Episodio 67: Rebel Cheerleaders (Porristas rebeldes)

Duolingo English for Spanish Speakers Podcast

El 8 de septiembre de 2019 Gabriela Bren pisó la cancha de un enorme estadio en la ciudad de Filadelfia en el estado de Pensilvania.

Ella era porrista profesional, o cheerleader, de su equipo favorito de la Liga Nacional de Fútbol Americano, o NFL: los Philadelphia Eagles.

Este era el primer juego de su nueva carrera.

A lot was happening at the stadium.

It was full of people and music was playing — It was so exciting! We had already practiced our performance many times, but it didn’t feel real until that moment.

That was when I started to feel confident.

I was exactly where I was supposed to be, doing something I really loved: being a cheerleader.

Durante el juego, Gabriela realizó rutinas de baile y agitó los pompones, o shaked pom-poms, plateados y verdes, entreteniendo a miles de fanáticos en las gradas.

Fue una noche larga y emocionante, así como también lo sería el siguiente día.

Porque animar no era el único trabajo de Gabriela.

I also was working at the local hospital as a nurse.

A lot of people think cheerleaders are just people with pretty faces who can only dance and shake pom-poms, but I know they can be beautiful and smart.

A lot of cheerleaders also have other careers, like me.

That can be a challenge! And I’ve wondered how am I going to do all of this?

Welcome, les damos la bienvenida a “Relatos en inglés”, un podcast de Duolingo.

Soy Diana Gameros.

En cada episodio podrás practicar inglés a tu propio ritmo, escuchando historias reales y fascinantes, contadas por las personas que las vivieron.

Hoy tenemos historias de dos mujeres que desafían estereotipos de lo que significa ser una porrista.

Gabriela creció en el estado de Nueva Jersey y, desde que tiene memoria, estuvo rodeada de música.

Su padre tocaba con un grupo de salsa y, junto a su madre, motivaron a Gabriela a estudiar danza.

My parents put me in dance classes when I was two years old.

They said that I immediately loved it.

As I grew up, I took more dance classes, and eventually, I performed in competitions.

I was so grateful to my parents for helping me discover dancing.

Gabriela siguió estudiando danza.

Pero en 2007, cuando tenía once años, decidió probar algo nuevo: ser porrista.

Es un deporte que combina baile con acrobacia.

En muchas escuelas preparatorias de los Estados Unidos, las porristas animan a los equipos deportivos y fomentan el espíritu escolar con sus bailes y porras.

At my school, our cheerleading group performed at basketball games.

It was always super fun.

I thought some of the other girls on the team were amazing because they could do acrobatics.

For example, in some performances, cheerleaders threw each other into the air.

It was so cool!

Pero, en su último año de secundaria, Gabriela tuvo que enfrentar un desafío nuevo y difícil.

A su padre le diagnosticaron cáncer.

Every time my dad came home from the hospital, he talked about the nurses he met.

He said they worked so hard to help him feel more comfortable and less afraid.

And I realized that I really wanted to help people in that way.

So, I decided I wanted to be a nurse!

Después de graduarse, se matriculó en la escuela de enfermería, en Pensilvania.

Nunca dejó de bailar en la universidad, pero cuando se graduó en 2016, decidió dedicarse exclusivamente a su nueva carrera profesional.

I began to work as a nurse at a hospital in the city of Philadelphia.

I always knew that I wanted to help people, but I didn’t expect my career to become my passion.

My favorite part of the job was learning more about my patients.

I didn’t think of them as just people in hospital beds.

I thought of them as humans who had their own lives outside of the hospital.

Si bien a Gabriela le encantaba cuidar a sus pacientes, ¡se dio cuenta de que extrañaba mucho bailar! Entonces se acordó que una amiga con la que creció bailando se había convertido en porrista de los Philadelphia Eagles.

Dancing has always been important to me because it’s good for my body and it helps me feel more creative.

So I was really interested when my friend told me about her experiences as a cheerleader.

She said it was really fun but also a lot of work because most cheerleaders have more than one job!

A pesar de las largas horas de práctica y dedicación, a las porristas de la NFL solo se les paga un salario de medio tiempo.

Por eso, la mayoría aceptan otros trabajos para complementar sus ingresos.

Eso le generó un poco de ansiedad a Gabriela pues no sabía cómo sobrellevar su trabajo como enfermera junto a los entrenamientos y partidos.

Luckily, my friend helped answer all my questions, and with her help, I realized that I really wanted to do it.

It seemed amazing and the Eagles were my favorite football team.

I loved being a nurse and I loved dancing, so I thought, “I could have a life where I did both of those things!”

Eran las ocho de la mañana de un día de enero en 2019 cuando, a sus veinticuatro años, Gabriela se presentó en un gran salón para hacer una audición.

Había otras trescientas bailarinas allí y todas competían por uno de los 32 puestos para convertirse en porristas del Philadelphia Eagles.

When I arrived, there were so many people waiting to audition.

They gave each person a number, they called three numbers at a time, and we all had to dance in a room together.

And then they told us to wait until the end of the day.

That was when we found out if we were chosen to go to the second audition.

Después de la primera ronda, Gabriela tuvo que esperar tanto que dudó que pudiera avanzar.

Pero por fin, escuchó que llamaban por su número.

¡Eso significaba que había pasado a la siguiente ronda! Y luego, ¡a la siguiente!

I will never forget the final audition in the spring of 2019.

At the end of that day, they called out the numbers of everyone who was chosen to be on the team.

When they said, “Number 52, Gabriela Bren” I couldn’t move! One of the other girls had to push me onto the stage! I was so surprised.

I never thought I was actually going to be chosen to be on the team.

A la semana siguiente, Gabriela y sus nuevas compañeras comenzaron un entrenamiento riguroso.

When I started, I was nervous about how I was going to do everything.

But the other cheerleaders helped me and other new members.

We became a very close group.

We practiced our dance routines together twice a week for three or four hours each time.

Then, on the weekends during football season, we prepared for the games together.

If the game started on Sunday at 1:00 pm, we had to be there at 7:00 am.

It’s an all day event but it was always fun cheering with my team!

A pesar de todo, ella mantuvo sus turnos de enfermería en el hospital.

I worked 36 hours a week as a nurse, so I had to make sure that there was time in my schedule for cheerleading.

Being a cheerleader is not just performing.

We also represented the team in our community.

So we visited schools and participated in events.

Sometimes we also trained younger cheerleaders!

Gabriela no estaba sola a la hora de gestionar sus dos trabajos porque sus compañeras porristas siempre la apoyaron.

Y eran tan comprensivas porque ellas también estaban en la misma situación: ¡todas tenían que equilibrar su vida entre varios trabajos!

All of us are either full-time college students or we have other full-time jobs.

I’m the only nurse on the cheerleading team, but there are also scientists, accountants, teachers… and more! We all have to be very good at planning.

We all work together to help each other with our busy schedules.

I couldn’t do it without them!

Hoy en día, Gabriela siente que tiene el deber de mantener la moral alta incluso cuando es un juego difícil.

Y eso la ayudó a ser una mejor enfermera y llevar ese mismo espíritu positivo a sus pacientes en el hospital.

I had a patient who was going through a very tough time.

He was very sad and he didn’t like to talk.

One day, I asked him if he watched football.

He looked very excited, and he said yes.

Then I asked him if he liked the Philadelphia Eagles.

He said it was his favorite team! That’s when I told him I was a cheerleader for the team.

He looked so happy! It was such a simple thing, but it helped him feel better.

I loved that I could help someone just by telling them about my other life as a cheerleader.

Si bien Gabriela se convirtió en porrista profesional, nuestra siguiente narradora llegó a este deporte más tarde en la vida, solo por diversión.

Era 2013 y Rosemary Tiffany comenzaba un nuevo capítulo en su vida.

Después de 37 años como maestra, acababa de jubilarse de las aulas y se había mudado con su esposo a una nueva comunidad de jubilados, o retirement community, llamada Sun City en Arizona, un estado en el suroeste de los Estados Unidos.

Sun City is a retirement community for people who are over the age of 55.

My husband and I visited and we realized that we really liked the community.

It was comfortable and fun, the weather was nice, and we could do things we enjoyed!

Pero dos meses después de mudarse, Rosemary tenía un nuevo problema.

I had a lot of free time, so I thought about working part-time at the local school.

But it didn’t seem as much fun as my previous teaching job.

Still, I knew I needed to do something because I was becoming very bored!

Entonces, en enero de 2014, Rosemary decidió unirse a todos los talleres que ofrecía la comunidad de jubilados.

Fue en uno de ellos que dos mujeres se le acercaron y le preguntaron si estaba interesada en unirse a algo llamado The Sun City Poms.

I didn’t know what they were talking about, so they explained: The Sun City Poms are a cheer and marching team.

It’s all women over the age of 55, and they perform at local events, retirement homes and high schools.

Rosemary, que en ese momento tenía 62 años, estaba intrigada, pero también nerviosa.

Ella nunca había estado en un equipo marchante, o marching team ni había practicado ningún tipo de danza aunque siempre le había gustado la música y bailar con su familia.

My parents are of Mexican descent, and they were born in Texas.

They worked on farms while I was growing up.

My family had to move every season, wherever they could find work.

So, I had to change my school often, and I never had time to participate in activities at school, like dancing or cheerleading.

But as a teenager, my mom took me to dances organized by other people in the Mexican-American community.

Eventually, I learned how to dance! I always had so much fun!

Rosemary aún no estaba lista para unirse a los Poms.

Pero ella quería aprender más, así que fue a uno de sus entrenamientos, solo como observadora.

As I watched them practice, I thought it was so exciting and interesting.

It was a group of women who were my age, and they were moving and dancing so beautifully to fun music.

I immediately knew that I wanted to be just like them and do what they were doing.

Rosemary se enteró que el grupo solía presentarse en eventos comunitarios y escuelas.

Así fue como justo después del ensayo, decidió inscribirse en todo lo que los Poms tenían para ofrecerle.

My biggest fear after watching them was that I didn’t have enough dance experience.

I didn’t think I was good enough to perform with them.

But they were very nice, and they said they were going to teach me everything I needed to know.

Pronto, Rosemary ensayaría dos veces por semana con un coreógrafo de baile.

¡El entrenamiento duraba entre tres y cuatro horas! Era un trabajo difícil, pero Rosemary se estaba divirtiendo y se sentía cómoda aprendiendo las rutinas.

Pero había algo que no terminaba de convencerla.

When I first joined the Poms, they gave me an outfit to wear at our performances.

It was shiny and had bright colors, and it included a very short skirt.

I was worried about what people were going to think when they saw me wearing the uniform.

I showed it to my husband, and I said, “I cannot wear this out on the streets! People will laugh at me!”

Aunque no se sentía muy cómoda, Rosemary tuvo que usar el traje corto y despampanante cuando se dirigió a su primera actuación en febrero del 2014 con los Poms.

Ese evento fue en un gimnasio de una escuela preparatoria.

You know, we’re older ladies, and we’re wearing short little costumes.

I was afraid that the high school students were going to shout horrible things at us.

I was really, really nervous.

Pero para su sorpresa, sucedió exactamente lo opuesto.

¡A los estudiantes les encantó los Poms y aplaudieron tan fuerte que Rosemary apenas podía escuchar la música!

I was so excited during that performance! When we finished dancing, a group of students ran up to us and said, “Can we take a picture with you? I want to show my grandma!” That’s when I realized that they really liked us and we were an inspiration to them.

Después de esa actuación, Rosemary se sintió mucho más segura de sus habilidades con el baile y de sus deslumbrantes atuendos.

¡Había entendido lo divertidos que eran! Después de un año, ella disfrutaba de todos los eventos comunitarios con los Poms.

Sin embargo, sentía que algo faltaba.

After each practice with the Poms, we all just went home.

And I wanted more connection with the other dancers.

One day I realized that I didn’t really know anything about anyone on the team! So I mentioned this to one of the other ladies on the Poms.

And then a couple of days later, the president called me and said: “Rosemary, I want to start a social committee.

And I want you to be in charge!”

Rosemary no esperaba que por un comentario casual se llegara a esta situación, ¡pero aceptó, sin dudarlo!

I started by giving my team members certificates for working hard at practices and performances.

And then I organized events where we could dress up, have some snacks, and spend time together.

We also started having events that we called “parties with a purpose” where we helped our community by collecting food, cleaning supplies, or toys for charities.

Para Rosemary, este tipo de eventos mantienen vivo el espíritu de equipo tanto como los desfiles y las actuaciones.

I think the Poms are closer now because of the social committee.

Now we’re like sisters, we have a lot more fun and we also work better as a team.

I think the Poms are an important part of the community because we show that you can still be healthy and active when you’re older.

Además, ser una Pom le dio a Rosemary algo más que nunca imaginó que tendría.

When I was younger, I was shy and nervous.

I never expected to perform in front of large groups one day.

But being a Pom has helped me become much more confident.

Dancing is my passion and I put my heart into it, or as I like to say, I dance from my heart to my feet.

A sus 71 años, Rosemary Tiffany continúa dirigiendo el comité social y actuando para Sun City Poms en Arizona.

Anteriormente en este episodio, escuchamos a Gabriela Bren.

Ella sigue prosperando con sus dos profesiones, como porrista de los Philadelphia Eagles y como enfermera de traumatología en Penn Presbyterian Medical Center.

Este episodio fue producido por Caro Rolando, de Adonde Media.