Jills Awards and something new for tryouts this year

It's that time of year again as the Jills held their annual end-of-season banquet this past weekend and as a part of that banquet, many Buffalo Jills received some awards.
There were some repeats from last year as Omarlla and Lisa continue to set a high standard and Kelly, who is retiring after 2 seasons, had perfect attendance her entire career. When you consider all the hard work these girls put in and all the time commitments, that's quite an accomplishment!

• Rookie of the year: Gina (ambassador) & Natalie(dance)
• Captain of the year: Omarlla
• Veteran of the year: Lisa
• Outstanding Ambassador Jill: Alyssa
• Miss Congeniality: Kelly (dance) & Keisha (ambassador)
• Most appearances: Murissa
• Perfect attendance: Kelly, Omarlla & Jill
• Most Calendar sales: Meghan

Congratulations to all the award winners!! Though, truth be told, everyone on the squad is a winner in my book.

Captains haven't been selected yet this year with tryouts taking place in April. And speaking of tryouts, there's something new happening at 1st cuts this year, an event which is open to the public for the 3rd year in a row. At this year's 1st cuts, which will be taking place at 1pm on April 17 at the Tralf Music Hall in Buffalo, the ladies who make it through 1st cuts will be back on stage in swimwear. This is to help evaluate confidence and poise more easily as well as make the event even more interesting to the public. As a Buffalo Jills cheerleader, confidence and poise are a must when on appearances and at events and anyone who can model their own tasteful swimwear (with heels), should do quite well in these areas. See all the details on tryouts at http://buffalojills.net/Article.asp?id=2098800&spid=34534

While the Jills are mostly doing smaller appearances from now until tryouts, there is one big event still at which a large number of the Jills will be on hand. The Annual Buffalo Men's Show is being held at Seneca Niagara Casino Events Center on March 27th and features Ruben Brown, Joe Ferguson, and Van Miller from the Bills as well as Frank Resestarits from the Bandits and many more celebrities and booths. The main attraction though, will obviously be the Buffalo Jills. In addition to greeting people at a few various booths at the event, they'll also be putting on a big dance performance as well. Check out all the info on the Men's Show and how to get tickets at http://www.97rock.com/Article.asp?id=2085661

Bandette of The Week Jessica M

This week, we take a look at our first rookie as the Bandette of The Week. Jessica M, who dances on Justina's line, got a couple big welcomes to the pro cheer ranks when she first joined the rest of the Bandettes and a number of Jills alumni in Toronto for the big halftime performance with the Buffalo Jills and Hinder. Then, at the Bandits Open Practice about a month later, she joined Lauren B in the ring when they challenged Bandits strongman Brandon Francis to a wrestling match. He wasn't up for it, though. In the future, she hopes to parlay the degree in Exercise Science she's pursuing into a job as an athletic trainer with a professional sports team like Sherri Lashomb has done withe the Bandits or Bud Carpenter has done with the Bills. Beyond that, she's proof that the stereotype of cheerleaders/dancers being stuck-up is just that, a stereotype. She actually got voted "Friends with everyone" in high school, which definitely isn't your typical senior superlative so I would imagine they had to have made it special for her. Jessica's secondary photo comes from the Bandits Open Practice held in December. While the players were practicing, the girls waited in the tunnel to the visitors' locker room. Shown posing here are Chrissy, Jessica M, Jessica H, Kirsten, Lauren S, and Chelsea.

You can read more about Jessica at http://www.bandits.com/bbio.asp?bandID=JessicaM

Buffalo Jill of The Week Eileen

What can I say about our current Jill of The Week that hasn't been said already? Eileen, like Omarlla, just finished up her 11th season on the squad, having started in 2000, the year before the Yahoo Jills Club, which was the precursor to the webgroup and the Buffalo Pro Cheer Blog, was formed. Unlike Omarlla however, Eileen told me at the Jills Comedy Show that she's leaning towards retiring from the sidelines, which will definitely take away from the sidelines just a touch. Her smile and warm and loving personality have definitely brightened up some poor years for the Bills. She still has some time to change her mind so keep your fingers crossed. Even if she does stick with her retirement plans, she's had a pretty full career including a Pro Bowl appearance following the 2005 season. She got made a co-captain in 2006 and followed that season with a trip to Iraq with 7 other Buffalo Jills to visit the troops. Then in August, she led another group of 8 Jills to Afghanistan and spent some time visiting the troops in the Balkans as well. 2010 was her 2nd as a full captain and besides the performances on gamedays, her favorite part of being a Jill is probably the time the squad spends with the Jr Jills...she absolutely loves getting to give the next generation of cheerleaders encouragement and helping them learn different routines and cheers. Something tells me she's going to make a heck of a mother and considering how supportive her own mother is, that's not shocking in the least. Eileen's secondary photo, a line shot, comes from the Lions game in November. Shown posing are Natalie, Stefanie, Emily, Eileen, Nicole, Katie, Reena, and Murissa.

You can read more about Eileen at http://buffalojills.net/article.asp?id=1961072

The Bandettes at the Bandits-Wings game

Coming off a 16-7 thrashing on the Philadelphia Wings, the Bandits returned home to host the same Wings on Saturday night at HSBC Arena in front of 15,344 Buffalo fans. Unfortunately, the anger that the Wings team had because of last week's game showed more in the Bandits as the home team took a large number of undisciplined penalties in a 10-9 loss in front of their home fans.

Melissa's line

Justina's line
Prior to the game, the Bandettes greeted fans coming into the game. Some children jumped at the chance to pose for pictures with the beauties that make up the Bandettes. Some little boys took a little more coercing from their parents...and in a few years some of those same little boys will be kicking themselves when they didn't pose with the Bandettes.

Stephanie, Chrissy, Ashley, Jessica M, Noelle, Chelsea, Erin Y, and Lauren S during the pregame performance

Bandettes Alumni Amanda Z and Amanda F
A pair of Bandettes alumni made an appearance at halftime complete with a Happy Birthday sign for Bandettes captain Justina.

Check out all the pics at http://s17.photobucket.com/albums/b87/bandettes/2011/Wings/

Coming up next for the Bandettes, after the Bandits take a week off for the All-Star Break, they return to HSBC Arena on March 5 as the Bandits host their Thruway rivals, the Rochester Knighthawks. Bandettes posters may be available at this game as the girls did their poster shoot before yesterday's game.

Bandette of The Week Jessica H

This week, we take a look at 4th year vet Jessica H as our Bandette of The Week. The reigning NLL Girl of The Week, Jessica is a travel agent when not dancing at the Arena and is the lone military veteran on the squad, having served 4 years in the US Navy. She's easily the quietest and most reserved of all the Bandettes vets and probably more so than any of the rookies as well. That being said, I've watched her grow a lot in that area over the course of her career that started with a Championship season in 2008. I probably almost never heard her speak in her rookie season, and that includes at the post-game parties that used to be held at Pearl Street. Nowadays, she's a lot more outspoken and self-assured but still has her quiet moments, letting her incredible smile do the talking. Considering that smile helped win her a recent NLL Girl of The Week vote, there's a lot of people besides me who think it's pretty spectacular. She's been dancing since the age of 4 and cheered for the West (Puget) Sound Saints semipro football team while she was stationed in Washington while still in the Navy. Jessica's secondary photo comes from before the home opener against the Toronto Rock when the Bandettes were greeting fans coming into the game. Shown posing for the camera are Jessica H, Lauren B, and Chelsea.

You can read more about Jessica at http://www.bandits.com/bbio.asp?bandID=JessicaH and be sure to check out her NLL Girl of The Week write-up if you haven't already at http://www.nll.com/article.php?id=4826