Two IU students become Colts cheerleaders

They dance, they cheer; they are the spirit of athletics. They are the cheerleaders.\nAnd two IU students now will join the Indianapolis Colts cheerleaders for the upcoming football season.\nJunior Erin Romine and sophomore Lindy Spore were two of 300 women who arrived at the Colt's Complex on April 5 with hopes of joining a professional football cheerleading squad. The tryouts consisted of an entire day of competition, starting at 8 a.m. and ending at 5 p.m. The women learned two dances and were required to perform them in front of judges. At the end of the day, the judges selected 60 women to continue on to the next day of tryouts. \n"The women were being judged on their appearance, their crowd appeal, their speaking skills and their dancing ability," said Nicole Duncan, the Colts' director of Community Relations and Marketing . \nOver the next three weeks the women went through a series of interviews, took a quiz that tested their football knowledge and spent three hours a day perfecting the dances they would perform at the final tryouts.\nMay 4 was the last chance for the women to prove they deserved to be professional cheerleaders. Tryouts were in the RCA Dome this time, and they were open to the public. The finalists had to perform six dances in front of the crowd and, more importantly, the judges.\n"We had no idea the order of the dances that we were doing," Romine said. "They simply put on the music, and we had to jump right in there and start dancing."\nEach finalist received an e-mail two days later notifying them of their cheerleading fate. \nBest friends since seventh grade, Spore and Romine said they were ecstatic they both made the team.\nRomine has been dancing since she was just five years old. She cheered in middle school and high school but has not cheered at IU.\n"I wasn't interested in IU cheerleading because they focus so much on tumbling and stunting," Romine said. "Dancing is more my thing."\nA double major in English and political science, Romine said that her time management skills will make it possible for her to participate in both cheerleading and school. \nSpore has been cheering for seven years. Unlike Romine, Spore was a cheerleader at IU her freshman year.\n"I loved it, but I wanted to step it up a notch," Spore said. "That's why I wanted to try out for the Colts."\nSpore said she became interested in cheering for the Colts many years ago. Her cousin, Christy Crider, was a Colts cheerleader in the late '80s and early '90s. \nAs a sport communication-broadcast major, Spore said she thinks cheering for the Colts will give her good experience in the world of sports.\n"I believe that working for the NFL and being involved with the league will be a great opportunity for networking and meeting the right people," Spore said.\nThe ladies will be cheering at all of the Colts home games. The first regular season home game is Sept. 14 at noon. For more information on the Colts and their cheerleaders, visit www.colts.com.