Your Resident Rookie

Football season is finally upon us and it’s already been a wild ride! My name is Christina Connolly and this is my rookie year as a Denver Broncos Cheerleader. I’ve always been quite the tomboy/sports-addict and I love watching football. As a Colorado native, the Broncos have been a big part of my upbringing, and I am a die hard blue and orange fan! Now I have the incredible opportunity and distinct pleasure of being down on the field watching the action first hand! What more could a football fan ask for?

I wish I could put into words how it feels to be down on the sidelines. We’ve had a few home games now and what an experience it has been! Being in the midst of all the action can definitely be a bit overwhelming but exciting nonetheless. You really get a feel for how hard those guys hit when you’re down on the field with them. One thing’s for sure, I am staying out of their way! We had a close call at the Broncos vs. New Orleans game. Before one of our quarter break performances, all of the cheerleaders were waiting behind the north end zone for the quarter to end. Brandon Marshall caught a pass and sprinted for, and straight through, the end zone. Fortunately we were all paying attention and quickly jumped out of his way as he ran straight for us. I’m just glad the wall is what stopped him instead of one of our cheerleaders!!


It’s interesting because I’ve had some fans express how surprised they were that we spend a lot of time standing on the sidelines and just watching the plays. For those who may have wondered the same thing, there are a few reasons for this. The most important reason is that we need to see what’s going on so that if a play is forced out of bounds and in our direction, we don’t get hit (i.e. Brandon Marshall running through the end zone)! Second, we don’t want to block our fans’ view of the play by shaking our pom-poms in the air and lastly, we LOVE football!! We want to see all the action just as much as our fans do! All of the women on the team understand and have a passion for football. Part of the audition process is actually being required to know an entire packet of Broncos information including the entire team roster and the Denver Broncos history. Yikes!!

Needless to say, it’s been an incredible year so far and absolutely nothing like I imagined it would be! Just as the players have been rigorously practicing, so have your Broncos Cheerleaders. We rehearse an average of 10 hours every week, and you better believe that our coaches, much like the players coaches, expect nothing short of a near perfect performance. We work ourselves into the ground to make our many routines look effortless, and we love nothing more than giving a great performance and connecting with our fans! October has been, and will continue to be, a very busy month as we are in the process of learning about 2 new dances each rehearsal! Talk about a brain overload!! On top of that, all of the women on the team are either in school full-time or have full-time jobs. I work in a law firm and it sometimes gets difficult finding time for everything. I’ve learned so much from the veterans as they have made an art out of managing their busy lives!

Well this season has been quite the rollercoaster ride thus far, but one thing has always remained the same and that is the loyalty of our dear Broncos fans! Come rain or shine, snow or sleet, we can always count on you to be there cheering on our team! We will win some and lose some, but nevertheless, you are always there for the next go-round with your heads held high. We can feel your incredible energy and enthusiasm from down on the field. I know that our team can bounce back from Sunday’s loss and I can’t wait to see you all back at Invesco Field on November 2nd. In the meantime, the in between time, lets pray for a win next Monday against the Patriots! Go Broncos!!!

Christina Connolly (10/15/08)
DBC