Over 200 rookie candidates will arrive at Arrowhead Stadium Friday evening to audition for the chance to become a 2014 Chiefs Cheerleader.
The evening will start with the preliminary round. Rookie candidates will participate in public speaking and perform a routine for the judges with a twist of their own style. The 200 plus candidates will then be trimmed down to 90, those candidates will move onto Saturday's semi-finals with the returning veterans.
"For semi-finals on, the veterans will join the rookies on Saturday morning." Director of Chiefs Cheerleaders Stephanie Judah explained. "The ambassador candidates will be tested on their public speaking as well as personal interviews. The field cheerleaders will be divided into five groups and work with different choreographers to learn a production routine and interviews as well."
The interviews will be conducted with Tavia Hunt, Chiefs Vice President of Human Resources and other Chiefs executives.
Each group focused on a different style from musical theater to jazz to hip-hop.
While the field cheerleaders will learn the routines, the ambassadors will be tested on football and learn of their responsibilities, along with interviews with Tavia Hunt, Chiefs Vice President of Human Resources and other Chiefs executives.
After the interviews, testing and practicing the candidates will participate in the evening auditions, which will be open to the public at Arrowhead Stadium.
"On Saturday evening, it's the only part of the entire audition process that we open to the public," Judah said. "The five different production numbers will be performed. We want to see the girl's different personalities and how they perform in front of a crowd. The field cheerleaders will also perform a one minute solo and the ambassadors will be interviewed on stage in front of the public."
To end the evening every girl will walk the runway, as a chance for them to show off their personality, glamour, confidence, and poise.
After the crowd dissipates and the doors close, decisions will be made on the 65 girls that will make it to Sunday, the finals.
Sunday morning the candidates will be put through five different stations: public speaking, football knowledge, photo shoots, fitness evaluation, and dance skill evaluation.
"We will put the girls through so many tests to see if they can endure everything that we throw at them," Judah explained. "We want to see that these girls are well rounded and can they handle being in front of a fan base of 80,000 people. This will be a pretty rigorous weekend and you need a lot of endurance to make it through."
There will be 12 judges for the finals, comprised of Chiefs employees, USA Pageant Director, local television and radio host, former NFL cheerleaders, Red Coaters and former Chiefs players. The judging process can be difficult because there are many things to consider when choosing which girls will represent the 2014 squad.
"We're looking for the complete package," Judah noted. "We want the best of the best, the girls who are fit, have tact, can dance, do well in public speaking, the girls who are able to energize a crowd and above anything else, the girls who are classy and mature. We're looking for girls who encompass all of those qualities because they will not only be representing the Chiefs Cheerleaders but also the Chiefs Kingdom."
The judges faced a challenging process, choosing 27 field candidates and six ambassadors to represent the Chiefs organization, with only three days to decide.
"It's a tough decision because there is a lot of pressure to pick the embodiment of what a Chiefs Cheerleader is," Bill Chapin, Senior Vice President of Business Operations and 2014 auditions judge, commented. "It's not just beauty, esthetics, poise, confidence but also, how will they be in the community, how are they going to relate to the fans. It's really a wide range of abilities and skill sets that we're looking for."
The Chiefs look for women who possess many valuable qualities. The tests try to challenge the candidates and reveal the women's ability to handle situations, their character and their attitude.
"What the Chiefs organization looks for is not what the typical NFL team looks for," Wilma Johnston, former NFL cheerleader noted. "The Chiefs want the whole package, so they expect these women to not only be glamorous and poised but to be able to communicate effectively, to know football, the Chiefs history and be able to dance."
During the finals on Sunday afternoon, the field and ambassador cheerleaders will kick the day off by performing a routine, which represents a typical sidelines performance. The ambassador candidates will go through one more interview on stage where any question is fair game from football to personal.
The final event of the day will feature the field candidates, who will perform the second routine, which is the main dance, which represents what is typically performed between quarters. The candidates will need to lay it all on the line on Sunday because the judges will be making their final decisions.
"All of the candidates will be learning so much going through this process and all 200 plus will have to work incredibly hard through this process," Judah commented. "So many girls don't have the courage to even step through those doors but these girls that will take that step this weekend are incredible. I'm so proud of that, it's a huge accomplishment to just have the guts to go and try."
Judah, Chapin and Hunt will be determining who will make up the 2014 Chiefs Cheerleader squad and will have results by the end of the weekend.
"My team is a big puzzle of 33 pieces, not one piece is the same," Judah said. "Each girl is completely unique and they come together to build the perfect picture. I have to figure out who those girls are for this year. We will be posting the announcement of the 2014 squad Tuesday, March 18th after 5:00p.m. so stayed tuned on kcchiefs.com."
