As seen in the Frederick News Post on Friday, October 16th, 2009:

Slice Of Life

Former Ravens cheerleader brings dance moves to Frederick

By ADAM BEHSUDI

News-Post Staff

abehsudi@fredericknewspost.com 

 After a stint cheering for the Baltimore Ravens, Christina Heller didn’t wait long before getting involved again with a sports affiliated cheer and dance team.

 Now director of the Frederick Lady Outlaws, the cheer squad for the semiprofessional Frederick Outlaws football team, Heller is looking to choose the best women to rev up the team and the fans.

 “This is for girls who did it in high school but don’t have an outlet to do it anymore,” Heller said. The team will hold tryouts Saturday. A love of all forms of dance drove Heller into what could be considered a second career. The Frederick native is a graduate of St. John’s Catholic Prep, where she started a dance team her senior year.

 She went on to Goucher College and graduated in 2001 with degrees in business and communications. Along with an early career in the mortgage industry, Heller kept dancing.

 She earned a spot on the Ravens cheerleading team in 2001 and danced with them for five years. The strenuous part-time gig required Heller to be employed elsewhere full time. She said five years was enough.

 “We were nicknamed around the organization as the track team,” she said. “Athleticism was a major part of that team.”

 Heller, who lives in Frederick with her husband and their 13-month-old son, said she wants to bring that same athletic style to the Lady Outlaws.

 She will balance that with her full-time job as a federal employee of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid in Baltimore.

 “It’s a big commitment,” she said. “But I think we’re going to get a good group of girls together for this.”

 Both the football team and the dance team will operate as nonprofit organizations.

 Giving back to the community will be an important duty for any prospective team dancer, Heller said.

 “We’re going to do a lot of community service for local kids in school programs.”

As seen in the Frederick News Post on Wednesday, October 14th, 2009:
Heller named director of Frederick Lady Outlaws

FOR THE FREDERICK NEWS-POST

 Christina Heller has been named the director of the Frederick Lady Outlaws, a cheer/dance team for the semi-professional football team The Frederick Outlaws.

 Heller has been dancing since the age of 3, studying ballet, pointe, jazz, lyrical and modern with a concentration in technique in all styles. She began competing in regional and national competitions at age 7 and has received numerous titles and awards.

 She graduated in 2001 from Goucher College in Baltimore with a bachelor’s in business management and communications and continued to study all dance styles. She is a contract specialist for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid in Baltimore.

 She was a member of the Baltimore Ravens Cheerleading Teams from 2001 to 2006. In the 2002, 2004 and 2005 seasons with the Ravens, Heller earned the Charity Award from the coaching staff. During her time with the Ravens, she was a cheer and dance instructor for the Lil’Ravens Program sponsored by the Baltimore Ravens Cheerleaders.

 Since 2006, she has been teaching dance at area all-stars facilities and dance studios. She plans on continuing her dream of teaching and coaching dance to the area’s young adults through a semi-professional cheer/dance team — Frederick Lady Outlaws — under the Frederick Outlaws organization.

 The Frederick Outlaws is a nonprofit organization that has won four league titles, four conference titles and six division titles in the span of six years.

 The cheer/dance team will represent the Outlaws organization by encouraging young people to be active through community activities around the Frederick area. The Frederick Lady Outlaws will be a precision based cheer/dance team with an emphasis on synchronization. Cheerleaders, athletes and technically trained dancers will provide a unique balance to the team.

 Tryouts will be held Saturday at Gold’s Gym in Frederick. Visit www.frederickladyoutlaws.com for tryout information and application.