The Big Picture
Becoming a Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader is tough work beyond just physical appearance.
Cheerleaders have day jobs as they’re paid little, still sacrificing for the uniform.
The show highlights physical strain, mental dedication, and behind-the-scenes realities.
Netflix’s new docu-series, America’s Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, shows viewers what it really takes to wear cute uniforms, and it’s much more than having a pretty face and a good body. Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders have been a staple for over 50 years, with many girls dreaming of taking the field with pom-poms. For the first time, people will see how difficult being a Dallas Cowboy cheerleader is. It also shows the great toll those leg lifting and jump splits have on one’s body.
Viewers will be surprised to see that these girls are not only extremely athletic and hardworking on the field, but they also have their day jobs. It might look very glamorous to be a Dallas Cowboy Cheerleader, but the salary isn’t enough to cover the basics. Throughout seven episodes, viewers get a behind-the-scenes picture of the excruciating auditions, workouts, and heartbreaks of those who don’t make it. Out of the 200 applicants, only 45 women are selected, and join a 10-week training camp, and then they are cut down to 36. They are being judged on their dance moves and techniques, splits, showmanship, energy, figure, and personality, among other things.
Collider had the pleasure of sitting for an interview with DCC director Kelli Finglass, who used to be a cheerleader herself in the 80s, head choreographer Judy Trammel, who also was a cheerleader; and current DC cheerleaders: Victoria Kalina, Reece Weaver and Kelcey Wetterberg.
Once You Get the Dallas Cowboys Uniform, You’ll Do Anything to Keep it
Image via Netflix
Collider: I don’t think people realize how difficult it is to be a cheerleader. How was it for you and why did you want to become one?
Kelcey: Speaking for myself, I trained for 19 years for this job. I put a lot of work and dedication into it. To be able to have the skill to be considered to wear the uniform. It’s tough, but that’s what makes it world-class and that’s why I wanted to audition here. It’s an international brand. I look up to them.
Collider:What was the most challenging thing, getting in or staying in?
Victoria: That’s a good question. I think definitely coming in is hard, but once you know that you have that uniform, you know what you have to lose, and you want to keep it. So thinking about it, coming back, it’s harder.
Collider: I watched you struggle to get in quite a few times. What kept you motivated to try again and again?
Victoria: I won’t lie, I kind of lost that motivation at first for my first mascara face. But I think knowing that this is where I wanted to end up, and that I absolutely loved it with my whole heart, that’s something I would never give up. If you find something that you love, never give up on it, just keep going towards it.
Collider: I know your mom was a cheerleader. Did she push you toward it or was it something you wanted to do?
Victoria: Yes it definitely came from me. I think growing up in it since I was in the womb, I definitely have been so bonded into it. So I feel I haven’t really had any experience besides it. It had always been my dream. My mom has definitely been there to support me, help me, coach me, she had all the titles of it all.
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Collider: Kelli, how difficult was it to reject her, you’ve known her for so long, and you still said: ‘No’ a couple of times.
Kelli: It was one of the toughest moments ever in my career.
Victoria: But it was one of the best things that happened because I became better for it. There’re 36 best women and that’s what makes their job so tough but it makes it also so worthwhile at the end.
Judy: And she grew so much and that was fun watching. She wasn’t ready that first year, but she grew. I have a granddaughter and every time she’s around, she wants to know where Victoria is. Victoria has a special way with kids, and they flock to her and love her. So I’m glad that she was a great role model for Lynn.
Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders Maintain Their Daily Jobs While Cheerleading
Image via Netflix
Collider: Another thing that surprised me is that many of you are doctors, and nurses. You have your own business. How do you manage to do both, being a cheerleader and having a day job?
Kelcey: It’s definitely tough, but just the pure love of what I do. I love my nursing job and I also love to dance, so I don’t think twice about it.
Collider: Reece, you talked (on the show) about getting married, did you already?
Reece: Yes I did. I got married and we are trying to figure it all out, now being a month into our marriage. I wouldn’t be here without his constant support. This job is tough and there are a lot of sacrifices involved so I’m just so grateful for his support and his unconditional love he has given me.
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Collider: There are a lot of sacrifices, but what are the rewards? What is the best thing about being a cheerleader?
Kelli: I see it in many, many forms. Just the camaraderie…I mean the locker room is a fun place to be. When they retire and go away, that time together, even if it’s exhaustion…..You may have gone through high school and college and been a part of a dance team and now what? And it’s that locker room and the bus rides, the trips, and just the time together, that’s just fun. That’s what I see through the years. When we do a reunion, everybody comes back together, and they’re laughing about the good old days, and they have these stories. Most of the stories y’all remember, Some are painful moments of some sort, so it’s just fun, and you don’t quite understand it unless you’re on the inside, but that’s kind of the beauty of the show, and now people can see that.
Victoria: Another really rewarding thing which I’m grateful that this series shows us through the season, is what we do off after the field, and it’s our volunteer work. When we go to see kids, we go to visit hospitals, we go see veterans. That’s super impacting, and I’m super excited to share it with another audience. I’m so excited to share this.
Collider: What about the rest of you, tell me about your day jobs?
Reece: I’m a flower designer, actually. It’s funny because I’m surrounded by women from all walks of life who instill so much wisdom into me. So I’m so grateful. I just came from college, and I had my community there, and I was seeking a community and people who are a little older than me as well. [Now] I’m surrounded by my teammates who are the most encouraging, uplifting people ever, but I also needed that kind of brotherly love and a few more people in my life who would be role models.
So the women I’m surrounded by, they have such a gift of floral designing, and they’ve helped me kind of find my art in it and, as a dancer you’re always so artistic and trying to create something so beautiful. So I get to do this, a different form of floral designing.
Kelcey: I work as a pediatric home health nurse; I know there is a little about it in the show. So you get to see a little bit more about my job and about my patients. I take care of medically fragile kids in their home, so I get to get really close to their families and advocate for the children and make sure that they are taken care of and make them happy and just try to advocate for them in a way that gets them to live as close to normal as possible.
The Physical Impact of Cheerleading
Image via Netflix
Collider: There is a great toll on your bodies. How do you protect yourself from injuries?
Victoria: Definitely, recovery is part of the process. But we have great leaders on the team who lead us through a wonderful full warm-up, and I know that they are advocates for everybody else on the team. So if someone is injured, we are going to savor all of our bodies that night whether it be pretty kicks…so we definitely know how to listen to our bodies and know when speak up and voice for ourselves to be protected.
Judy: We have great trainers. They do wraps, massage and pamper, and they are very well taken care of.
Kelcey: We can come up to like an hour before practice and see our trainer and make sure that we are warmed-up and ready for practice and if we do have some sort of injury, we are able to see a doctor pretty quickly and start doing PT to straighten and protect our bodies. so we have a great system for protecting our bodies.
Collider: What do you hope viewers will take from the show?
Kelli: I personally want viewers to just know that we have always been so proud of how truly talented they are. That is the audition part of the show and then just to see their character, their character strings, some of their struggles and hopefully some will identify with that, inspired by that and climb their own mountain because of them.
America’s Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders is available to stream on Netflix. Watch the full video interview with the DCC above.
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