Dream Day as a Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader: 'I Couldn't Feel My Heart Beat'
July 16, 2010 — -- Amanda Roberts of Bossier City, Louisiana isn't your average Dallas Cowboys football fan.
Her passion started as a young girl, cheering for the team because her mother was a fan. She continued watching the games as she grew up and even married "one of the biggest Cowboy fans" she knows.
But Roberts' love for the Cowboys stretches beyond the sport. Her lifelong dream was to cheer and dance with the famous Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders.
The 43-year-old Roberts says she watches all of the Cowboys games, tunes in to the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders reality show, "Making the Team," and works out to the Cowboys Cheerleaders exercise DVDs. She even has her own Cowboys Cheerleader costume, something she bought to surprise her then fiance, now husband.
Originally from Dayton, Texas, Roberts spent her high school years as a twirler. But she says she still regrets not auditioning to be one of America's sweethearts.
"Twirling has the same little step ball changes and the 8-counts like the Cheerleaders do. Twenty-something years ago that could have been me," Roberts told "Good Morning America."
So it was the dream of a lifetime when Roberts was selected as one of four winners of "Good Morning America's" Living the Dream Contest. Going back to her roots, she got to live out her Texas-sized dream of being a Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader.
"I couldn't feel my heart beat. I knew it was beating but I couldn't feel it," she said.
Roberts joined the squad for a day at its training facility in Valley Ranch, Texas to learn what it takes to make it as a cheerleader. The cheerleaders had Roberts strutting her stuff, pom-poms in hand, without a moment to spare.
"That was kind of nerve-racking because they did it so fast. It's like OK, remember this step, remember this step," Roberts said.
As she worked to master the intricate choreography, she learned the hard work that goes into each eight-count.
"I'm going to need water and 911 standing on the side," Roberts said. "Because if they make me do a little lift or I have to do a split, something's going to break."
