TUESDAY, MARCH 25, 2014 SPORTS Cheerleaders spring to life ahead of NFL season BALTIMORE: It’s Saturday morning in a swimsuit calendar-on top of holding endeavor, conceived in the late 1800s to The Ravens, two-time Super Bowl (The NFL is the most lucrative pro cavernous Baltimore gym where 200 or down a day job or attending college full- whip up spectator enthusiasm at college champions, are unique in that its 50- sports league in the world, according so young women and men are hard at time. football games in shivering fall weather. strong squad includes 16 to 18 men to Forbes business magazine. Its 32 work polishing their basket tosses, back- “Talent, beauty, fitness.... We’re look- In its infancy, it was a strictly male who literally play a supporting role teams are worth, on average, $1.17 bil- flips and dance moves. ing for a well-rounded participant and preserve-presidents George W. Bush, hoisting aloft their female stunt coun- lion each, thanks in no small part to the The start of the American football we usually get that,” Ravens cheerlead- Ronald Reagan, Dwight Eisenhower, terparts with the palms of their hands. sale of network television rights.) season is five months away, but the ing coach Tina Galdieri told AFP before and Franklin D. Roosevelt were all Their repertoire also features the “I definitely think they could get Baltimore Ravens are wasting no time taking her place on the 10-member pan- cheerleaders-before women took up basket toss, in which four men launch paid more,” said Stephanie Prosenjak, a selecting the only co-ed cheerleading el of judges. It’s just not rookies at the pom poms in big numbers in the 1940s. 45 kilograms (100 pounds) of cheer- former Denver Broncos cheerleader squad in the National Football League tryouts, either. It veered towards glamour in the leader into the air to perform a spin or whose dance school in Colorado offers (NFL). In black T-shirts with glittering Ravens 1970s when the Dallas Cowboys a toe touch before falling back into a specialist class in cheerleading that “I’ve been working all year for this,” logos are veterans who must prove, famously put its cheerleaders in skimpi- their collective arms. “We do a lot of draws about 50 students. “However, all said Ali Tripple, 24, taking a break from every year, that they’re still worthy of a er outfits and drafted a Broadway cho- weight training,” concedes Deon J., 28, dancers are underpaid-we’re talking rehearsing an eight-step dance routine place in the squad. reographer to inject more sizzle into a high school science teacher by day professional ballerinas and dancers in set to rapper Jason Derulo’s “Talk Dirty to “There are girls here in fantastic their half-time gridiron moves. who’s looking forward to a sixth year LA who are out on tour” with big-name Me” that she’ll soon be performing shape who are ready to take your spot. Cheerleading today has an global with the Ravens. “It’s usually easier for pop singers,” she told AFP by tele- before a stern panel of judges. It makes you really work harder,” said dimension, with its own governing the stockier guys-and I’m not that phone. “It’s my ultimate dream,” added the Stephanie B., a petite stunt specialist body, the 105-nation International stocky.” Nobody does it for the money, That doesn’t faze Aia Evans, 23, as tall blonde elementary school teacher who, like some of her peers, opts not to Cheer Federation, hosting world cham- even if the Ravens since last year have she emerges from her four minutes in and dance instructor, kitted out like her give her full name out of privacy con- pionships in Florida on April 21-25. been paying its cheerleaders better front of the judges showing off her fellow female hopefuls in a bright sports cerns. There’s no weight or age limit-the “Because it’s a quintessential than Maryland’s minimum wage of standing tuck and ground-up, keen for bra and tight black shorts. oldest NFL cheerleader is in her 40s but American thing and it has this aura of $7.25 an hour for everything from prac- a Ravens berth even if it means pulling If that dream comes true, it’ll require rules are strict: across the league, there’s innocence about it, it’s something peo- tices to game appearances. up roots in New Orleans and relocating a commitment to turn up for each and no slack for tardiness, good grooming is ple from other countries can love Some NFL teams pay as little as $90 to Baltimore. “It’s a great opportunity every Ravens game in front of 71,000 mandatory, and fraternizing with players about America that’s non-political and per game, and nothing for practices, to stunt,” the one-time gymnast said, fans, plus three-hour practice sessions verboten. sort of pure,” said Mandy May prompting cheerleaders at the Oakland before going back to the basketball twice a week, a three-day training camp Cheetham, a Canadian in Los Angeles Raiders and Cincinnati Bengals earlier court turned rehearsal studio to work and community appearances. ALL-AMERICAN SIZZLE who’s trained cheerleaders in China this year to file class action lawsuits in a ever harder on her professional cheer- Oh, and a week in Jamaica to shoot a Cheerleading is a classic all-American and Finland. bid for better pay. leader dreams. —AFP Barca opens up title race MADRID: La Liga is set for one of the most excit- potentially tricky game at Sevilla tomorrow, ing finishes in years after Barcelona blew the title when Barca host Celta Vigo and Atletico are at race wide open with a win at Real Madrid in home to Granada. Sunday’s ‘Clasico’ that left Atletico Madrid the “The league is starting again from scratch and masters of their own destiny. we are back in the battle for the title,” Barca Not since Real and Barca finished tied on 76 coach Gerardo Martino told a news conference points in 2006-07, with Real crowned champions after his side’s success at Real, the Madrid club’s by virtue of a superior head-to-head record, and first defeat in 32 matches in all competitions. Sevilla stayed in the hunt down to the wire has “I always thought the three teams would be there been such a close three-way fight for the up there until the end and that’s how it has title. turned out,” added the Argentine. “Today was Barca’s 4-3 victory at the Bernabeu means our last chance and we did not want to be Real and Atletico both have 70 points with nine knocked out of the race.” A win for Real on games left, with champions Barca, chasing a fifth Sunday would have restored their three-point La Liga crown in six years, a point behind. lead over Atletico and all-but killed off Barca’s Atletico’s impressive achievements under challenge but instead they are licking their Argentine coach Diego Simeone have shaken up wounds after suffering only their second home a league increasingly dominated by Barca and defeat this term. Real, the world’s richest clubs by income. Captain Sergio Ramos was sent off in the 63rd Atletico have about a fifth of their wealthier minute for tripping Neymar when he was rivals’ resources but the inspirational Simeone through on goal and the centre back and his has managed to mould his unfancied squad into team mates criticised referee Alberto Undiano genuine contenders in Spain and on the Mallenco, suggesting he had not been entirely European stage. objective. If they finish level on points with Real, ITALY: Juventus’ Argentinian forward Carlos Tevez reacts after missing a shot during Atletico will win the title, their first since 1996 KEY MATCH the Italian Serie A football match against Catania. —AFP when Simeone was a player there, as they have a However, coach Carlo Ancelotti, like Martino better head-to-head record thanks to this in his first season in Spain, refused to be drawn month’s 2-2 draw at the Calderon and a 1-0 win into the debate and urged his players to focus Conte wary despite at the Bernabeu in September. on regrouping for the Sevilla game. SPAIN: Barcelona’s midfielder Sergio Likewise, Barca have a superior head-to-head “Now we need to forget this match and think Busquets steps on the head of Real Madrid’s over Real after beating them 2-1 at the Nou about the one tomorrow, which could be a key Portuguese defender Pepe (left) during the Juve’s title charge Camp in October, the last time the Madrid club match for the season,” the Italian told a news Spanish League ‘Clasico’ football match on lost before Sunday. conference. March 23. —AFP MILAN: Juventus host Europa League Coach Rafael Benitez remained defiant. Atletico and Barca drew 0-0 at the Calderon in “Luck was not with us but the team showed missed a good opportunity but not to worry. chasers Parma tomorrow in the first of two “Even though we’re now six points behind Madrid in January and play each other at the good physical condition and we are hopeful and “There are nine games left and it will be very Serie A games this week that could see the Roma, I still believe we can do well enough Nou Camp on the final day in what could turn capable of quickly putting this game behind us.