PARKERSBURG, W.Va. (WTAP) -Meet Parkersburg native Gillian Cappadona, one of the new cheerleaders for the Cincinnati Bengals.
Gillian Capadona posing after becoming a Cincinnati Bengals Cheerleader(Bengals Cheerleading Team)
Gillian graduated from Parkersburg south high school, was a part of the southern bells and the performing arts connection and education dance studio in Parkersburg.
After living in New York for three years, she wanted to get back into doing organized sports.
“And so getting to have that comradery with a group of girls every day, i missed a lot, and it got harder to do. It gets harder to do that when you’re older, not having the organized sports. But then I was like, i could be doing that. I had always loved the city of Cincinnati, I had actually worked for a Cincinnati company”. So, in the back of my mind I was like, I could see us going there next, and when the time came, my husband went remote, and we were like let’s check Cincinnati out.”
Gillian Cappadona cheering at WVU(Gillian Cappadona)
In preparing for the audition, she said the months of training is grueling but absolutely rewarding.
To give a bit of context, she says the audition process is pretty similar to the Netflix show with the Dallas Cowboys
“I think a lot of people have seen it on the Dallas Cowboys “making the team” or the show on Netflix, that paints a pretty good picture of the months of preparation that go into just a few days of auditions.”
Along with her parents and her husband, she says her mentor Lindsey Florence has been with her and supported her in every step of her journey for the past twenty years.
Gillian Cappadona (Left) with her mentor Lindsey Florence (Middle)(Gillian Cappadona)
“She was really the first person, she was tall like I was, and at first that was kind of what held me back from this style. I didn’t feel like i fit in with the other girls. But when I saw her I was like”, I can now see myself. And she has just been my biggest supporter for when I was training for that final show, I was sending her videos, and she was giving me critiques, and I’m just so thankful to have her, you know it’s been 20 years that she’s been an inspiration to me, and she continues to be.
When Gillian got the notice on a Friday at 5 pm, she felt a huge relief
“So, when it all came to fruition at 5 o-clock on Friday, everybody was so excited, and it was just such a relief. And it was so exciting because a lot of the close friends I made throughout the process also made the roster with me. So it was just the best the best”
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