Three members of the Buffalo Bandits — Ryan Benesch, David Brock and Dhane Smith — will appear at the Auto Show from 6 to 7 p.m. Friday, Feb. 12, to sign autographs and have photos taken with their fans. Several members of the Buffalo Bandettes, the professional dance team for the Buffalo Bandits, will also be on hand to greet fans!
See more about the Auto Show, taking place at the Buffalo-Niagara Convention Center Feb 11-14, at http://www.buffaloscoop.com/special-guests-will-keep-the-buffalo-auto-show-buzzing-all-weekend-long/
So stop by early and you may see some sights like this
This week, the Bandettes Appearance Captain gets the featured spot as our Buffalo Bandette of The Week. In her 2nd year on the Bandettes, Jennifer gets to show off her leadership abilities in her new role on the squad. A Chicagoan by birth, she's a huge sports fan and especially basketball. It's just a shame that thanks to her youth, she wasn't old enough to really appreciate the runs of 3 consecutive titles by her hometown Bulls. Jennifer isn't planning on being satisfied with being a pro dancer and a fan as she intends to pursue a career as an athletic trainer after getting her Master's degree. Jennifer's secondary photo comes from the Bandits' Opener against Calgary. As the Bandettes were waiting to head out to perform near the end of the 3rd quarter, Jennifer, Syidah, and Ti got together for a photo together, the three ebony beauties on the squad.
Jennifer, Syidah, and Ti
From the Jills comes a photo from the 2008 Buffalo Jills Calendar Release Party. Things were winding down late in the evening and a few of the Jills posed for photos. Shown posing for this photo are then-2nd year vets Jill and Ayeshia.
After an overtime loss in Colorado last Saturday night, the Buffalo Bandits returned home to the First Niagara Center last night to face off against the rival Toronto Rock, a team they went 1-2 against last season. The game started out pretty tight with the Rock holding a slight edge over Buffalo for most of the 1st quarter. However, their 4-3 lead early in the 2nd was the last time as the Bandits' offense awoke in a big way and they put in 7 goals before Toronto got on the board again sending their rivals back to Canada with a 12-6 final score.
Jackie with the game programs
When I got to the arena this week, it was rookies Sarah and Jackie handling game program duties and they were both extremely excited to be back in action after a week away from Banditland. Like typical rookies, they had even more fun at the opener than they expected and that especially held true for Jackie, who had never been to a Bandits game before. After experiencing the excitement of opening night, she told me that she and her family were hooked.
After finishing up with them, it was up to the 100 level where Stephanie's line was holding court with lots of fans coming in. Karley was still beaming from the last game and MaKenzie was equally as happy with her Bandette of The Week feature. At the same time though, she also made a point to live up to my comment about keeping me on my toes. Mandy's line was at least as busy on the other side of the arena but after a few tries, I was able to get a chance to talk to Mandy about the Bandette of The Week series and how much longer we'll be waiting for the Bandits' site to get updated (she's hoping within the next week and a half at the latest.)
Deanna, Stephanie, MaKenzie, Karley, Jessica, and Jennifer
After we headed down to our seats, it wasn't too long before the Bandettes were assembling to get ready for the game. Erin had her little boy with her and he couldn't have been any more excited to get his picture taken with 16 beautiful young women at once. With little boys and girls, some are shy when meeting pro cheerleaders and we saw one example before the game when a mother wanted to bring her little girl over to meet the Bandettes but she was too shy to come over. Erin's little guy definitely does not suffer from shyness.
The Bandettes with a little big fan
One thing we, as bloggers for pro cheerleaders, wonder about when starting a new season working with a lot of rookies is how they'll react to the attention. Coming from high school and college dance teams, they don't get the attention that the pros do around the country and it might throw them off at 1st. In my experience, continuing to do as good a job as possible for these hard-working young ladies and the trust that the veterans and the coaches have in your work goes a long way with rookies. In the case of the 2016 Bandettes, many of the rookies seem just as comfortable with the coverage they're getting as the veterans are.
beautiful rookies Angela and Jessica
Bandettes in action during pregame
Amanda, Jackie, and Syidah waiting for the team to come out
Ti cheering on a goal
Mandy and Janelle in the 1st quarter
MaKenzie, Sarah, and Jessica cheering on a goal
MaKenzie is clearly excited
See all the pics at https://buffaloprocheerbuffalobandettes.shutterfly.com/pictures/8991
Next up for the Bandettes, they'll be hard at work the next couple of weeks with the Jr Bandettes getting them ready for the next home game on February 6 when New England comes to town. Hopefully, the Bandettes and Jr Bandettes will be cheering on a 3-1 Bandits team after the Bandits come home after their road trip to New England next weekend.
4th year vet MaKenzie steals the spotlight as our Bandette of The Week. This season, this future nurse officially takes on the role of Stephanie's co-captain, an adept pairing since besides the fact they're the two longest-tenured girls on the squad, they spend a lot of time together away from the Bandettes as well. Light-hearted and low-maintenance, MaKenzie has always been the outgoing type and loves making people laugh. If she has her way, she'll eventually be doing that around the world as she's hoping to travel a lot in the future, though we hope she restricts it to the offseason for as long as possible so we can see her on the Bandettes for several more seasons. While she has a personality all her own, she also reminds me of past Bandettes captains like LB and Justina in that she likes to keep me on my toes. MaKenzie's secondary photo comes from the Bandits Opener against the Calgary Roughnecks. At halftime, the Bandettes showed off some new t-shirts and the captains and co-captains got together for a group photo. Shown posing for the photo are Mandy, MaKenzie, Janelle, and Stephanie.
Mandy, MaKenzie, Janelle, and Stephanie
From the Jills comes a photo from the Jills' last Comedy show held 4 years ago at the Tralf with master hypnotist Jerry Valley. Before the crowd came in, we grabbed a few photos of the Jills. Shown posing for the camera are Omarlla, Sara, Courteney, and Loren.
Still jilted by the Jills was the story of a forlorn, half inflated, misbegotten football named Jack.
Jack was once a happy ball. Every year Jack was taken to the Buffalo Bills training camp at St. John Fisher College or Zebb’s in Brighton where he was signed by the Buffalo Jills. With all that feminine attention, Jack was quite puffed up.
