Former Roughriders cheerleaders hit the stage at Grey Cup Festival

Cheerleaders of all ages took to the stage Saturday at the Grey Cup Festival to do an extra-special performance.

The ladies of the Canadian Football Cheerleaders Alumni Organization (CFCAO) came off the stage with big grins after performing at the Festival’s Cheer Extravaganza.

“It was really fun to get out there and shake the pom poms,” Crystal Flegel said with a laugh. “We had a great time.”

Performing between 1999 and 2003, Flegel’s favourite memory is the year she travelled to Montreal.

“The cheerleaders go to Grey Cup every year and definitely I remember going to Montreal, because I had never been and it was really fun,” she recalled.

Thunderous applause was heard from the Brandt Centre on Saturday as a full house hooted and hollered for the former cheerleaders who came out of retirement.

Brittany McGeough said the audience reaction was welcome.

“I think they are just cheering because our knees aren’t breaking and I know that we stretched extra before we got out there today,” joked McGeough.

The Saskatchewan Roughriders may not have made it to the Grey Cup this year, but McGeough remembered when they won the CFL championship in Toronto in 2007.

“The energy was just electric,” said McGeough.

Cheering with the Roughriders gave her lots of opportunities to travel and see new places. She said along with taking home the Cup to Saskatchewan, she got to meet Canadian rapper Drake.

Performing again reminded McGeough of hours spent on Taylor Field cheering from 2006 to 2009.

“It was great and it brought back lots of great memories,” said McGeough. “I am very privileged and we are very privileged to be working with so many humans who are so talented out there. Cheerleading has evolved so much so it is so great to be a part of that again.”

Bonds from more than 10 years ago are still strong.

“We do see a lot of familiar faces, but it’s so great to see some people you haven’t seen in a while,” said McGeough. “You just pick up that friendship right where you left it.”

Stacey Schewaga, another former cheerleader and now Saskatchewan CFCAO co-director, said it is great to get back out to performing at events like the Cheer Extravaganza.

“It brought back a lot of memories. It is great to see my old coach, girls I did cheerleading with (and) girls I coached. It was just fun,” she said.

Schewaga was a member of the cheer team during the CFL’s expansion into the United States and her favourites memories are wrapped up in a time when they got to travel.

“We went to Sacramento and Birmingham. They are the most memorable trips because it was really about team bonding,” Schewaga explained.

As for performances at a Grey Cup, the Riders may not have made it to the championship game in 1995, but the cheer team performed on behalf of Baltimore. That team couldn’t bring its cheerleaders from the United States.

The cheer team was memorably there when the Riders made it to the Grey Cup in 1997 in Edmonton.

Schewaga hopes there will be a chance to continue appearances like the one in Regina.

“The CFCAO is bringing all cheerleaders from across Canada together, so any alum on any cheer team,” she said. “And we are hoping that at any Grey Cup, there will be a CFCAO team cheering.”

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is an amended version of this story, correcting some inaccuracies.