Bike Wash for Mercy Flight

Mercy Flight WNY is an independent, not-for-profit provider of emergency air medical transport. With 5 helicopters based in WNY, they've flown more than 17,000 patient missions since their inception 28 years ago. Independent of any one hospital, they deliver patients to the facility that best suits the patient's needs as far as hospital capabilities and location. Being an independent not-for-profit organization, their funding comes primarily from donations raised through charity fundraisers. This weekend, Buck's Motorsports of Akron, NY has a big promotion going on with their motorcycles and used that opportunity to stage a fundraiser for Mercy Flight. Buck's donated a new bike to be raffled off and members of the Buffalo Jills were on hand for a bike wash on Saturday, washing customers' motorcycles for a donation to Mercy Flight. With sunny weather in the 60s, it was a bit chilly for bikinis, but Amanda, Courteney, Katy, Jess, Alyssa, and Nicole L looked incredibly hot in their tops and Daisy Dukes as they washed bikes and posed for pictures with the bikes and, in most cases, the bike owners. When things died down, Jess and Nicole L took a tour of Buck's Motorsports to check out the bikes on sale and pose for a few pictures.

http://s15.photobucket.com/albums/a375/buffalojills2005/2009/BikeWash/

http://www.mercyflight.org/

http://www.bucksmotorsports.com/

Coming up next for the Jills, the squad will be busy the weekend of the 13th and 14th as members of the squad will be on hand most of the weekend at the 29th Annual Strawberry Festival at Merritt Estate Winery in Forestville. This event will be a fundraiser for Ruben's Run, part of the charitable foundation set up by former Bills All-Pro Ruben Brown complete with auctions, photo ops, and lots of wine tasting. http://buffalojills.net/appearances/details.php?recordID=25

The evening of the 13th, some of the Jills will be on hand taking photos and signing autographs at Buffalo's Biggest 80s Bash to be held at the Buffalo Convention Center. The girls on hand won't be stopping with that, though as they'll have a hot 80s style dance performance to put on for the event, an event that benefits the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. http://www.80sbash.com/

After that, don't forget the Taste of Buffalo the weekend of July 11th and 12th. One of the Nation's Largest Food Festivals features appearances by members of the Buffalo Jills both afternoons of the event. http://www.tasteofbuffalo.com/

Last but far from least, the 7th Annual Buffalo Jills Golf Tournament takes place on July 20th at Fox Valley Country Club in Lancaster, NY. $125 buys you a round of 18 holes, lunch, dinner, use of golf carts by your group, and entertainment by the Buffalo Jills in the form of some hot dance routines at dinner. There are also raffles and games available as well as the chance to bid on having one of the beautiful Jills accompany your group around the course for the day. For details on ordering your tickets, go to http://buffalojills.net/appearances/details.php?recordID=9

Bandette of The Week Jessica

For the final edition of the 2009 Bandette of The Week series, we take a look at 2nd year vet Jessica. Known as the military sister of the Bandettes, Jessica spent 4 years in the US Navy right after high school before coming home to Western NY. She's a former member of the Niagara Royalettes Dance studio and even found a way to dance while she served the nation. When she was stationed in Washington State, she danced for the West (Puget) Sound Saints semipro football team as well as get a start on her college degree, which she was scheduled to complete just a few weeks ago. While she's been off active duty since 2007, she's still on active ready reserve until 2010 and is ready to go back into action with little notice. That being said, we can hope that tensions ease in the Middle East, where Jessica served on an aircraft carrier in support of missions in Iraq and Afghanistan. This way, we'll hopefully see this quiet and focused young lady dancing at HSBC Arena for several more years. You can read more about Jessica at http://www.bandits.com/bandette-09-jessica.cfm and don't forget to check out her video profile as well. Go to http://www.bandits.com/newsarchive.cfm?id=764 for the video link.

Buffalo Jill of The Week Shana

This week, we take a look at another of the early departures from the 2008 Buffalo Jills squad. Unfortunately, Shana was only with the Jills for half a season, dancing on Jamie's line between Jenica and Lynn. Besides the fact that 2008 was her first time cheering in an NFL game, it was her first time at an NFL game period. Shana originally hails from Oakland, CA like Bills RB Marshawn Lynch. However, unlike Marshawn, Shana has a protective father who didn't want her going to NFL games in Oakland. Considering how notorious the fans are in Oakland's Black Hole, who can blame him? Thankfully, he allowed Shana to come to Buffalo to go to college and she decided, once here, to continue on past her 15 years of dancing by taking it to the next level in the NFL. While here, she made a lot of friends and, unlike many of us in the area who take it for granted, really appreciated the wonder of Niagara Falls. You can read more about Shana in the webgroup's files section.

More Jills photos and a few reminders

The Jills Congratulatory Party a week and a half ago had another photographer on hand. BuffaloSpotted sent one of their photographers to the event and put up a group of photos that can be found at http://buffalo.myspotted.com/galleries/index.php?id=320333

Last week, Bills players Lee Evans, Jon Corto, and Brad Butler were at Riverside Park to present a $50K grant to help refurbish the athletic fields that are used for, among other things, Little League Football. The whole story can be found at http://www.buffalobills.com/news/article-1/butler-corto-evans-visit-riverside/d1811b96-acfe-434b-b685-ada8fbbf64c5 Lynn and Ruby of the Buffalo Jills were on hand as well and they, along with the players, posed for photos and signed autographs for the people who attended the presentation. You can find these photos at http://buffalo.myspotted.com/galleries/index.php?id=320388

Also, we have a few appearances to remind you about. Currently, the bulk of the squad is in the Bahamas shooting their 2009-2010 Buffalo Jills Swimsuit Calendar, which should be available to the public in late July-early August. They will be back home later in the week and some of the Jills will at Buck's Motorsports in Akron from noon to 5 this Saturday as part of a benefit for Mercy Flight. They'll be there washing cars and motorcycles and posing for pictures and signing autographs as well. You can get further details at http://buffalojills.net/appearances/details.php?recordID=24 and read about the valuable service that Mercy Flight provides Western NY at http://www.mercyflight.org/

June 13th has 2 events in total. The first event actually takes place the entire weekend of the 13th and 14th. The Strawberry Festival is being hosted once again by Merritt Estate Winery and features live entertainment, great food, wine, beer and their FAMOUS Sangria Wine Slush! The Jills will be appearing both days of the event for autographs and photos. The event annually raises money for different charities through various auction items including dinner with Ruben Brown, Rob Ray, or CW23's beautiful Lydia! You can read more about the event at http://buffalojills.net/appearances/details.php?recordID=25 and at http://www.merrittestatewinery.com/page/53/calendar.aspx

The evening of June 13th is Buffalo's Biggest 80's Bash from 8pm to midnight at the Buffalo Convention Center. Tickets are still available for this event which benefits the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. The event includes 80s music, some celebrity appearances, and a hot 80s style dance routine by members of the Buffalo Jills among other things. Check out more about the event at http://www.80sbash.com/

Finally, it's not too late to make sure your schedule is free for July 20th as the Jills 7th Annual Golf Tournament will be held at Fox Valley Country Club in Lancaster, NY. The $125 per person fee includes lunch, dinner, 18 holes of golf, use of golf carts for your 4some, and entertainment courtesy the Buffalo Jills! There are also raffles available, a poker run, and you can even bid to have one of the lovely Buffalo Jills accompany you on the course for the day. Get more details at http://buffalojills.net/appearances/details.php?recordID=9

Bandette of The Week Sarah

This week's Bandette of The Week is the always photogenic Sarah. She started her Bandettes career in 2005 and has been dancing in some form or another for 19 years now. Gymnastics, ballet, tap, jazz, and baton twirling were some of her focuses before she joined the Bandettes but as anyone who's attended a Bandits game can attest, she's done a whole lot more than that since then. Currently working towards a career in physical therapy, she loves getting to meet and help new people, which is why she's also thought about teaching in the past. But whatever her career goals have been, her biggest love has always been dance and it shows at Bandits home games. You can read more about Sarah at http://www.bandits.com/bandette-09-sarah.cfm

Buffalo Jill of The Week Katie C

If you had to sum up our latest Jill of The Week in one word, it would have to be zany. Katie C was an early departure from the Jills last season after dancing on Nicole's line next to Kristina. One of the first things you'll notice when you see her is the fact that she's 5'11". And while Katie may, at times, be uncomfortable about her height, it's not something she dwells on. While her height may be the first thing you notice when seeing her, her zany personality is what you remember after talking to her. When she was waitressing a few years ago, a customer once told her she looked like Cameron Diaz and when you compare the two, the similarities go far beyond their looks and being tall blondes. For one thing, Cameron dances in all of her movies and when it comes to dance, Katie is more confident of her dancing ability than anything else. Going into tryouts, a lot of girls are nervous about learning the routines long before even thinking about the interview, but not Katie. At last year's Open Workshop, she was thinking she'd be nervous about her interview but was extremely confident about her routine...and this was before she learned it! Plus, if you ever watched the Charlie's Angels movies, Cameron's character, Natalie Cook, could have been modeled after Katie as she loves to make people laugh and tries never to take herself seriously. You can read more about Katie in the files section of the webgroup where a bio will be there during the week.

More tryout pics up, more appearances to announce with the Jills and the Bandettes

97Rock discovered another batch of photos just recently. There's a few pics of vets in there, some prospective rookies in there, as well as some of the rookies who made the squad like Julie, Katy, Joya, and Riley. You can check them out at http://www.97rock.com/Article.asp?id=1289501&spid=21993

Merritt Estate Winery is one of the official sponsors of the Jills and for the 29th straight year, they're hosting the Strawberry Festival the weekend of June 13-14. This year, the Jills will be there for the festival that takes place from noon-11pm on the 13th and noon-6pm on the 14th. It takes place in Forestville so be sure to have a dedicated driver if you plan to do a lot of wine-tasting...it would be one expensive cab ride. Included as part of the festival are live performances by a number of music acts from Western NY and a lot of live and silent auction items up for bid to raise money for Ruben's Run, the charity of former Bills All-Pro G Ruben Brown. Included in the auction items are gift certificates, autographed football memorabilia, dinner with Ruben Brown, Rob Ray, or the lovely Lydia from CW23 and 4 tickets to the Jills Golf Tournament among many other things. Read more about it at http://buffalojills.net/appearances/details.php?recordID=25 and http://merrittestatewinery.com/page/53/calendar.aspx

Finally, if the way the Bandits season ended left you wanting more, head over to Cobblestone Bar on June 23rd where they'll be showing the NCAA Men's Division One Final Four Lacrosse on the TV screens in an event to help bring lacrosse to the city's underprivileged youth. It's a $20 donation for the event that includes food from 1-3 and the bartenders won't all be Cobblestone's usual ones. Some of the Bandits players will be filling in behind the bar for this worthwhile event that also includes appearances by some of the Bandettes.

2009 Buffalo Jills Congratulatory Party

From late March thru mid-April, the focus of the Jills was in putting together the 2009 Buffalo Jills squad to cheer on the Bills in their 50th season of existence. Over 100 girls put in long hours of hard work to make the squad and out of them, 37 girls were selected to join the 8 preselected captains on the sidelines of Ralph Wilson Stadium this fall. For those 45 young women, the hard work continues as they've been preparing for the last month and will contnue to prepare all summer long to get ready for the 2009 NFL Season that kicks off in Canton, Ohio in August at the Hall of Fame game featuring the Buffalo Bills and the Tennessee Titans.

To introduce the 2009 squad to the public, the Buffalo Jills invaded Club Paradise in Blasdell, NY, only 8 minutes from Ralph Wilson Stadium for their annual Congratulatory Party. The party not only allowed the public to meet the Jills squad, but gave the Jills themselves a chance to celebrate their accomplishment of making the squad with family and friends. This year's party included a chinese raffle, a 50-50 drawing, and 3 separate dance routines put on by the Jills dancers. Taking the stage to announce the event was honorary Buffalo Jill Lydia, the host of Buffalo's CW23 TV station, WNLO.

http://s15.photobucket.com/albums/a375/buffalojills2005/2009/Congrats%20Party/

Coming up next, the Jills are heading to the Bahamas for the annual Swimsuit Calendar Shoot Cruise and when they return, some of them will be at Buck's Motorsports in Akron, NY on May 30th to sign autographs, pose for pictures, and wash cars and motorcycles in a benefit for Mercy Flight from noon to 5pm.

After that, some of the squad will be at the Buffalo Convention Center on June 13th for the 2nd Annual Buffalo's Biggest 80's Bash posing for pictures, signig autographs, and putting on a big 80s style routine. Don't forget to visit the Taste Of Buffalo this summer as some of the Jills will be spending the mid-afternoon at the 97Rock and 103.3 The Edge booths meeting the fans.

Finally, if you haven't put in for vacation for July 20th, it's not too late to do so as Fox Valley Country Club in Lancaster, NY plays host to the 7th Annual Buffalo Jills Golf Tournament. $125 a golfer includes lunch, dinner, 18 holes, a golf cart, and entertainment. Prizes and a cash bar are also available for your convenience.

For further information on these and other appearances, visit http://buffalojills.net/appearances/index.php

Also, stay tuned to CW23 as they prepare to air a mini-series of videos showing a behind-the-scenes look at Buffalo Jills tryouts. If you can't get Buffalo's CW23, keep an eye on http://www.cw23.com/ where you'll be able to get to see those same videos online.

Stay tuned to the Buffalo Pro Cheer Blog and BuffaloJills.net for future information on the 2009-2010 Buffalo Jills!

Bandette of The Week Kirsten

This week's Bandette of The Week is the youngest member of the squad and a native of Long Island who came to Buffalo to attend college. Kirsten is a former national champion in baton-twirling and, while captain of her high school's kick line, won not only local championships, but National titles as well. Currently, Kirsten is a freshman in college working towards a doctorate in physical therapy and hopes to one day own her own clinic. Don't let the end of Bandits season and the spring college semester let you think she'll be bored. She's an extremely hard worker and will likely be spending her summer working to make her sophomore year in college come easier whether she stays in Buffalo or goes back home to Long Island for the summer. If she does wind up staying, she's already got one thing to keep her busy as she's been teaching dance during her time here in Western NY. You can read more about Kirsten at http://www.bandits.com/bandette-09-kirsten.cfm Also, she was named NLL's Girl of The Week back in April and you can read that article at http://www.nll.com/article.php?id=3921

Buffalo Jill of The Week Alecia

This week, we take a look at one of last year's rookies who chose not to return this year. Alecia spent the season dancing on Omarlla's line between Christina and Dr Amanda after putting in 6 years of cheerleading through her school years, as well as 10 years of dance. Currently keeping busy with things like waitressing, she's looking at a career in the fashion industry and wants to learn from the best, hoping to study in Italy as well as the Fashion Institute of Technology in NYC. While she chose not to return this year, the possibility is there that she might return at some point in the future, like 3 members of this year's squad did. Through her time on the squad, she made a lot of friends, including a few alumni she never cheered with and, like many of her squadmates, found out a lot about herself and found doors open for her for opportunities for future success. You can read more about Alecia at http://www.buffalojills.net/bios/Alecia.html

More from Jills tryouts

While Jills tryouts have been done for about a month now, there are still reports rolling in from the 1st round of auditions. Earlier this week, the Buffalo News had an article on returning alumni Kaitlin V as well as 2 potential rookies. A video was shot as well as could be found online with interviews with the 3 girls as well as a look at their performances.

Today, it was the Bills' turn as they released a Bills Focus video on the Town Ballroom round of tryouts. Included in the video are interviews with Jills director Stephanie M, Bills DE Chris Kelsay, 2nd year vet Liz, 4th year vet Valerie, and 3rd year vet and Pro Bowler Jessica. They also shot a little video of the performances of several of the veteran Buffalo Jills. Check it out at http://www.buffalobills.com/media-lounge/videos/bills-focus-buffalo-jills-tryouts/192b26e1-e6b2-452c-8c46-c2adce6d8643#?id=192b26e1-e6b2-452c-8c46-c2adce6d8643

Dreams meet reality for Jills hopefuls

Think American Idol, without the snarky Simon Cowell. And instead of singing, it's cheerleading that's being judged.

In this reality show, the grand prize isn't a recording contract, but rather a chance to cheer in front of 70,000 raucous fans at Ralph Wilson Stadium. More than 100 young women filled the Town Ballroom recently, auditioning to become the next team of Buffalo Jills.

more at http://www.buffalonews.com/sports/story/667520.html

http://video.buffalonews.com/player/index.php?id=207

Bandette of The Week Danielle

Originally from Canada, our latest Bandette of The Week is 4th year vet Danielle. It's rather fitting that Danielle get the honor this week with Mother's Day a part of it. She took last year off from the squad to have her first baby and came back to the squad this year without missing a beat. She even got named co-captain after coming back. Besides the Bandits, she's also a big hockey and football fan as well and even claims she's a world-class tailgater. That's a pretty hefty claim to make in Buffalo, known as one of the 3 top tailgating cities in the NFL as well as the tailgating spot of the world's greatest tailgater. That being said, Danielle isn't one to make bold claims without backing them up. She graduated from UB with a degree in theater but while jobs in that area aren't that plentiful, she still found a way to put her degree to use as a sales rep for a local company, never having imagined that her acting skills would come in so handy. You can read more about Danielle at http://www.bandits.com/bandette-09-danielle.cfm

Buffalo Jill of The Week Jackie

This week, we take a look at one of last year's rookies in the Jill of The Week spotlight. Jackie spent her rookie season dancing on Omarlla's line between Omarlla and Lisa and was one of the select rookie dancers to perform at last year's Congratulatory Party. This year, she got an even bigger honor already. At the Buffalo Bills Season Ticket Holder Draft Party, the Jills dancers put on 4 performances. Two performances were by the captains, 1 by the rookie dancers, and 1 by the non-captain veteran dancers. With co-captain Christina not in attendance, Jackie got the call to dance with the Jills dance captains and fit in perfectly. This should come as no surprise since she's been dancing for about a decade and a half and spent her entire high school career as a cheerleader. As a Jill, one of the big things she loves most is getting to meet new people and this soft-spoken young lady is as sweet as she is pretty. Friendly and loving, Jackie may come across as real laid-back and quiet, but behind that demeanor is the heart of one of the most determined young ladies around. It may have taken her a few years to decide to try out for the Jills after she graduated high school, but when you consider all that's come out of the hard work she's put in since deciding to try out, all we can say is it's been worth the wait. You can read more about Jackie at http://www.buffalojills.net/bios/jackie.html

Pics from Round 1 of the NLL Playoffs

Last year, the Bandits won homefield advantage throughout the playoffs on their way to winning their 4th NLL Championship. This season, due mostly to increased strength in the NLL, the Bandits only earned the 3rd seed in the playoffs in 2009 and their only guaranteed home game was their 1st round matchup against the expansion Boston Blazers. The fact that they made the playoffs alone spoke volumes about the Blazers not being a typical expansion team. Two weeks ago, the Bandits finished off the regular season against these same Blazers on the short end of the scoresheet with an OT loss. As the playoffs began, the Bandits had 2 reasons to win. First, they had to defend their title and win the first of three games enroute to their 2nd consecutive title. Second, revenge was on their minds for the loss two weeks ago.

The Round 1 matchup was a hard fought game most of the way as the Blazers threw everything they could at Bandits goalie Ken Montour but Montour proved more than up to the challenge stopping 47 of Boston's 55 shots while the Bandits offense, behind the scoring touch of Mark Steenhuis and Johnny Tavares, got 10 of 45 shots past Blazers goalie Anthony Cosmo with a late empty-netter by Tom Montour giving the Bandits the 11-8 win, sending them to the Prudential Center next week for the Eastern Division Finals in a matchup against a New York Titans team that had their number in both regular season matchups this season.

The Bandettes, on the other hand, had no failures to make up for as they joined fans at the Party In The Plaza before the game with a pair of dance performances and some visits with fans sandwiched around an autograph session inside the Arena. They then joined the fans down in the Arena itself with 4 dance performances as well as frequent dance routines during the game action. During the 3rd intermission performance as well as the 4th quarter, the NLL's premier dance team sported the jerseys of their team in their dance routines, and looking far cuter in them than the players ever do.

http://s17.photobucket.com/albums/b87/bandettes/2009/Round%201/

Coming up next, the Bandettes wait, along with the rest of Banditland, to see if HSBC Arena will be hosting the NLL Championship game on May 16th. To do that, the Bandits will not only have to beat the NY Titans for the first time this year, but the Western Division leading Calgary Roughnecks will have to lose to either the Colorado Mammoth or to the San Jose Stealth.

Bandette of The Week Justina

This week, we take a look at one of the Bandettes captains as our Bandette of The Week. In just her second season, Justina made it to the rank of captain of the Bandettes but was even showing leadership early in her rookie season. Besides her leadership, she's also a self-proclaimed good luck charm as she remarked after last year's NLL Championship game that it was her presence on the Bandettes that propelled the Bandits to the title. I guess that means she can't be allowed to retire anytime soon. But besides a long career with the Bandettes, Justina is working towards a degree in psychology and certified elementary education and loving life while she's doing it. Whether it be hanging out or vacationing with her Bandettes squadmates or taking in a Bills game to see some of her friends on the Jills, she's living each day as if it were her last. You can read more about Justina at http://www.bandits.com/bandette-09-justina.cfm

Buffalo Jill of The Week Valerie

This week, we take a look at now-4th year veteran dancer Valerie as our Jill of The Week. Found on Jamie's line last season between Lonna and Amelina, Val seems to be one of the most popular members of the Buffalo Jills. That applies not only to her squadmates who love her sense of humor and fun-loving nature, but the fans as well who love her beauty as well as the personality that shines through in her photos. Whether it be on the field or hanging out with friends, she's a young lady who lives to have fun and always does her best to make sure everyone else is having fun as well. And when I say her best, I mean she goes above and beyond. For the 2nd straight year, Valerie has consented to be the "prize" in a contest run by 97Rock, in which lucky school students vie for a chance to take the lovely Valerie to their prom. Check out the contest at http://www.97rock.com//Article.asp?id=1279848

Beyond that, Valerie is also a photographer's dream as she's always flashing a big smile for the camera and either making sexy and fun poses or, when she's not in Jills uniform, wearing stuff like outrageous hats like she did when she, Lynn, Lisa, Danielle, and Alecia were tending bar at Bayou back in November. You can read more about Valerie at http://www.buffalojills.net/bios/Valerie.html and don't forget to check out her 97Rock photo album at http://www.97rock.com/Article.asp?id=861671&spid=21992