Your 2016 Buffalo Bandettes!

Your 2016 Buffalo Bandettes!

Friday, December 19, 2014

2011-12 Buffalo Bandettes tryouts-revisited

This week, we take a look back at the tryouts for the 2012 Bandettes. Going to tryouts was pretty unexpected for me that year as Jaclyn invited me to come by just that morning. Since I didn't have anything else going on to speak of, I took her up on it after charging up my camera batteries for a couple of hours. When I got there, they were still checking girls in so I hung around by Jaclyn and Jessica, who was there helping out before she officially retired, while Erin and Meghan warmed up to teach the tryout routine.
Jaclyn, Erin Y, Meghan, and Jessica
Erin and Meghan warming up
As the vets came in, they were both surprised and excited to see me but none seemed as excited as Chrissy, going into her 2nd season. Her rookie season, Chrissy seemed very quiet and subdued most of the year, getting her feet wet in the pros and taking it all in as a rookie with several girls on the squad with a lot of experience. We barely talked her rookie season so when she came up and gave me a big smile and a hug, it was definitely a shock but she was just so excited to see everyone and ready to get back to work as a veteran Bandette.
It was my 1st time working with the Bandettes at tryouts so I wasn't totally sure how different it would be from Jills tryouts. The biggest difference is the timeframe. With the Jills, girls learn the routine at the Open Workshop, perform it for the judges about a week later, and then go through several more rounds until the 90 or so girls that 1st tried out are whittled down to 35-45 girls on the final squad. With the Bandettes, they learn the routine on Saturday and then come back the following day to perform and talk to the judges before the final squad is selected. For a few years, it was usually around 30 girls that tried out before the squad was selected but 2011 had around 45 hopefuls so we had a pretty full room for the few hours of the workshop. As with Jills tryouts, I stayed off to the side, grabbing a few photos here and there. With the lighting in the room, I didn't have to use a flash thankfully so it didn't distract anyone.
Several prospective rookies working through the routine including Alecia, Stephanie C, and Amanda
Jessica and her sister
See all the pics at https://buffaloprocheerbuffalobandettes.shutterfly.com/pictures/4071 
While there, I made sure to get video of the routine so that I could not only share it with the fans, but with the girls trying out by putting it on the Bandettes' Facebook page. Judging by the number of views it got by the next morning, those young ladies were definitely watching!

From the 2013 Jills comes a photo from the Jets game, a game in which the Jills did their Salute to Service after Veteran's Day. They did a special performance for their 3rd quarter break routine in military-type garb and then stayed in those outfits the rest of the game. In this photo, we see Allysha and Emmy as they come off the field near the end of the game.
Allysha and Emmy

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