The Dallas Cowboys, often named America's Team, touts the most well-known cheerleading squad in the nation.
Dallas Cowboys: Cheerleaders Making The Team has been on the air for 16 years!
The goal is clear -- different women compete to be selected as NFL cheerleaders for the Dallas Cowboys. The selected winners will then appear on the cover of newspapers, calendars and posters.
The director of the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, Kelli Finglass, talked about the difficulty for applicants to even be considered.
"The stats are that of like getting in an Ivy League school, our acceptance rate is like four percent. Imagine hundred of applications and then eventually we invite the select group to Dallas into training camp," Finglass said.
Throughout the years, critics have complained about the sexism that can revolve around cheerleading squads. However, this group of dancers are extremely passionate and driven about what they do.
Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader Lexie Smith shared that the selection is also focused on making strong women shine.
"They want to bring in women of good character and educated women who have big dreams and big career goals and great jobs. I think that's something really special about our squad and we all bring so much more to the table than just dance," Smith said.
Spectators can witness firsthand how cheerleaders make the team and this new season is no different. Finglass also specified that even if the girls compete for the same goal, true relationships are formed between them.
"Although it is a competition and at the end of the day we're selecting 36 elite dancers from across the country, you see the friendships and the fellowship and the emotion and the support and the inspiration amongst the teammates. It's just a beautiful thing."
New episodes of Dallas Cowboys: Cheerleaders Making The Team air Friday nights on CMT.
