A reason to cheer

SANDPOINT — When most people imagine a professional athlete, thoughts of strength, fitness, grit and determination come to mind … and oh yeah, money.

When Sandpoint’s Danae Rokstad takes to CenturyLink field on Sunday as part of the Sea Gals cheerleading squad, she will be continuing a dream that started when she was two, took her to college and now has her one game away from cheering at the Super Bowl.

Most people don’t think of cheerleaders as professional athletes, or athletes of any kind.

Danae and her mom Donna are here to tell you that cheerleaders have to stay

as fit as any athlete on the field, have their fair share of injuries and have to perform in the worst kind of weather … all at the same time having to look traffic-stopping beautiful.

“You try to jump around outside in cold, wet Seattle, smile and then drop into the splits,” said Danae, only half joking.

Danae has always wanted to cheer.

“She had pom-poms around the house when she was growing up, in fact she might have been born with them,” said Donna.

Danae, 23, has been dancing since she was 2 years old. After lessons, Danae would practice for hours more to perfect the moves.

“She never rebelled,” Donna said. “She knew even at that age that the extra practice time would make her better.”

Danae has been in formal dance lessons since she was 3 and has landed in the spotlight ever since.

When the Rokstads moved to Sandpoint from Lewiston in 1999, Danae signed up for ballet, tap and “the works” with Laurie Buck at Studio 1 Dance Academy.

“She was an incredibly hard worker,” Buck said. “There was nothing she couldn’t learn and she had tremendous willpower. She was part of a group of girls that really raised the bar.”

Danae took dance lessons four days a week all the way through her junior year in high school. She even threw in gymnastics classes for good measure.

While she was in middle school, Danae went to a Seahawks game with her family. She didn’t watch the game.

“She was critiquing the cheerleaders and watching them move,” Donna said. “They aren’t cheerleaders, they are dancers. I can do that!” Danae exclaimed.

Danae quickly moved to the front of the stage.

She won the fitness category and was first runnerup in the local Junior Miss program and finished high in a state program.

The girl with the effervescent smile, never a hair out of place and the whitest teeth imaginable was the cheer team captain at SHS and led the squad to state titles and national appearances.

Go Griz! Go Seahawks!

The University of Montana was the next stop. Danae was picked for the cheerleading squad as a freshman but a wrist injury kept her sidelined.

She also suffered a serious back injury that kept her out of action for six months.

She soon found her way to the dance team where she would dance and choreograph. She was the captain of the team her senior year.

“She has always wanted to be the captain, the choreographer, the planner,” Donna said. While in high school she would choreograph the positions of the cheerleaders on the football field. Often her bedroom and portions of the house would be covered with sheets of paper with random Xs and Os, looking a lot like football plays.

Last year, the Sea Gal director contacted the Montana seniors and invited them to an open tryout in Seattle — exactly one week after they were notified.

That was April. Danae said something clicked when she learned about the opportunity. Like many other young ladies, she had dreams of being a professional basketball or football cheerleader. This was her chance and she was going to give it her best shot.

For the next three weekends, Danae drove from Missoula to Coeur d’Alene to meet up with her mom and they would drive to Seattle together.

Most of the girls auditioning had known about the tryouts for a long time so they had purchased expensive, bedazzled outfits.

Since Danae was late to apply, Donna would drive while Danae glued and bedazzled her workout gear using tweezers and very small plastic jewels.

“We lost a lot of jewels along the way,” Danae said. “I am still finding them in my car.”

So, you want to be a cheerleader?

More than 200 women showed up for the open audition inside a CenturyLink Field meeting room. After an hour of so — including “freestyling” for a minute to a song in front of judges — half of the group was cut. There were 15 judges, including Doug from the “Bachlorette” and several local TV personalities.

There was nothing romantic about it, the girls who were cut were notified at the end of the session and had to leave immediately. The survivors were given a routine and rehearsed it and were told to come back in a week and perform it.

During the semifinals, girls were randomly paired and performed their routine in front of a panel of judges in very tight quarters. They also had to perform a kick routine.

After waiting “forever,” the group was again cut in half. The girls were asked to set up an interview with judges the next week and to work on a new routine.

The only problem Danae had was that the next week was finals week so she couldn’t leave Missoula.

The judges moved her interview to the next weekend, right before a Saturday and Sunday tryout that would determine who would make the cut.

On that final weekend, the current Sea Gals were added to the mix and the realization about how far she had come began to sink in.

Danae had taken over a meeting room at the hotel to work on the routine the night before. She said she was intimidated by all of the returning Sea Gals.

“Just when I thought I  had cleared a hurdle, here were more girls and they had already been through this,” she said.

Donna was across the street in a hotel room watching the tryouts on the Internet. She was more nervous than her daughter.

“We had a lot of family and friends watching online,” Donna said. “I was just along for the ride. It was all in her hands.”

After each round of the competition Donna would give Danae fresh-cut flowers from Pike Place Market. She had the flowers ready — win, lose or draw.

More than 60 finalists were vying for about 32 slots and after a few routines, the girls who made the squad heard their numbers called.

“They called a lot of numbers before they called Danae’s,” Donna said. Most years the Sea Gals take 24-32 women, this season they took 34.

“I kept looking around as they called out numbers and there were a lot of returning Sea Gals and not many slots left. Then they called my number and I could breathe again,” Danae said.

That was Sunday. She had nine days to move and get ready to be a Sea Gal.

In short order, she had to leave Missoula, find an apartment and a job.

Danae and family took care of all of that and she reported to the first official practice where she was also fitted for a $3,000 Sea Gals uniform and had her photo taken for her “glamour” publicity shots.

Practices are every Tuesday and Thursday. They start promply at 6 p.m. and some last past midnight.

“That’s when it became real to her,” Donna said.

This is where professional athletes and professional cheerleaders go in opposite directions.

While pro players make millions a season, cheerleaders work part-time and are paid minimum wage only when they are practicing, making official appearances or performing.

“Thank goodness I live in Washington where the minimum wage is higher,” she said.

That’s right, the cheerleaders with the million dollar smiles and moves in front of the TV cameras are making the same wage as the guy selling hotdogs at the stadium.

What the job lacks in pay, though, it more than makes up for in perks and connections.

A few weeks back, the Seahawks were playing in New York. Since the Sea Gals don’t travel to away games, Danae had planned to watch the game on TV.

Former quarterback Warren Moon knows one of the Sea Gals and before Danae knew it, she and a few of the cheerleaders were on a private jet with Moon to enjoy the game in New York.

She works at the 520 Bar and Grill in Bellevue when she isn’t making numerous appearances.

Danae’s busy life picked up steam when the Seahawks entered the playoffs. She is at a fever pitch right now as the arch rival 49ers come to town Sunday to decide which team goes to the Super Bowl.

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In the Sunday Bee: What goes on behind the scenes for the Sea Gals cheerleaders? How loud is CenturyLink really? How big is the Seahawk, 49er rivalry? Why do cheerleaders only see half a game?