Kids Day, Jr Jills, a former Jill in DC, and more tryout photos

First off, with 2 home preseason games, the Bills had a choice of dates to use as their annual Kid's Day game. This year, the Kid's Day game will be held on Saturday, August 15th, the Bills' matchup against Jay Cutler and the Chicago Bears. While more details on Kid's Day will be released at a later date by the Bills, in past years the Kid's Day festivities included a big interactive area set up outside the stadium with a lot of the features that are normally inside the Fieldhouse on gamedays. As a part of that, the Jills Ambassador Squad will be on hand to sign autographs before the game. There will also be a big pregame performance featuring the Jills dancers with the Jr Jills that night as well.

Regarding the Jr Jills, it's for girls ages 7-17 and the program costs $275 apiece with a $50 discount for each additional sibling. Uniform fittings are in June and the workshops will be held on consecutive weekends at the end of July. Get more details at http://buffalojills.net/appearances/details.php?recordID=23 and at http://buffalojills.net/junior_jills/index.php

The Washington Redskins cheerleaders were also a part of their team's draft festivities this past weekend and there's a familiar face in their midst. After some time spent with the Baltimore Ravens cheerleaders, Sarita (2004 Jills) has joined up with the Redskins cheerleaders in 2009. James from Ultimate Cheerleaders.com was on hand for the event http://www.ultimatecheerleaders.com/posts/3923 and sends us these photos of our former Buffalo Jill. http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=01011309fb6e824c7069484bded33bcd527e086936758802

Finally, 97Rock has another album of photos up from the 1st round of Jills tryouts that were held at the Town Ballroom. Check it out at http://www.97rock.com/Article.asp?id=1285509&spid=21992

Party in the Plaza this Saturday

The Buffalo Bandits are inviting fans to come down early to HSBC Arena this Saturday prior to the NLL East Division Semifinal playoff game against the Boston Blazers to share in the excitement of the playoffs at the pre-game Plaza Party. Game time is 7:30 p.m.

The party will run from 5-7 p.m. outside HSBC Arena in the Plaza area located near Perry and Illinois Street. Fans can enjoy live music from The Strictly Hip, along with food and drink available for purchase. There will also be special appearances from the Bandettes and Rax. The party will take place rain or shine with free admission, as a game ticket will not be required for entrance to the party.

http://www.bandits.com/newsarchive.cfm?id=844

Draft Day Party at the Ralph

In a way to help commemorate the Buffalo Bills' 50th season and to provide a little something extra to their loyal season ticket holders, the Buffalo Bills opened up Ralph Wilson Stadium to the fans during Day 1 of the draft. More than 5000 season ticket holders showed up for the event, some traveling several hours to get there. As should be no surprise, many fans tailgated before they opened the gates while music was heard from inside the stadium to which many of the Buffalo Jills dancers made sure their dance moves were polished before the crowds came inside.

When the gates opened, fans got to meet and pose with several members of the Jills Ambassador Squad before heading down to the field, the stands, and into the Jim Kelly Club. On the field, concessions were set up at reduced prices and many of the set ups that are normally inside the Fieldhouse on gamedays were spread around the field for fans to test out their football skills, including a few drills from the NFL Scouting Combine. On a stage in front of the scoreboard endzone, the 50th Anniversary Bills team was announced and those vaunted players had their jerseys on display. Out on the field in front of the stage, fans mingled with friends they haven't seen since the end of the football season and many posed for photos with the Buffalo Jills who were out and about. On the stadium's HD scoreboard, the Bills ran ESPN's live coverage of the draft with the volume shut off on only 2 occasions. About a half hour into the draft, the Jills took the stage to put on 4 rousing dance performances, including a couple that were part of the tryout process. After the Bills made their first pick of the draft, the Jills returned to the stage to repeat their earlier performances for the benefit of those who might've missed the first time...or for those who just wanted to see Buffalo's beauties perform on stage again.

Another part of the draft day celebration was an exclusive tour of the Bills locker room. Fans got to go through where the Bills get dressed for gamedays and see the lockers of players like Donte Whitner, Lee Evans, Terrell Owens, and Marshawn Lynch among others. At the end of the tour, fans went through the room where the Bills players and coaches answer questions from the media after every game. Obviously it wasn't in use for that on this day but it was still getting use as fans got to pose for pictures with a pair of Buffalo Jills...no better way to end the tour.

http://s15.photobucket.com/albums/a375/buffalojills2005/2009/Draft%20Day/

Check back later to get names of many of these beautiful rookies whose names aren't listed with their photos at the moment.
Coming up next for the Jills, several will be at the corner of Walden and Union for the Buffalo News Kid's day sale on the 28th.
On May 2nd, you can find Jills at events at Coca-Cola Field, Sweet Home School, Tioga Downs, and at the Pizza Fest at Hearthstone Manor.
On May 16th, the Jills will invade Club Paradise in Blasdell for their annual Congratulatory Party. Included as part of this event are raffles, some hot dance performances, and a rookie initiation. Hopefully our 15 rookies are studying up on Bills trivia between now and then as Jickster asked last year's rookies some difficult Bills trivia questions as part of the initiation.
Stay tuned to the Buffalo Pro Cheer Blog and to buffalojills.net for all the latest on the 2009 Buffalo Jills!

Bandette of The Week Maggie

This week's Bandette of The Week is rookie redhead Maggie. Besides this being her first season on the squad it may likely be her only one as well. Back home in Buffalo for a year or so while her husband is deployed in Afghanistan, Maggie wanted to find a few outlets for her endless energy and dancing alongside the Bandettes was a natural choice for her. Dancing hasn't been her only focus as she's also been putting forth a lot of effort into getting herself set up as a wedding planner, a career that she'll find herself in demand to do no matter where her husband is stationed. You can read more about Maggie at http://www.bandits.com/bandette-09-maggie.cfm

Buffalo Jill of The Week Jill R

This week, we take a look at one of the 2008-09 Jills squad's early departures in Ambassador Jill R. She actually started out her Jills career as a dancer in 2007 but a few weeks into the season switched to the Ambassador Squad because of all the time commitment. Unfortunately, that was why she left the 2008 squad early as well. When she joined the squad, she didn't come alone as her fraternal twin sister Joy joined up as well. A few months after making the final cuts in 2007, she became that squad's sole rookie on a trip to visit and entertain troops in Afghanistan in August of that year along with Eileen, Stefanie, and Jenica as well as since-departed vets Autumn, Emily, Melissa, Jessica Z, and Kaitlin B. After attaining a degree in math/science, she turned her educational attentions to nursing and is currently working on her degree in that field. To check out her bio, log on to the Buffalo Jills webgroup at http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/buffalojills/ where we've uploaded a copy on her 2008 bio in the files section for the week.

Jills, Jills, and more Jills

If anyone's really taken a look at the Jills' site lately, they've noticed a new page on there. They now have a page dedicated to listing a lot of their upcoming appearances, both Jills events and charity appearances for example. You can find that page at http://buffalojills.net/appearances/index.php
They have a lot coming up real soon, too.
On Saturday, Buffalo Bills Season ticket holders get to meet members of the new squad as well as see them perform and get pictures taken with them at the Buffalo Bills Season Ticket Holder Draft Party. If you're a season ticket holder and haven't received an email with your ticket, check your account manager on BuffaloBills.com
On April 28th, the Buffalo News is selling a special Kid's Day edition of the paper and each paper sold will help benefit Variety Kids of Buffalo, Women's and Childrens Hospital, and the Robert Warner MD Center for Children with Special Needs and Children’s Charities of Western New York. 97Rock and The Buffalo Jills are teaming up to help with this promotion and you can find some of the Jills along with some of the 97Rock personalities in Cheektowaga at the corner of Walden and Union from 6-10am.
On May 2nd, we have not 1, not 2, not 3, but 4 appearances to tell you about. At 9am, you can find some of the Jills at Coca-Cola Park assisting with registration at the MS Society's Upstate NY Chapter Walk. Visit http://www.msupstateny.org/ for more info.
If basketball is more your thing, the Jills will be helping with registration at Sweet Home High school in Williamsville for the Special Olympics Western Regional Basketball Tournament at 10am.
Either way, after those activities, a person is going to be hungry and to take care of that, check out Hearthstone Manor where they're holding the Buffalo Pizza-Fest all weekend long. But the best time to be there are on Saturday. Besides all the pizza on hand from over 30 pizzarias in Western New York, there will be plenty of beauty there as well in the form of members of the 2009 Buffalo Jills. From 1-3 they'll be posing for pictures and signing autographs for the fans. Then, from 7-9, some of the Jills will be modeling swimwear from the Buffalo Beach House. You can check out some of the swimwear they'll be modeling at http://buffalobeachhouse.com/ and find out more about the Pizza Fest at http://www.thebuffalopizzafest.com/
Finally, if you're not in the Buffalo area on May 2nd, maybe you'll be somewhere around Tioga Downs. From 4-7pm, several members of the Buffalo Jills will be doing a meet-and-greet with the fans from the Elmira-Binghamton area. It's a great way to meet some of the Jills if you aren't close enough to Buffalo to make it to all the events.

Champion Archer, Award-Winning Chef, Pro Cheerleader

Laura started dancing in Salt Lake City around the age of five and she favors any modern style of dance. She had always wanted to be a cheerleader but always “chickened out” at tryouts at the last minute. Sports always came very easy to her. In high school and college (at Snow College in Utah and Northern State University in South Dakota) she played centerfield on her softball team. She says it consumed her life and she lived for it, so that’s what she stuck with.
Laura’s a huge football fan, and loves charity work. The Jills are very involved in the community and that really impressed her. So she decided to try out for the Jills. What she did not expect to love all the girls and be as close to them as she is.

more at http://www.ultimatecheerleaders.com/posts/3466

Bandits-Blazers pics

On a night in which Buffalo Bandits fans set a new NLL Attendance record, the Bandits ended their season on a low note with an overtime loss to the visiting Boston Blazers. The Bandits' one-time lead of 10-5 didn't hold up as Boston proved they were no ordinary expansion team as they stormed back to tie the game up just into the 4th quarter and take the lead soon after. A John Tavares goal late in the game forced overtime but after winning the opening faceoff, the visitors shocked the near-sellout crowd with a quick score to take the regular season finale at HSBC Arena.

Prior to the game, we found the Bandettes autographing posters and memorabilia for hundreds of incoming fans before greeting the record-breaking attendee as he came into the game, awarding him with a pair of 2010 Bandits Season tickets. Then it was gametime as the Bandettes put on rousing performances on and off the floor all game long in an effort to help keep the boisterous Buffalo crowd loud and excited up until the Blazers winning goal.

Next up, the Bandits and Bandettes return to HSBC Arena in round 1 of the NLL Playoffs at 7:30 on March 2 when the Boston Blazers come back to town.

http://s17.photobucket.com/albums/b87/bandettes/2009/Blazers/

Pics from the Sexiest Sabres fan contest

97Rock recently ran a contest in which they selected Buffalo's Sexiest Sabres fan. Voting as held on 97Rock's website where 10 finalists were selected along with 10 more finalists selected by the 97Rock staff. Last week at Macaroon's, they held the finals in which those final 20 strutted their stuff in front of fans and judges to win the title of the Sexiest Sabres Fan. BuffaloSpotted's Marc Wierzbowski was on hand and got photos of not only the contestants, but the judges which included Lisa, Amanda, Angelina, Liz, and Heather of the Buffalo Jills as well as honorary Jill and CW Spokesperson Lydia. Check out the photos at http://buffalo.myspotted.com/galleries/index.php?id=319188
And looking through the photos, everyone's favorite ex-Jill veterinarian Amanda K was there as well.

Bandette of The Week Erin M

This week, we take a look at an early departure from the year's Buffalo Bandettes squad. Rookie Erin M is known as being outgoing, energetic, and sarcastic as well as being a big ham for the camera. Left out of her Bandettes bio is the fact that she's also on the goofy side and loves to make people laugh. That should come as no surprise to fans of the Jills the past few years as those qualities are just like those of one of her closest friends, Jills Pro Bowler Jessica L. Erin has so many qualities that even Jessica couldn't nail down her best, saying that she's fun, friendly, outgoing, honest, laid back, cheerful, and dedicated. You can read more about Erin at http://www.bandits.com/bandette-09-erin_m.cfm

Buffalo Jill of The Week Lonna

This week, we take a look at rookie dancer Lonna as our Jill of The Week. Lonna spent her lone season as a Jill dancing on Jamie's line alongside 3rd year vets Stefanie and Valerie. With a warm and friendly smile, Lonna aspires to one day become New York's most beautiful state trooper. She's currently working on her degree in criminal justice and while Bills fans won't get to see her smiling face on the sidelines this fall, she won't leave the scene entirely with some possible modeling coming up for her in the near future. There's also something bigger in the works as well that will make her pretty face even more well-known but you'll have to wait for the info on that. One thing that she said that she'd change about herself is to make more of herself and be in several places at once. Considering her personality is just as sweet and friendly as her smile, that's probably the only improvement anyone could make on Miss Lonna anyway. You can read more about Lonna at http://buffalojills.net/bios/lonna.html and don't forget to check out her 97Rock photo album at http://www.97rock.com/Article.asp?id=970779&spid=21992

Update on take a Jill to The Prom

As reported yesterday, 97Rock is conducting a contest in which the lucky winner gets the ultimate in prom dates, a Buffalo Jill! Last year's winner got his prom date in the form of Valerie, on the squad since 2006. Valerie has agreed to be the prom date for this contest and if the contest winner can't have a good time around Valerie, he's seriously warped. Besides the obvious beauty, Valerie is usually the life of the party and loves making everyone smile and laugh. You can listen to Valerie's interview with 97Rock's Norton In The Morning at http://www.97rock.com/Article.asp?id=1279279&spid=21993 You can register for the contest at http://97rock.com/goout.asp?u=/article.asp?id=1273604

More Jills tryout photos, the NFL schedule release, and Take a Jill to the Prom

First of all, 97Rock just released some new photos from the 1st round of tryouts today including pics of some promising rookies as well as many of our beloved vets. There's also the first photo of the completed squad, which was taken at Tuesday night's first practice.

One of our new girls wasn't available for this photo.
Also in the news was the NFL schedule release this past Tuesday.
We'll see the Jills cheering on the Bills at Ralph Wilson Stadium the following dates and times.
Sep 20th 4:05pm vs Buccaneers (first ever appearance of Tampa Bay in Buffalo)
Sep 27th 4:05pm vs Saints
Oct 11th 1pm vs Browns
Nov 1st 1pm vs Texans
Nov 29th 1pm vs Dolphins*
Dec 20th 1pm vs Patriots*
January 3rd 1pm vs Colts*
*These last 3 dates are subject to flex scheduling and any or all of the games could either remain as 1pm starts, be moved to 4:15 starts or go all the way to Sunday Night Football with a start time of 8:15pm. Those moves would be announced no later than 12 days before the game with the exception of the final game, which would be announced no later than 6 days prior to the game.
Season tickets are still on sale for Bills home dates, the only way to ensure you can see the Jills cheering on the Bills in Orchard Park. Individual tickets go on sale in mid-July.
As part of the Bills In Toronto series, the Bills lone game in Toronto's Rogers Centre will take place at 8:20pm on December 3rd, a Thursday night game against the NY Jets. While it's obviously not a real home date and last year's matchup against the Dolphins seemed more like a neutral site matchup than anything, it is officially a "home game" and the Bills and Jills will be treated as the home group by the NFL and we can expect to see the Jills both in pregame appearances and during the game itself. Individual tickets go on sale on April 21st for this game.
Preseason dates were also released recently and there are 3 chances to see the Jills cheer on the Bills in preseason this year. In addition to the 2 home games, the Jills will be traveling to Canton, Ohio Hall of Fame weekend to cheer on the Bills against the Titans, who'll have their own cheerleaders there as well. There are only two times each year where you can see two squads at once, the Hall of Fame game and the Super Bowl. Tickets for the Hall of Fame game are now on sale but are selling fast.
Sunday, August 9th at 8pm vs Titans in Canton, Ohio
Saturday, August 15th at 7pm vs Bears
Thursday, September 3rd at 6:30pm vs Lions
Finally, 97Rock is once again holding a contest where some lucky boy will get to take a Jill to the Prom. You can sign up for the contest at http://97rock.com/goout.asp?u=/article.asp?id=1273604 but obviously, this contest is just open to boys in high school. Submission deadline is 5pm on Thursday, May 7th with voting going on from May 8th-18th. Last year's lucky winner got to take the incomparable Valerie to the prom and you can see a video of the date at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7sRxYvYqiCM&feature=player_embedded

NLL GIRL OF THE WEEK - KIRSTEN

Kirsten, a rookie member of the Buffalo Bandettes Professional Dance Team, is a native of Long Island who came to Buffalo to attend college. She is a disciplined dancer that is no stranger to national championships.

Kirsten has a strong and very unique dance background which adds flair and diversity to the Buffalo Bandettes. She started taking tap and ballet lessons when she was just three years old. At age five, Kirsten began twirling baton and won her first national competition when she was only six. She returned to dancing in studio at age eight, where she stayed for 10 years studying ballet, lyrical, pointe, tap, jazz and acrobatics.

http://www.nll.com/article.php?id=3921

Bandits-Knighthawks pics

In the NLL, there are few rivalries that come close to matching the intensity of the Buffalo-Rochester rivalry. In January, the Bandits crushed the visiting Knighthawks by a score of 23-6. In March, Rochester came out on top by a 15-14 score in OT, setting up a rubber match in April back in Buffalo's HSBC Arena. When last at home, the Bandits fell to New York thanks mostly to the stellar goaltending of Titans goalie Matt Vinc, who stopped 50 of 59 shots on goal. This time around, it was Bandits goalie Ken Montour who controlled the game, stopping 52 of 61 shots in a 13-9 Bandits win in front of 17,118 fans in HSBC Arena. This game guaranteed the Bandits a home playoff game the weekend of May 1-3.

Prior to the game, the Bandettes hosted a long line of fans clamoring for the 2nd Bandettes poster of the season. The supply on hand was exhausted even before 7pm, leaving many fans in the hope that there'd be more next week as the Bandits finish off the regular season against the expansion Boston Blazers. During the game, the Bandettes got a lot of love from the fans and 103.3 The Edge's Rich Gaenzler, who was filling in for game announcer Chris Swenson and their performances at intermissions and during the game proved how worthy they were of that love. Afterwards, some of the squad retired to Pearl Street Grill and Brewery for the Official Bandits Post Game party where they had a well-deserved dinner and signed a few autographs and posed for pictures.

http://s17.photobucket.com/albums/b87/bandettes/2009/Knighthawks2/

Next up, after the Bandits road trip to NYC on April 11th, the regular season concludes on April 18th with a matchup against the surprising Boston Blazers expansion team, currently in 2nd place in the Eastern division.

Also, stay tuned as, thanks to the efforts of the fans, the NLL's next Girl of The Week is rookie Bandette Kirsten. We should see an article posted no later than Tuesday.

Bandette of The Week Denise

This week, we take a look at a Bandette who came back to the squad this year after 3 seasons off. Denise is the sole lady who's cheered on all 4 of the squads that we've covered here. In the mid-90s, she cheered on the sidelines of Rich Stadium as a Buffalo Jill. While Buffalo had the Destroyers in town, Denise was cheering as a member of the Bombshells for the last 3 of those seasons. And finally, she was also a member of the short-lived Rush dance squad that performed for the Buffalo Rapids ABA team just a few years ago. Beyond her love of dance and Buffalo sports, Denise is deeply religious whose ancestors hailed from Jamaica. When it comes to food, she loves authentic Jamaican dishes but avoids red meats, choosing instead to focus on chicken, turkey, and seafood. You can read more about Denise at http://www.bandits.com/bandette-09-denise.cfm

Buffalo Jill of The Week Jamie

This week, our Jill of The Week is 5th year captain and 7th year vet Jamie. This was Jamie's last season on the squad as she decided to move on to other pursuits that took too much of her time to allow her to continue on the squad. That doesn't mean she won't be around, however, as she's still working for Jills Choreographer Kelli at her dance studio and she's also assured me that she'll make it to the occasional event as well. But beyond talking about her departure, let's talk about what she's done as a Jill. At the end of the 2004 season, her first as a captain, she finished up the season in Hawaii as the Jills' Pro Bowl representative. Following the 2006 season, Jamie led a group of Jills in a competition against cheerleaders from other squads on Super Bowl weekend and they apparently did pretty well, especially in volleyball and tug-of-war. A few months later, while Aimee and Omarlla were working with over a hundred prospective Jills at the Jills Open Workshop, Jamie, Eileen, and Kelli headed up a group of Jills entertaining thousands of US military members in a tour of Kuwait and Iraq. Beyond the big things though, she's also been great at the little things as well. To ensure that her line never forgets their times together, she's gotten line photos taken at aboyt half the games held the past few years. You can read more about Jamie at http://www.buffalojills.net/bios/jamie.html

Photos finished from Jills tryouts

Just a little note that the pictures and videos taken at Sunday's round of Jills tryouts are all posted at http://s15.photobucket.com/albums/a375/buffalojills2005/2009/1st%20cuts/ Videos were shot of most of the veteran routines as well as some random prospective rookies. (My apologies to the vets who didn't get videos...Valerie already gave me a little grief about that...lol).

We also have some news from the final results of Jills tryouts. A photo will be taken of the completed squad at their first practice on Tuesday so we'll see the new squad photo about Wednesday. 27 veterans return to this year's 45-girl roster but out of the 18 remaining slots that were filled, only 15 of them are true rookies. We have 3 familiar faces returning to the ranks as well. 2003-2004 dancer Kelly Ann returns to the squad as an Ambassador while a pair of girls from the 2007 squad return as dancers. Michelle was on that squad just briefly while Kaitlin V spent the entire season on the Ambassador Squad.
We also have a little bit of shifting around on the squads to reveal as well. The 2009 Jills Ambassador Squad will definitely have a different look this year as Laura joins captains Danielle and Keisha as the only returnees to the squad from last season along with the aforementioned Kelly Ann and 8 fresh-faced rookies to the 12-girl squad. The 33-girl dance squads, headed up by Omarlla, Eileen, and Nicole get some transfers from the Ambassador Squad as 3rd year vets Amanda F and Vincenza make the transition along with 2nd year vet Liz and returnee Kaitlin V.
For more, stay tuned to http://www.buffalojills.net/ CW23, 97Rock, and the Buffalo Pro Cheer Blog as more is revealed from the new 2009-2010 Buffalo Jills squad.

Congratulations to all the rookies, returning vets, and the vets transitioning over to dance!
Their first big appearance will be the Bills Season Ticket Holder draft party at Ralph Wilson Stadium on April 25th from 3pm-7pm. The event is only open to Bills season ticket holders and does require a ticket to get in. Tickets have been mailed or emailed out to season ticket holders already so if you haven't received yours, check with the Bills ticket office.
After that, the Bills have two appearances on May 2nd. The Buffalo Pizza Fest takes place at Hearthstone Manor from 11am-9pm and you can meet some of the Jills there during the afternoon. From 4pm-7pm, there will be a meet-and-greet with some more of the Jills at Tioga Downs racing and Entertainment as well.
The biggest thing to mark on your calendars is, of course, the Buffalo Jills Congratulatory Party at Club Paradise from 9pm-midnight on May 16th. The event is open to the public (21 and over) and includes raffles, a big dance performance, and even a rookie initiation.
After that, the Jills hit the high seas as their calendar shoot takes place the week of May 25th-29th on Carnival's Imagination with visits to Cozumel and Key West and the public is invited to see the making of the Swimsuit Calendar. Full details can be found at http://buffalojills.net/appearances/details.php?recordID=3

More pics from Jills tryouts

There were a large number of photographers at 1st cuts of Jills tryouts. Besides the Buffalo Pro Cheer Blog, BuffaloSpotted sent Marc Wierzbowski and 97Rock had a photographer on hand as well.
You can check out Marc's photos at http://buffalo.myspotted.com/photos/index.php?id=2372393

97Rock's photos will be going up over the course of this week and you can check out their first batch of photos at http://97rock.com/Article.asp?id=1259417 Keep watching their site over the course of the week for more photos.

Also, more photos are going up in the Buffalo Pro Cheer Blog's 1st cut album at http://s15.photobucket.com/albums/a375/buffalojills2005/2009/1st%20cuts/?start=40
Included are some photos and videos of the first auditionees

Stay tuned all week for more updates from Buffalo Jills tryouts

Buffalo Jills audition movers and shakers

It was too chilly Sunday, even indoors, for most women to want to prance around in tight halter tops and short shorts.
Not so for the approximately 100 young female athletes who strutted into the Town Ballroom to audition for the Buffalo Jills cheerleading squad.
Bringing their own hotness — or perhaps hottie-ness—was part of the deal, and the women knew it as they took the stage in pairs to perform a brief, choreographed routine to high-decibel hip-hop music.

more at http://www.buffalonews.com/cityregion/buffaloerie/story/631152.html

Pictured is 3rd year vet Stefanie

Pics and videos from First cuts

It's a big time of year in the NFL Cheerleading community as squads across the league hold tryouts to stock their squads for the 2009 season. In Buffalo, Town Ballroom was the venue for the Buffalo Jills 1st dance and 2nd Ambassador cuts, an event that was open to the public for the first time in many years. Fans came to watch the tryout process and get entered into a drawing for door prizes from some of the Jills' sponsors, including some autographed items from the Buffalo Bills players who were there as judges. 97Rock's own DJ Jickster and CW23's Lydia emceed the event that featured celebrity judges Chris Kelsay, James Hardy, and Terrence McGee of the Buffalo Bills and Jericka Duncan of WIVB-TV news as well as JP from 97Rock, Rich Gaenzler of 103.3 The Edge and Jills coordinator Nichole B and director Stephanie M.

Dancers came on stage in front of the fans to perform the routine they learned at last week's Open Workshop while Ambassadors came on stage twice. First, they came on in a dance outfit to show off their physique and later came on in business attire to answer some random questions from the judges.

Unfortunately, this wasn't an event like the Congratulatory Party or Swimsuit Calendar Release party in which it's all supposed to be just fun. It's also a very serious event as over 100 young ladies were competing for about 37 spots on the 2009 squad. All the participants, rookie and veteran alike, put in a lot of work to show that they're worthy of becoming Buffalo Jills. If a squad that size were manageable, the Jills had enough qualified participants to carry a 100-girl roster. Unfortunately, many deserving young women missed the cut today and more will miss the cut later in the week because of the limited number of spots on the roster. A large number of aspiring rookies joined a handful of vets on the outside not because they weren't deserving, but because of the limited space.

To the rookies who missed the cut today, this past Thursday, or will miss the cut this week, don't think of it as your hopes being dashed...only put on hold. There have been many great cheerleaders who missed the cut on their 1st, and even their 2nd tries. Jills director Stephanie M took a few tries to make as did current Jills Lisa and Amanda F as well as present co-captains Katie K and Keisha. Missing the cut one time to make it later puts you in exceptional company so the best advice I can give those girls is to keep working hard and come back next year.

To the vets who missed the cut, whose names are being kept confidential in respect for their privacy and feelings, the best advice I can give is to work on what you need to work on to see about coming back next year. If coming back isn't something you wish to do, remember that you got to do something that so few get to even try and it's something that no one can ever take away from you. And whether you decide to come back in 2010 or not, I'm sure I speak for your squadmates, Jills management, and the fans in saying not to be strangers. You're sure to be well-received at future Jills events and other functions.

Anyway, there will be photos (and some videos) uploaded throughout the week to http://s15.photobucket.com/albums/a375/buffalojills2005/2009/1st%20cuts/ but due to the sheer number of photos and videos to go through (over 300), it will take a few days so keep checking back as more and more photos and videos from the 2009 Buffalo Jills 1st cuts are released. Besides updates from here, stay tuned to CW23, 97Rock and the Buffalo News for more from Jills tryouts.

Bandette Profiles: Jessica

Bandette video profiles are back. Earlier this season, the Bandits ran video profiles on Meghan and Danielle. For the last couple of months it seems their multimedia people almost forgot there were more girls on the squad than just the two...lol. This week, they get back on track and feature 2nd year vet Jessica, a veteran of the US Navy who, in her video, talks about her family history in the military among other things. Check it out at http://www.bandits.com/newsarchive.cfm?id=764

Bandette of The Week Erin Y

Other than Karla, this week's Bandette of The Week has to be the most familiar to the fans as Erin Y has been with the Bandettes for 6 seasons now. But she didn't start her pro cheer career in 2004, but the year before as a Buffalo Bombshell, cheering on the since-departed Buffalo Destroyers of the Arena Football League during their final season in the Queen City. Like so many of our longtime ladies on the sidelines, Erin doesn't seem to have aged in that time, only gotten better. This year, Erin stepped back as captain and serves the Bandettes not only as a dancer, but as the lead choreographer. She's the one who put together the tryout routine this past October and while many of the individual Bandettes come up with some of the choreography themselves, Erin handles the majority of it herself. Considering she's a dance teacher and has been dancing for 21 years now, she's definitely well-qualified for the role. She, along with Denise, missed the Open Practice this past December and the chance to pose with the NLL Champions Cup with her squadmates. Given the chance to do it over, she'd probably miss it again as she was spending her time at Disney, a world created by the man she most admires. Hopefully, we'll get her a pose with the Champions Cup at the next Open Practice if the Bandits can repeat as NLL Champions, though. You can read more about Erin at http://www.bandits.com/bandette-09-erin_y.cfm

Buffalo Jill of The Week Stefanie

This week, we take a look at 3rd year dancer Stefanie as
our Jill of The Week. Found on one end of Jamie's line
next to Lonna this past season, Stefanie takes her role as a cheerleader for the Buffalo Bills very seriously and hates a Bills loss as much as any other fan in the stadium, probably more than most, even. Her friendships on the squad and the thrill of performing are what keeps her going, as well as the ability to watch her team play from as close to the action as you can get. She'd probably line up and play if she could get away with it. Despite being very feminine, she does love to play the game as well as cheer for it. She's been cheering for the last 12 years, including the last 3 on the Jills, and we hope she keeps going for many years to come. Besides her gymnastics ability and beauty which everyone can see, her out-going and goofy nature make her a well-loved member of the squad. Like last week's Jill of The Week Sarah, Stefanie is into journalism a little bit but more specifically, is hoping to become a sports broadcaster one of these days. How cool would that be? We could see the Bills win the Super Bowl in a few years and we'd have a Buffalo Jill reporting on it. You can read
more about Stefanie at http://www.buffalojills.net/bios/StefanieJ.html

Vote for Kirsten!

This week, rookie Bandette Kirsten is up for NLL Girl of The Week and she needs your votes to help her get an article written about her for NLL.com. She's up against one of the Knightingales and one of Philadelphia's Angels dance team. As nice as the Bandettes bios are, they don't go nearly as in-depth as the NLL.com articles written by Melissa of the Bandettes. Just go to NLL.com, scroll down to the Community section and click on the Girl of The Week tab where you can cast your vote for Kirsten. http://www.nll.com/