beginning to feel like she was getting to old to keep cheering. After she was done talking Ron said, “You know I need to say something here to all of you….age is not an excuse it is an expectation. If you are 45 and still wanting to dance then you dance and you do it like a 20 year old. We all have limitations but our mind limits us more than anything else in our world.”

The Photo Shoot
Right after breakfast we followed Ron and our other staff to the 2007 Pro Bowl Cheerleader poster shoot site. We were on location at the oldest resort in Honolulu (The Royal Hawaiian) with a perfect picture of Diamond Head in the background. As they staged our shot we all anticipated our placement and once positioned switched spots several times. It started to sprinkle and when you get 26 girls together that have spent several hours on hair and makeup the last thing you want is rain! The rain stopped and we had the chance for the perfect picture with several onlookers and fans we took many group shots and some with individual Pro Bowl sponsors. The picture turned out great!

Practice and Free-Time!
After the morning photo shoot, AFC Line 2 and NFC Line 1 were assigned to a cheer clinic appearance so my line and NFC Line 2 stayed to practice more our line routines. At about 3pm Diane said that we had free-time until 7! I think it took us less than 5mins to run to our rooms change and to our bathing suits and head to the beach.

Myself, Aimee (Buffalo), Holly (Denver), Jaime (Miami), Tiffany (Houston), Erin (St. Louis), and Kristie (Indianapolis) wasted no time getting some sun. We laughed, poised numerous times for each others cameras and then took a second to appreciate that we were laying out in Hawaii on a gorgeous day with Diamond Head to our left and endless ocean in front of us….it seemed like the perfect moment! We also realized the Aimee was going to be the comic relief of the group with her constant imitations of Run Burgundy and Borat …. Great Success …. Hahahhaha!

We finished the evening with a three hour practice on the pre-game and another getting-to-know each other session that this time also focused on public speaking. This lead an in-depth discussion on our ability to stand strong in who we are and let the world know that we are not just cheerleaders but intelligent, independent, career driven women.

Day 3
We went to breakfast this morning, had some getting to know you time and Ron lead told a story about that focused on doing the impossible. He is seems to always know exactly what to say to motivate and drive our team. Directly following breakfast we left for our first team performance in downtown Oahu at the official Pep Rally! We were all as excited as if we were rookies putting on our uniform for the first time.

We rehearsed on the stage area for about 15min. and then went to our dressing area to do some finishing touches. About 20minutes later Maria came and said, “AFC you are on!” We ran out through a designated pathway with fans on either side and I immediately spotted our Kansas City fans. It started sprinkling and within seconds was a full out rainstorm and this was an outside event, however nothing could ruin that moment. We danced and laughed as the water drenched our hair, face and uniforms. The crowd was AMAZING they cheered and yelled for us the entire time and cameras were flashing every second. When we were done dancing we went down the line and introduced ourselves and I proudly said, “Aloha Hawaii I am Shanna with the Kansas City Chiefs!” The few fans that had made it to the island that day yelled loud enough for everyone to hear and it put the biggest smile on my face.

Photo by Daniel J. Kelliher

After leaving the appearance we were headed to the Aloha Stadium where the game would be held to have our first field practice. We pulled up to the stadium and we all could barely wait to get on the field. As we walked in through the tunnel I took a moment to realize that I would never get a chance to cheer in this stadium again…so I stopped to take it all in.

We practiced on the field for about 3 hours and then headed in to get ready for the NFL Welcome Luau. We got back into the vans and they took us to the near by military base to use their showers and get ready for the night. As any girl knows…getting ready and more ready and so ready that you can’t curly your hair anymore is half the fun!

The Luau was being held at the Marriott where the players were staying. When we arrived it started to rain again, but after having a laugh over how long it took all of us to get ready we didn’t care much anymore and just had fun. I think my favorite part of the night was receiving the Hawaiian floral crown. Erin (St. Louis) and I thought we were Hawaiian Princesses.

NFL PLAYER CHALLENGE
This was probably the busiest day we had all week. We met for breakfast around 7am, took care of a few details and were sent out to our designated appearances.

My line headed to the Marriott for the NFL Player Challenge hosted by the NFL Channel. When we arrived there was a line of people standing outside of a row tents and inside they had created a mock football field including stands and the fans. For two hours we cheered for our fans, danced and watched several player competitions including a Punt-Off, the Strongest Man Competition and many more. If your player won a competition, the cheerleader would walk him over to the commentators and present him with the award and Hawaiian lei.

After we were finished at the NFL Player Challenge we were immediately taken a hour away to a local Fair. They had a stage ready for us and several hundred fans awaiting our arrival. We dropped off our stuff and headed and run up on stage. We performed two routines and then they had played a “Guess Who” game with the audience. A few cheerleaders gave the announcer some pretty interesting facts and then the audience had to guess which cheerleader it was. They picked me as the person that outside of cheerleading free-falls from telephone poles as her job … hmmmm they must of thought of free-falling from telephone poles to something that a Midwestern would do. Well it made me laugh to say the least…oh and the right cheerleader was Tiffany (Houston Texans)J. After we performed we were assigned to the autograph booth for two hours. I couldn’t believe how long the line was…it seemed to never end. Everyone was so nice and it was great to see many Kansas City fans turn out along with the locals and military.

That evening we had our first team dinner at Dave & Busters. It was nice to just sit down with the girls and relax. You would have thought we would have all been wide awake and ready for the evening, but we were all so tired that it took everything in us not to fall asleep on the way back to the hotel. Hahahaha…I really don’t think that I had ever been this tired!

THE DAY BEFORE THE GAME
Friday, this was the day before the game and it involved two of our most anticipated appearances. After breakfast we headed out in our vans to the stadium for Ohana Day. Ohana Day is comparable to the Chiefs Family Fun Day. It is where all the fans and family gather to watch the players have a practice run on the field. As soon as we got to the stadium we were on the sidelines cheering on the crowd and performing several routines. Before the players came out there were having several games on the field including a Mascot Run and Pass & Catch with Tony Romo. Our instructor Maria asked my Line Leader Aimee (Buffalo) to go out and try and catch one. She missed the first pass but ran in heels and took a dive to catch the second one. She fell and did a back flip while not letting go of the ball…now that is what you all total impact cheerleading!

Photo by Daniel J. Kelliher

We greeted our players at the run through to start their practice on the field. It was nice to see the Chiefs players as we exchanged waves during their entrance. After the run-through was complete we headed over to meet a special guest. A 15 year old girl who suffered from a life-altering illness and her one wish for the day was to meet the cheerleaders! I couldn’t believe that! She was so sweet and that moment really made my morning complete.

FINALLY … SOME FREE TIME!
We headed in the tunnel to change out of the uniform and staff told us that AFC 1 and NFC 1 had the rest of the afternoon off! So we got back to the hotel grabbed our swimsuits and headed to the beach. Now the funny part is that as soon as we got done on the sand we all fell asleep for a least an hour….I still can’t believe how tired we were.

After our leisure day of lying out we got ready for the evening. My line headed out to the NFL VIP Party at the Royal Hawaiian. I was pleasantly surprised to see the Chiefs Super fans there; painted from head to toe those guys looked great and definitely brought a Kansas City flare to the Island.

PRO BOWL VIP PARTY
We left the VIP Party and headed to the center of town for the Pro Bowl Block Party. We were behind stage for maybe an hour and in kind of a smaller room….needless to say that we had a blast and things got a little funny.

They took us up on stage and I am not kidding there had to be a couple 1,000 people there. It was madness and they were just going crazy when we danced. At the front of the stage was a huge group of the Japanese cheerleaders who had come to the island to perform at half-time of the Pro-Bowl.

GAME DAY!!!
This felt like a real game day. I was up by 5am getting ready, had eaten breakfast by 7:30 and headed to the game by 8am! We entered through the back tunnel and started getting ready for appearances. We laughed, stretched, fix our hair 10 times, took pictures and then Ron came in and said, “Alright ladies it is game time!” We all stood in a circle and held hands why Ron and some of our other staff talked about what this week had led up too. You could feel how anxious we all were. In respect to all religions we did not say a prayer out loud but took a moment of silence and ended with amen. We waited in the tunnel for a few minutes and then we were sent out for Pre-Game.

We started our Pre-Game dance and in the middle of the routine they introduce each girl and the team they represent. It was my turn for my introduction solo and I heard, “Shanna representing the Kansas City Chiefs!” Our fans were so loud and couldn’t have been more proud at that moment…it actually started to make my eyes water.

Photo by Daniel J. Kelliher

HOME OF THE BRAVE
We finished the routine and lined-up for player run-through. As both the AFC and NFC ran through our line firecrackers went off and the crowd went wild. After the run-through we stood along the side-line for the traditional Hawaiian anthem followed by our National Anthem. As the National Anthem was sang by the Hawaiian representative from American Idol I started to feel the tears run down my check. What a perfect moment. Toward the end of the anthem the Stealth Bombers flew by and instead of singing “Home of the Brave”, I yelled “Home of the CHIEFS”, as loud as I could.

The game started and 1st quarter went by so fast. During the 1st and 2nd quarter break we danced with the Mascots. We rotated corners just like in any game but the most exciting part was that there were no rules! We could go up and talk to fans, take pictures with them and sign autographs. That was one of the best parts. Just have the flexibility to really interact with the crowd.

Photo by Daniel J. Kelliher

At the end of 4th quarter they brought all of the cheerleaders to the end zone near the tunnel exit. The fans crowded near the railing and yelled not only for their players but their cheerleaders as well. The AFC just got ahead and they started playing the song 100 Years over the sound system. We all started to really take in and enjoy everything about that moment. A few cheerleaders who knew that this was the last game they would cheer at started to get a little emotional which of course rubbed off on all of us. It created such an incredible snapshot in my mind.

Photo by Daniel J. Kelliher

After the game we didn’t just pack up and run off we stayed for three hours afterwards just to talk. We sat in a circle and each cheerleader, staff and security guard talked about what this experience has meant to them. I can’t even begin to tell you everything that was said in that room. But as each person talked the more amazed I became with that group of women and our directors and staff. That has turned out to be the most memorable 3 hours of the entire experience.

SUMMARY
It has been an honor to represent Kansas City as your 2007 Pro-Bowl Cheerleader. Going into this experience I knew it would be fun but had no idea that it would impact me the way it has or that I would develop the friendships I did. It became so much more to me than just dance, the schedule, or the game … it was truly about the fans and about doing what we love with 26 of the most incredible cheerleaders in the NFL. I learned so much from each of them and their energy and enthusiasm for their organizations and the NFL was just incredible. The directors and staff that we worked with there were some of the best in the business and they truly made this a wonderful week for us.

What I realized while I was there is what an incredible organization we have here in Kansas City. Not only does it have the same motivating values as those that are the bases of the Pro-Bowl, but it has created a team of cheerleaders that truly believe in one another and really try to not only be an incredible support for our team but also unbelievable leaders in our community.

I feel blessed to have been a part of a team like this at the 2007 Pro-Bowl but even more so to continually be part of this at home as a proud member of the Kansas City Chiefs Cheerleaders.