The life of an NFL cheerleader: Behind the scenes with Jacksonville's Roar of the Jaguars

Gotham has Batman and Robin. Jacksonville has Grace and Abby Lewis.

The sisters are part of the Roar of the Jaguars, the cheer team for the Jacksonville Jaguars , and are two of this year’s squad of 30 superheroes for the city.

“Christy always says ‘That uniform is your superhero cape,’” Grace quoted, “and it definitely feels like it.”

"Christy" is Christy Stechman Zynda, director of entertainment groups and grassroot events for the Jaguars and a former Roar cheerleader who joined the squad in the 1998 season. She says when the cheerleaders are in their uniforms and ready for game day, it gives them an ability to make somebody’s day and inspire the community.

“I think that's really the power that they all have innately,” she explained the phrase. “It's really one of those things to empower them, you know? They're all so amazing and incredibly talented women who have it all together.”

While the women on the squad may not be swinging from rooftops — unlike resident team daredevil and mascot Jaxson de Ville — or stopping crime, they still play a key role in upholding the city’s reputation, especially on game days.

“It’s not a lot of pressure, but at the same time, there is a standard that I hold myself to and that the Jaguars hold us to,” said Grace, 27. “It’s an honor that they looked at me and felt I could represent the city and the Jaguars.”

Stechman Zynda, who is in her 27th season with the Jaguars, said the most important quality for each of the women on the squad to have is being able to be ambassadors for the community and team.

“They represent us at appearances, at all the different nonprofits that we work with, at events,at schools, hospitals,” she said. “They're doing such amazing work in our community and are able to just contribute to that in a special way [and] to really elevate our team and our city.”

Rookie squad member Paloma Martin, a senior destination experience manager for Visit Jacksonville, knows a thing or two about putting her best foot forward to represent the city. Visit Jax is the marketing organization for Duval County and does everything from provide a list of businesses for people to check out to producing brochures for the visitor center to hosting events at various properties around the city.

Everyone at Visit Jax was highly supportive of her decision to try out for the team, said Martin, 32. It's become another avenue for her to show her love for the city.

Both on and off the team, she said she strives to be a good spokeswoman for the city and its NFL team.

“I get to work alongside many talented and amazing women on the team that inspire me each day,” Martin said. “I feel lucky that I get to perform for the community I love, doing what I'm truly passionate about.”

With a five-year limit on serving on the squad, being part of the Roar isn’t something that lasts forever, and it’s certainly not something every person who auditions gets to do.

Making the squad

Many of the women on the team have decades of dance experience — from tap to ballet to hip hop — while others may have gymnastics skills as well. Some cheered for sports teams in high school or college while others have been on dance teams in the past. No matter what their backgrounds were like, Stechman Zynda said they all had that something “extra” that pushed them over the top in auditions.

“As you go through the audition process, you can be an incredible dancer, but you also have to be a great performer,” she explained. “There are people that are technically great dancers, but you don’t watch them and say, ‘Man, they are really fun to watch and exciting.’ People on our team are incredible dancers and incredible performers, too. And that’s really what brings it to life.”

Each year, the quality of the auditions gets better and the competition for a spot on the squad gets tougher, she said.

“It’s such a unique experience,” Stechman Zynda said. “Only so many people can say they are an NFL cheerleader.”

The audition process is very much like a job interview, just with a few extra steps, Martin said. The first few rounds include performing material learned from a video in advance of the tryouts, followed by multiple rounds of cuts. Then there are a few rehearsals with new choreography and interviews.

“You just kind of hit the ground running,” Martin said, “and everyone auditions, even veterans.”

No one’s spot on the team is guaranteed, Stechman Zynda said, which means those women who are able to stay on the squad for five or six years have truly earned their place time and time again.

Veteran cheerleaders are supposed to be capped at five seasons of performing, but an additional year was granted for those who, like Abby, “lost” a year to COVID — provided they could make it through another audition.

Abby, 25, auditioned at 19 years old and has been on the Roar ever since.

“I saw [the Roar] down on the field and thought ‘I have to go for it,’” she recalled. “I was honestly shocked and so excited when I made the team.”

Despite being on the team before Grace, she said her older sister was a big influence on her decision to try out for a professional dance team like the Roar.

“We’re very close and close in age. We’ve always grown up dancing together,” she said. “Grace was on a semi-professional team when I was in high school, and it looked so exciting and fun to be a part of, and I saw the friendships she was forming, and I wanted to be part of something like that.”

The roles were reversed a few years later when Grace saw how much fun Abby was having and decided to try out for the squad too.

“We’re lucky because you audition in groups of three, and we got to be in the same first rounds,” Abby said. “It’s an intimidating experience and definitely any comfort at all is helpful.”

Being an NFL cheerleader

People may not realize there is more to being on the Roar than showing up with a memorized routine and full face of makeup, Grace said.

“I wear the uniform, curl my hair and wear red lipstick, but it’s more than that,” she explained. “I want to be somebody who is cheering on the people around me. That’s what being a cheerleader is.”

Abby said practices can run until 10 p.m. and then she has to be at work the next day at 7:45 a.m., where she has to be positive, energetic and encouraging all over again.

“I want to be that in both things, and trying to be that all the time is just tiring and trying to be the best version of myself at all times can be hard,” she said. “It’s definitely helped me learn to be in the moment.”

Grace described the group as being in what she imagined a “close-knit sorority” would feel like.

“There are so many things I feel only we understand because they’re so niche, and so it builds a really special bond,” she said. “And I get to hang out with 30 of my closest friends multiple times a week. Who else gets to say that?”

The payoff of the work for the experience they get to have is “worth it,” Abby added.

“How many people get to be on the field for a game? I’ve had a front row ticket to 50-something games — including five games in London,” she said.

The best memories for Abby have been the experiences, she said.

“Looking across Wembley Stadium and seeing my sister dancing with me was very cool,” she said. “There are a lot of girls now that move to Jacksonville to be part of this organization and cheer, and now they’re close friends and we never would have met them before. It really is — as cheesy as this word is — a sisterhood.”

The team’s performances are a testament to each woman’s cardio, endurance and “willpower to keep dancing, smiling and not lose your energy,” Grace said.

“It makes it fun, but staying mentally checked in can be a challenge,” she said. “The mental and physical preparedness that we go through to be ready to cheer for four hours without dropping your smile in 100-degree heat is probably the most challenging part.”

The women agreed, however, that one of the biggest challenges they faced during a season is the balancing act of practices, games, events, work, school and their personal lives.

Life outside the Roar

Between practices, appearances and game days, a member of the Roar can spend anywhere from about 14 to 24 hours representing the team, and many of the women on the squad have full-time jobs and families to attend to in addition to their cheer duties.

Stechman Zynda said the women on the team have to be experts at balance to do all that they do.

“I think four women on the team this year have little ones,” she said. “Two of the women have two kids, and we have a woman who's an attorney and has an infant. I mean, these careers and what they're balancing, both personally and professionally and then with us, pretty amazing. I think they take that seriously and are really focused on getting it all done in 24 hours every day.”

Grace is a full-time student at University of North Florida pursuing a degree to teach English and works part-time at a salon in Jacksonville Beach, and Abby is a second grade teacher at PVPV-Rawlings Elementary School in Ponte Vedra.

For Abby in particular, the start of a new season can be especially challenging because it coincides with the beginning of the school year.

“The most crucial, important part of the year for both things falls in the same two week span,” she joked. “That is like my own personal Super Bowl.”

As a fourth-year teacher, next year will be the first school year she starts without having to worry about practice or preseason games at the same time.

Being able to see a career with the Roar through its entirety as Abby has is rare, Stechman Zynda said, and many of the women who do achieve this milestone remark that “it went by so fast.”

“It’s a huge achievement to commit to such an intense schedule for so long,” she said. “I feel like they have a lot of pride in that and they really strive for that.”

With Abby’s sixth and final season already underway, she and Grace have spent some time thinking about what the experience has meant to them, both as squadmates and sisters.

Grace said while it will be sad to see the team without her sister after so many years, she’s mentally preparing now so it won’t be as much of an adjustment. She also said there will be “a lot of growing for me the year without her — provided I make the team again.”

Abby said she’s trying to live in the moment and soak it all in as much as possible in her last season with the team.“Being a part of the Roar has been a once-in-a-lifetime experience,” Abby said. “The past five years have given me opportunities and memories that I will hold dear forever. To be a part of this community and be someone young kids look up to is a responsibility I do not take lightly and is an honor I will cherish always.”

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: The life of an NFL cheerleader: Behind the scenes with Jacksonville's Roar of the Jaguars