Guilt, ambition and a ponytail: Australian dancer makes the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader squad
Before being handed her pair of white boots and star-embroidered vest for a spot in one of the world's most coveted cheerleading squads, the 22-year-old from Perth was booking dance gigs on cruise ships.
Speaking from her new bedroom in Dallas, Ward recalls watching the first season of Netflix's docuseries America's Sweethearts from a cruise bunk bed, dreaming about one day being part of the squad.
'I don't think I will ever fully process the fact that I'm a DCC. It feels like a dream, and I'm still waiting to wake up from it,' Ward told this masthead.
Thousands auditioned for one of six rookie spots offered this year – the smallest intake in history, according to Ward, who was born in New Zealand but raised in Western Australia. She becomes the third Australian and first New Zealander to do so.
After auditioning, Ward battled through a gruelling training camp, watching new friends – who had trained their whole lives for a spot in the squad – get sent home each day.
'I almost felt like, do I belong in this position?' she said. 'Because this has been just as much my dream as it probably was theirs, but they have thought about this since the day they could walk.'
'Some of these girls would give their right arm to be here. So would I – I have worked just as hard … even though from the get-go, it wasn't like 'I want to be a DCC'. I wanted to make it in the dance world and do something that makes me happy. This happened to be it.
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