November 27, 2011
Edmonton Eskimos
Kylee’s Blog – Eskimo Cheer Team
What do you get when you mix 42 excited Cheer Team members with a tonne and a half of luggage and one Sky Train trip followed by a long walk in the rain? You get our trip to Vancouver for Grey Cup 2011! Following our flight to Vancouver, we had to take a Sky train to get to our hotel. We can’t even begin to imagine what the travellers on that train must have thought when they saw all of us dressed in our Esk Cheer Team parkas, bearing way too many pieces of luggage.
 |
| Cheer Team members on the Sky Train. |
Our schedule has been absolutely packed with performances and events which will culminate in the actual Grey Cup Game on Sunday. We have to admit that we have been rather sleep-deprived since our first commitments of the day usually begin around six thirty in the morning and end around nine or ten at night. We have participated in everything from rehearsals at the beautiful new BC Place first thing in the morning, to performances around the city at Riderville, the Argos’ Double Blue Room, Molson’s Canadian House, the Lions’ Den, the Montreal Huddle and, most importantly, the Spirit of Edmonton.
We are absolutely overwhelmed by the love and support we have received from all of the loyal Eskimo fans who came to celebrate the end of such a fantastic season of football. There are no greater fans in the CFL and we are truly thrilled that we have had the opportunity to interact with and perform for the people who love our football team as much as we do. It was a major highlight to have the opportunity to perform at the Spirit of Edmonton Breakfast and Party Room and we will cherish these great memories forever. We were also delighted to see Aaron Fiaconni at the Spirit of Edmonton breakfast. Maybe next year, we will get to watch him help Edmonton win the Grey Cup in Toronto.
While the temperatures here in BC are fairly mild, we are experiencing a great deal of rainy weather. The Grey Cup Parade, which usually encounters snow, took place today on a rainy afternoon. That didn’t bother us too much, however, since we have performed at many rainy games over the last few years. As a matter of fact, we did not even notice the rain because we got to follow Gene Simmons, who was right in front of us in the Parade line up! We are a bit disheartened though, because Cheer Extravaganza, the showcase for all of the cheer teams, was cancelled since the Felions had planned to hold it in an outdoor venue. We always enjoy seeing what the other CFL Cheer teams do and we know every team brings their finest choreography to perform for the other teams and the fans who attend.
 |
| Jon and Jesslyn in front of Olympic flame. |
The trip to the Grey Cup is always a bonding experience for our own team members, but even more than that it is an opportunity for us to meet and get to know the other members of the CFL Cheer Teams. We are anticipating the excitement of the big game tomorrow when we get to perform on the field with all of the other cheer teams from the eight CFL teams. We cannot believe how close the Eskimos came to participating in the game, so our performance at the game will be a little bittersweet. We are confident our Eskimos will dominate next year and we look forward to cheering them on at Grey Cup 2012.
We want to thank our wonderful coach, Dianne Greenough, for everything she has done to get us to this point. We also want to extend our gratitude to the BC Felions for welcoming us and making us feel right at home. It has been a terrific season.
Kylee