The first Wayland Baptist graduate to appear on the roster of an NFL team may not be what, or who, you expect.
Lauren Strong has gone a long way in a short time. In the past three years, Strong has made her way from the sideline of Pioneer football and basketball games to cheering for the Los Angeles Chargers.
It's a dream come true for the 27-year-old Lubbock native, a 2011 graduate of Frenship High School who earned an exercise sports science degree from Wayland in 2017.
"If I wouldn't have gone to Wayland and been a dancer I might not be on a pro team now," Strong said.
A dancer on her high school pom squad, Strong began attending Wayland after earning her associate's degree in physical education at South Plains College in Levelland. She made quite an impact on WBU Coach
Samantha Spieler's dance squad, earning Sapphire of the Year as well as the Janis Davis Award of the Spirit her senior year for exemplifying spirit, courage and commitment.
Strong was working on her Master's degree, serving as a graduate assistant for Dr. Paul Fikes in Wayland's exercise and sports science department and as an adjunct professor teaching a social dance class. It was then that Strong broke into professional cheer with the Dallas Maverick's G-League team, the Texas Legends.
Strong became familiar with the Mavs and the Legends while attending summer camps as a Wayland student.
"Dallas Mavericks and Texas Legends dancers help put on the camps. That's how I got the idea," she said. "I love that style of dance. It's totally my style. That put the idea in my head."
So Strong set out on becoming a member of a pro sports team's cheer team. (The term "cheer" is a bit misleading, Strong said, since on the professional level it's not a traditional cheerleader. "Technically, it's dancing with poms. We don't do stunts. We shake our poms and smile.")
Before the Legends, Strong tried out for the Oklahoma City Thunder's squad, making the finals. She also made the finals when she tried out with the Mavs then attended training camp for the Dallas Stars.
"Like any other professional athlete, you have to put yourself out there for a lot of teams," she said.
Strong came close to making the Ice Girls squad. "I was the second-to-last-one to get cut."
That was tough, and making it even tougher was having to miss tryouts for the Texas Legends since they were at the same time as the Stars' camp. But it worked out when the Legends coach, who was familiar with Strong through the summer camps with Wayland, called a couple of days later.
"She said, 'I've seen you dance' and asked me to be on her team. I was ecstatic."
The only downer was she had to put her education on hold.
"I was a third of the way through with my Master's when I made the Legends. I had to leave that behind, which was not easy to do."
Strong said her first experience as a pro dancer was an eye-opener.
"Those were the hardest practices of my professional career. Although (the Legends) are semi-pro, they totally treated it as a pro team."
Strong explained that in training camp they were shown various dances and "you were basically expected to know them the next time you went to practice."
Despite being on the 20-member team, they still had to audition in order to perform at games to assure they knew the routines. Depending on the dance, anywhere from only three to almost all of the team was selected.
"For the first half of the season I hardly made any dances. I was like, 'What the heck?' Then it finally clicked."
She said various styles of dance are used, including hip-hop which Strong admitted "is not my strong suit." But Strong adapted and by the end of the season was a consistent performer at games.
Strong later turned her sights to even bigger things: the famed Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders.
A coach at the studio where the Legends held practices conducted prep classes for the Cowboys squad.
"What dancer doesn't want to be a Dallas Cowboys cheerleader?"
Strong said she worked "super hard all year" and tried out for the Cowboys in early May. Approximately 350 started the process. Strong made it to the semifinals before being cut.
"I was pretty bummed because I worked so hard for it."
Strong and a friend, Ashley, then talked about giving another NFL team a shot.
"Ashley said, 'I know the Cowboys are our goal, but we have to set our sights on other goals.' They found out tryouts for the Chargers were two weekends later, but Strong wasn't immediately sold.
"I was thinking, 'What if we actually make it? That's a long move.'"
So they decided to sleep on it, and by the next morning Strong had changed her tune.
"I had a gut feeling I have to go try out in California."
Strong and Ashley made it through the preliminary round with the Chargers, survived to the semifinals, then made the finals.
"This is kind of real now," Strong told herself, saying she also decided it was time to let her mom and dad in on her secret since she hadn't told them she was trying out for the Chargers cheer team.
"I told them we were just going on vacation, so I called and told my mom. She was happy."
The finals amounted to a week-long audition process that included longer routines with more technical aspects, one-on-one interviews and a "very formal, business-attire" panel interview with eight members of the Chargers organization, including head coach (and former Texas Tech Red Raider) Anthony Lynn. (Strong let her West Texas roots be known by "throwing my Guns Up!")
"It was a little nerve-wracking," she said.
When all was said and done, Strong made the 28-member team, although her friend Ashley did not. Strong said the night before the announcement Ashley got engaged on the beach, "so it was a win-win for us."
Life became a whirlwind after that, with Strong having to return home then report back to the Chargers almost right away.
"I had three days to put my stuff in a suitcase and go," she said.
Strong said being a Charger Girl has been a thrill.
"Stepping onto the field for the first time…the energy. It's so hard to put into words. That feeling is something I've never felt. You feel like you're on a high when you're on the field. People are smiling at you, expecting you to lift the energy up."
Being an NFL cheerleader is a lot more than promoting spirit on Sundays, though, as Charger Girls make dozens of off-field appearances at children's hospitals, animal shelters, "almost anything you can think of. We put meal packages together for the less fortunate. Sometimes players are there with us, and that's always fun.
"We do a lot more appearances than we do games. There are only 10 (home) games, but we probably do 30-50 appearances a season. You always get reminded it's a big deal to be an NFL cheerleader."
It was an even bigger deal when the Chargers played in London a couple of seasons ago.
"Our coach picked eight of us to go a week early (to promote the game). We did a lot of cool stuff around London. They don't have cheerleaders, so they thought we were America's Next Top Model or something. It was the same thing in Mexico City (the next season). You really feel like a rock star. It makes you feel special."
Strong said NFL cheerleaders earn an hourly rate for practices, games and appearances. She said she gets asked a lot about how much money she makes, but that's not what's most important to her.
"All of us are required to be in school or have another job, and I work as a personal trainer at 24-Hour Fitness. So (being an NFL cheerleader) is kind of a bonus to what I already do. It's not a job to me. It's the definition of doing what you love for a career."
Like most all pro athletes, being an NFL cheerleader isn't guaranteed as they must earn their position every year. Last year, Strong got cut at the Chargers' final auditions.
"I was devastated," she said.
She decided to take a look at other California teams. She made the finals for the NBA's L.A. Clippers and was preparing for auditions with the Lakers when her former coach with the Chargers called.
"She told me she admired my work ethic and asked me to come back. That experience taught me a lot, mostly not to have all my eggs in one basket."
Strong hopes to return to the Chargers for a third season (their first in newly-built SoFi Stadium), although with the COVID-19 outbreak things are up in the air.
"The Chargers haven't said when auditions will be. Some teams are doing virtual auditions, but the Chargers haven't announced anything yet.
"I'm really crossing my fingers for this one. It would be awesome to be in that new stadium. It's going to be an exciting season."
Strong's job at 24-Hour Fitness also is on hold since gyms are shut down, but she loves being a personal trainer.
"I love it. It's what I went to Wayland for."
When she's through performing, Strong would like to combine her two current passions.
"I wanted to be a professor. That was the path I was on until I left it behind. I also wanted to be a dance coach at a university. My dream job now is being a strength and conditioning coach for a pro dance team. There's not a lot of teams that have one. But I consider us athletes and think we should learn how to train specifically to our sport with types of exercise specific to dance and proper nutrition to keep looking good and performing our best.
"I'd be fine (performing) a couple of more years, then I think there will be an opportunity of some sort."
If her past is any indication, there's no doubt Strong will seize it.
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