Buffalo Pro Cheer Photos of The Week

This week’s 1st Jills photo of The Week comes from Jills 1st cuts and features a mixture of dancers and ambassadors. However, with the exception of the incomparable Murissa, they all spent last season as Jills Ambassadors. From left to right in the back we have 3rd year dancer Murissa, 2nd year ambassador Ruby, 2nd year vet and 1st year dancer Nicole, 2nd year ambassador Alyssa, 2nd year vet and 1st year dancer Kristen, and 2nd year ambassador Courteney. 2nd year ambassador Lindsay and 4th year ambassador Laura pose in the front.

Our second photo comes from the Saturday Bills draft party held for season ticket holders at the Bills Fieldhouse and features a pair of beautiful rookie dancers on the Jills. We already introduced you to Emily, a girl who had a pretty good birthday this year, having spent it at the Jills’ 1st major event of the season, their Open Practice at the Fieldhouse at the start of June. Jen is one of the youngest girls on the squad and wasted little time in trying out for the Jills almost as soon as she turned 18, it seems. Judging by her already stunning good looks and knowing that Buffalo Jills generally get better looking as they age, it’s kinda scary how beautiful she’ll likely get over the course of her Jills career.

From the Bandettes, we have a photo from the Pearl Street Postgame party following the April 10th game against the Toronto Rock. Following the win, several Bandettes celebrated with players and fans alike with dinner and, for those over 21, drinks. Shown seated here are Chelsea, Jessica, Meghan, and Stephanie. Chelsea and Stephanie were rookies this year while Jessica finished up her 3rd season and Meghan her 5th and likely final season.

Buffalo Pro Cheer Photos of The Week

This week, our 1st photo from the Jills comes from the Bills' Friday night draft party and features 2nd year vet Kristen, 9th year director Stephanie, and rookie Ambassador Gina. Kristen, as we previously told you, is moving over from the ambassador squad to the dance squad. With the 2010 season, Stephanie will have put in 17 seasons with the Jills, with an 8-year career on the sidelines including a pair of Super Bowls. Gina will be one of those girls you'll see at the 97Rock and 103.3 The Edge Tailgate parties this fall at the Ralph as she joined the ambassador squad this year.

Our 2nd photo comes from the Jills Open Practice held at the start of June. Shown posing are 2nd year vet Courteney and rookie Meghan. Something that isn't widely known to the fans is the fact that rookie Jills are paired up with a veteran "buddy" to turn to for help in acclimating to the squad. Courteney is fellow ambassador squad member Meghan's buddy. We can't say for sure that Courteney's trademark positivity rubbed off on Meghan because she may have already had it already. One veteran who has definitely rubbed off on Meghan is Murissa...they both just love to pose for the camera like nobody's business.

From the Bandettes, we have a photo from the Pearl Street Postgame party following the February 6 game against the Toronto Rock. Shown posing for the camera are Meghan, Beth, and Justina. Meghan just completed her 5th year on the squad, the last 2 as captain, and has been a big contributor in helping get the info on the Bandettes out to the fans. Beth was in her 4th season on the squad after starting out in 2006 with Meghan and taking 2009 off. Justina finished up her 2nd season as a captain like Meghan did, but got named captain in only her 2nd season, with her rookie season being the 2008 Championship Season.

Bandette of The Week Meghan

This week's Bandette of The Week should be no stranger to anyone reading this. Besides being a 5th year vet with the Bandettes, Meghan is one of the biggest reasons our Bandettes coverage is so complete as she's been a big behind-the-scenes contributor on the goings-on with the Bandettes squad ever since her rookie year. But besides her contributions to the Bandettes in the PR area, she's also a major contributor as a captain as well, having been a captain the last 2 seasons as well as a co-captain in 2008, the 1st season the Bandettes had official co-captains. In addition to that, while the Bandettes do have a head choreographer in long-time vet Erin Y, individual Bandettes are able to make contributions in choreographing routines and performances, something Meghan has enjoyed doing a lot of over the past few years. When she's not performing her duties as a Bandette, she's spending time teaching ballet and with her husband and her  daughter. She's even passing on her love of dance to her daughter so maybe we'll have a 3rd member of that family in the Pro Cheer ranks in a number of years. I say a 3rd because Meghan's older sister also spent some time cheering as well, with the Bombshells and the Jills. You can read more about Meghan at http://www.bandits.com/profileB.asp?bandetteID=200904

Buffalo Pro Cheer Photos of The Week

This week's edition of the photos of the week gives us a look at a few more of the rookies from each squad.

From the Jills, we have a photo from the Season Ticket Holder Draft Day Party that the Bills threw this year. When fans went through Gate 7, they were greeted by members of the Jills Ambassador Squad. Shown posing for a quick photo are Ruby, Katy, Lindsay, Kristen, and Kelly Ann. Ruby, a rookie, very nearly joined the squad two years earlier if not for an illness that hurt her that year. Katy may be a rookie, but her face is familiar to us because she was interning with 97Rock last year and helped out at events and at 97Rock Tailgate Parties. Lindsay and Kristen, both rookies as well, both can boast they have some very supportive boyfriends. That's something that any boyfriend of a professional cheerleader is required to be. With all the hard work these young ladies put in, everyone in their lives needs to be supportive of them because what they do isn't all easy and a non-supportive boyfriend is the worst thing they can have. Kelly Ann may not have been on the squad last year, but she's 1 of 3 alumni who came back after some time off. She served from 2003-2004 as a dancer and chose to come back as an Ambassador this year and is only planning the 1 final season...but there's still plenty of time to change her mind...

From the Bandettes, we have a picture from the home game against the New York Titans. Shown in the midst of a routine are Erin Y, Meghan, and Lauren. Erin has been with the Bandettes for 6 seasons and a captain for all but the 1st and last of those seasons. Meghan joined the squad in 2006 and became Erin’s co-captain in 2008 and took over as captain in 2009. Lauren just spent her 1st season on the squad but she’s anxiously awaiting tryouts in October so she can make it back for another fun year.

Bandette of The Week Meghan

This week, we take a look at one of the Bandettes captains as our Bandette of The Week. Meghan is in her fourth year an the Bandettes and after spending last season as a co-captain, she got promoted to captain for this season. Meghan is an extremely busy young lady as besides being a captain on the NLL's premier dance team, she works at two different jobs in addition to her role as a wife and a mother. As a Bandette, Meghan is far more than a dancer. Obviously, more often than not, cheerleaders and dance team members love the teams they cheer for but Meghan takes it a step further and over the past 4 seasons on the squad, she's become devoted to learning more and more about the Bandits, their history and stats, and the NLL as a whole. You can read more about Meghan at http://www.bandits.com/bandette-09-meghan.cfm and also, don't forget to check out her NLL Girl of the Week article on NLL.com posted last month. http://www.nll.com/article.php?id=3755

Bandette Profiles: Meghan

2 years ago, Bandits.com put together a series of video features on our lovely ladies of lacrosse. They start that up again this year and begin the series with 4th year vet and 1st year captain Meghan. In it she talks about things such as why she first tried out, her history in dance, and the added responsibility of being a captain this year. Check it out at http://www.bandits.com/newsarchive.cfm?id=764

Buffalo Jills and Bandettes Pictures of The Week

This will be the final edition of the Pictures of The Week for the 2008 offseason as we start up the Jill of The Week feature next week with pictures and info of the 48 members of the 2008-09 Buffalo Jills. This week's Jills photo comes direct from Jills Director Stephanie M and features the women who guide the Jills through their training, their responsibilities, and on gamedays.
On the left, we have the Jills choreographer Kelli Wagner. Kelli took her current job with the Jills in 2002 and does more than turn heads at the Ralph on gamedays. She has successfully grown the Junior Jills organization into a coveted program for youth in Western New York and it’s surrounding areas. Kelli’s choreography has also been featured on Fox TV, ABC-Buffalo, several Buffalo radio station events, many community events, overseas military shows, as well as HSBC Arena-Buffalo. Kelli is the three time recipient of America’s Young Choreographer of the Year and has received numerous choreography and high score awards. In the middle is Jills Director Stephanie Mateczun and Steph spent a number of years on the sideline herself before taking the reins as Jills Director in 2002. Since then, the Jills have added on the Ambassador Squad, gotten more national positive recognition, many more appearance requests, and the Jills Swimsuit Calendar now includes every member of the squad. Other squads, even with their smaller numbers, only include a part of the squad on their calendars. Nichole Becker, on the right, is in her 3rd season as the coordinator after cheering through the 2000-2005 seasons, along with rookie squadmates Omarlla and Eileen. It was a new position created because of all the extra work that goes into the squad the past several years. Nichole was actually already performing some of the duties of coordinator her last few seasons as captain but the increased popularity and exposure of the squad caused the position of coordinator to become a full-time one.

From the Bandettes, we have a pic taken near the end of the 3rd quarter of the first game against the Minnesota Swarm. Incidentally, home games against the Swarm will be fewer and farther between as the NLL recently announced that Minnesota would be moving to the NLL's West Division. But I digress. This picture, taken just before the squad went out on the floor for their 3rd intermission routine, features Bandettes co-captains Melissa and Meghan with rookie Justina smiling for the camera. The smiles may have been from the way the game was going. After falling behind 9-6 at the half, the Bandits poured on 5 goals to none in the 3rd to hold an 11-9 lead at the time this picture was taken.

Continuing our look into the past at the Buffalo Bombshells, we see current Buffalo Bandette Korinne in a pic from the 2002 AFL season.

Buffalo Jills and Bandettes Photos of The Week

Once again we take a look at a photo from the Jills Congratulatory Party as our first photo. This one was taken after 97Rock's DJ Jickster brought all the rookies out in front of the stage and had a few of the rookies answer some Bills trivia questions. Here we see Lonna, Lynn, and Murissa waiting for a question while Alison, seen twirling her hair in an effort to fluster poor Jickster, is about to answer the question posed to her. Not seen in this photo are the other 2 rookies were were chosen for this trivia questiona-and-answer session, Stephanie Br and Kristin B.

Our second pic is, once again, from last year's Jills Golf Tournament (this year's is coming up on the 21st!). This pic was taken after the actual tournament while the golfers were returning to the clubhouse for dinner, entertainment, and the raffle. Seen here is the director's husband Jon posing with 4 members of the Jills Ambassador Squad. From left to right are Vincenza, Amanda F, Katherine, and Danielle. A word of advice to anyone who'll be golfing at Fox Valley on Monday in the tournament. If your golf party is just ahead of Jon's and they're catching up to you, don't waste your time asking the Jills to distract him to slow him down. As Katie K told a golfer who asked that 2 years ago, "He's immune to us being able to distract him." LOL

This week, our Bandettes photo is actually from a road game. The Buffalo-Rochester rivalry in the NLL is an intense one for a few different reasons. Some players have played for both teams, they face off in the playoffs quite frequently it seems, and obviously the proximity to one another is a big factor as well. Due in part to this proximity, some Knightingales cheerleaders come to Buffalo when the teams face off and likewise, our Buffalo Bandettes have a group going to Rochester quite regularly. In this April's matchup in Rochester, the stands boasted 3 of the Buffalo Bandettes. While the quantity was small, the quality was large as the 3 that went were fan favorite Sarah and co-captains Meghan and Melissa.

Bandette of The Week Meghan

Third-year vet Meghan came into the 2008 season just hoping to continue her dancing while getting to spend time with a group of girls she's become quite close friends with the past few years. However, she got more than she expected when she was named Erin Y's co-captain, a totally new position, before the season started. Meghan's a young lady who's always on the go as she balances a pair of jobs, the Bandettes, and being a wife and mother as well. Despite all that, it's hard to imagine her slowing down anytime soon. She's always been a go-getter and her experiences with the Bandettes have only helped her in one of her jobs, as a ballet teacher, sharing her love of dance with the next generation.
She also contributes to the squad in ways other than leadership, dancing, and choreography (something most of the Bandettes help out with). Ever since she joined the squad, she's been a key reason that the fans get up-to-date info on the happenings of the Bandettes squad. Her contributions, behind the scenes, to this site have been valuable in having fans show up to appearances in the past as well as letting the fans know when posters will be available for signing. You can read more about Meghan at
http://www.bandits.com/bandette-08_meghan.cfm

Bandette of The Week Meghan

This week's Bandette of the Week, 2nd year Bandette Meghan, has been dancing her whole life, probably even in the crib. She danced at the American Academy of Ballet and is using her experience not only on the floor at the Bandits games, but as a ballet teacher, sharing her love of dance with the next generation. Besides dance, she is also a proud mother whose young daughter has become a huge Bandits fan...she even does the B-O-X cheer that the fans do whenever an opponent gets set to the penalty box. You can read more about Meghan at http://www.bandits.com/bandette-07_meghan.cfm and check out her video profile at http://www.bandits.com/multimedia.cfm?id=309&media=video

Bandette Profiles: Meghan

Second year Bandette Meghan followed her sister into dancing when she was young and then in regards to dancing for a professional team. Also helping her to make the decision to join the Bandettes, was her daughter. After her birth, Meghan wanted to keep in shape, keep dancing, and go out and make some new friends. Mission accomplished.

http://www.bandits.com/newsarchive.cfm?id=466

http://www.bandits.com/multimedia.cfm?id=309&media=video