Kristin Hardcastle (from left) of Scottsville, Sharon Oulay, Ashleigh Davis and Nikki Gregory, all of Bowling Green, practice jumps for a dance routine for the Bowling Green Knights at Cory Eversons Fitness for Women on Tuesday. Photo by Miranda Pederson

Sixteen tanned legs kicked, jumped and slid across the floor at Cory Eversons Fitness for Women in Bowling Green on Tuesday as the Southern Kentucky Knights Cheerleaders practiced dancing in the mirrored aerobics room. Some of the girls wore pantyhose under the black lycra shorts. I used to work at Toots and they made us wear hoochie shorts, too, said Nikki Gregory, a 21-year-old cheerleader who recruited her teammates and is administrator of the new Southern Kentucky Knights semi-pro football team, which played its first game last week. It just makes your legs look a little more flawless. The football team is part of the North American Football League, and cheerleading is different at this level. The image of high school and college cheerleaders in pleated skirts and colorful hairbows is gone. For these girls, all of whom have taken dance lessons for years, cutting edge dance routines are the key. Especially in that booty song, you all really need to be getting into it, Gregory instructed after her teammates shimmied, shook and winked at the mirror to choreography developed by Rena Walton, who also teaches dance at Community Education and Dance Arts, where she specializes in hip-hop. Walton had wanted the girls to dance to Oh, Mickey, youre so fine, she sang. The girls were having none of that. Instead they wanted to hear some Linkin Park. Id never heard of Linkin Park, Walton said of the popular hard rock group. I thought they said Lampkin Park. Still, after hearing the chosen tune, it took Walton just a few minutes to come up with a dance that the girls had just an hour to learn. Nikki makes them learn it in one day, Walton said. They may have an hour, an hour and a half. Thats her rule of thumb. The rule is important because the girls dont have much time. The cheering is not a full-time job for the young women, who are also busy with school, jobs and other activities. Practice also is short less than four hours each week because the girls are on a limited budget. Walton isnt teaching them dances for free. But Cory Eversons has allowed the cheerleaders to use their aerobics room for practice at no charge. And the business also lets the girls to work out there for free. The working out is something that was made mandatory by Gregory, who insists the members do so at least one hour a day, five days a week. It was three days a week until I saw how in shape the other girls were, she said of other semi-pro football cheerleaders. I wanted to match them. Matching them also means the team must come to a game looking like theyre going out with a really hot guy, Gregory said. Still, some of the girls are a little unsure about wearing the tight, black, short uniforms. Kristin Hardcastle, a 19-year-old Allen County-Scottsville High School graduate who will begin her freshman year at the University of Louisville in the fall, said the outfits are too little. Mine is too small, she said. Gregory laughed. Shes been blessed with womanhood, she said. Lauren and I are not, and so Kristins like wahhhh …Still, Kristin said she loves being on the team because she gets to dance. Walton said Kristin is a very good dancer. Shes got a lot of street dancer, a lot of rawness. The other girls are more technically oriented when it comes to dance, and many see being on the team as a way to gain a new dancing experience. It was just a new opportunity, cheerleader Lauren Esters said. She and Ashleigh Davis are the youngest members of the team at just 17 years old. Both will be seniors at Greenwood High School next year and both have taken dance lessons at Dance Arts, where Nikki went to recruit cheerleaders. Tiffany Logsdon and Sharon Oulay, both of whom will be sophomores at Western Kentucky University this fall, found out about the team through a newspaper ad for open tryouts. They were the only two who showed up at the tryout, but Gregory was impressed that theyd come, and she discovered that both were good dancers. Each of the team members has to dance well, and if they dont, or at least dont try hard enough during practice, they may be sitting on the sidelines come gametime. The two that dont work hard will do music or ticket sales or first aid, during the game, Gregory said. Only six of the eight girls will take the field during games. That rule is partially because of money matters, too. Someone has to run the ticket booth, the music and be there for first aid at each game. Having two cheerleaders do it is more cost efficient than hiring someone. The girls are also responsible for a lot of fund raising. This Sunday, they are sponsoring the Acoustic Music Festival at Three Springs Park Amphitheater to raise money for equipment and other supplies for the football team. While the girls dont get paid for practices and only get paid $25 for each home game, Gregory said they dont mind all the work they will do for the team. They just love dancing, being together and having fun.5, 6, 7, 8, called out 18-year-old team dance captain Anne Lewis, who recently graduated from Bowling Green High School, before the girls kicked off another dance routine Tuesday. Jaime Brandenburg, a 23-year-old senior at Western, was having fun learning. She was the only one who had demonstrated a round-off back-handspring that day, and it was only her first day at practice. Ive always danced since I was little, she said. And the girls continued to dance until they were so tired that Walton told them, keep your eyebrows lifted so nobody can tell just how tired they are. Gates to the Southern Kentucky Knights Acoustic Music Festival will open at 1:30 p.m. Sunday at Three Springs Park Amphitheater. Ben and Cathy Harris will kick off the festival at 3 p.m. Other groups performing that day include, The Hays Brothers, Curtis Burch and Friends, Roundabout with Dr. Dobro, Pat Haney and Tim Krekel and Bluegrass Jam Session. Tickets are $10 for adults and free for children younger than 12. Half of the proceeds will benefit the Warren County Youth Football League. For more information about the festival or the Southern Kentucky Knights football team, call 793-9202.