It’s such an honor to be part of the National Football league, and then to be in a calendar to represent your team is just icing on the cake. When Brooke started cheering for the Tennessee Titans, she wouldn’t have fathomed the amazing opportunities she would encounter from being in a calendar, to traveling to beautiful beach destinations to modeling in a fashion show.
At seven years, Brooke is the longest tenured cheerleader on the Tennessee Titans and when she started cheering for the team they didn’t even have a cheerleader calendar. For the first few years, each cheerleader would have swimsuit photos featured on the Titans Cheerleader webpage, but an actual calendar of the young ladies was never published. It wasn’t until Brooke’s third year on the team that the Titans decided they would create a calendar. They wanted it to be extremely classy, professionally photographed and something that would be in high demand by all. It proved to be a success.
After a few years the Titans decided it was time to do it big and make the Calendar something to be desired. Emerald Grande Resorts sponsored the Titans Cheerleaders trip and brought them to Florida to shoot their calendar on the sugar sand beaches and turquoise waters of Destin, Florida. Local property owners in and around Destin donated their yachts for the day for the girls to do their photo shoot.
When you see the final product you might think that being the model is all fun and games, but it takes a lot more effort than you would assume. Brooke wasn’t used to being the subject in the photo, as Brooke says, “I am a dancer, not a model, and I definitely needed a lot of direction. The photographer kept telling me to stick my chin out and I just couldn’t seem to get it right. I felt like my chin was so far out there, and then when I got that right my face wasn’t the right direction, and I needed to straighten my back and move my shoulder. You feel so awkward, but when you listen and follow the photographer’s instruction to the letter, then you see the final product, you finally understand what he was seeing behind the lens”. I asked Brooke what her favorite shot was and she said, “one year I was photographed in a waterfall. I was right in the middle of the waterfall, and I was completely soaking wet. I was so nervous to see what I looked like because I didn’t think my makeup was going to hold and I knew my hair had to be a mess. It’s weird because you don’t know how it is all going to turn out, but being in the waterfall added an extra zing of excitement to the day. Every few seconds they would have to pull me out of the waterfall and dab under my eyes because the mascara was running so bad and it looked like I was crying, but the shoot was a success and I had a blast while shooting it!”
Also, all that travel is not so glamorous either. Brooke recalled one experience when their chartered bus had mechanical problems which almost left the girls stranded. Brooke tells the story with a giggle in her voice, “the bus broke down on our trip from Tennessee to Florida. We had all the suitcases sitting on the side of the road, as well as our entire team, waiting to get the bus repaired. It was definitely a sight to see, but we finally made it to our Florida destination and the wait was well worth it.”
Once the photos for the calendar have been shot, then meticulously chosen and edited, the calendar release party is set up. It’s a $15 admission to the calendar release party which is a fashion show at a local establishment called Cabana in Nashville, filled with music mixed by a local DJ. Much preparation is put into the show with each ‘walk’ being choreographed to its respective mix spun by the DJ. The Calendar Release party is always a hit, and the local news comes out to broadcast the event. Each individual that shows up for the electrifying night receives a 15 month Titans Cheerleader Calendar. The Fashion show consists of each of the Cheerleaders modeling the suit that she is displaying in her respective month. The shot is displayed on a big screen as each girl walks the runway. It’s always a big deal to get the cover of the calendar, and one year Brooke was honored to be the individual chosen as the Cover Girl. The cheerleader actually finds out that she is the cover girl before the fashion show, but the crowd waits in anticipation as each girl walks the scene.
Brooke has taken her experiences in cheering with the Tennessee Titans and used it to grow her career by opening a dance studio in Kentucky. The Titans have been extremely supportive of her by helping her in any way possible to publicize her studio. Brooke has enjoyed all the opportunities that Titans has enabled her to have including: the feeling of having a photo in the Titans Cheerleader Calendar, finding out she made the front cover and also the back cover another year, being able to travel to remote destinations with her sisterhood of cheerleaders and then being able to model in a fashion show that displayed each of them in all their glamour. She is also extremely appreciative of all the opportunities she has been afforded to give back to her community as well as her opportunities to go on tour to show appreciation to our service men and women. Brooke is retiring from cheering and will definitely miss being on the field for each home game, but will let her opportunities expand her career as well as her students careers and will never stop dreaming big.
