With the Super Bowl coming up there’s been a lot of talk about the big game. An article about Courtney Lenz, a Baltimore Ravens Cheerleader, stuck out to me. The NFL only allows each team to bring 30 of it’s 60 cheerleaders to the Super Bowl. Courtney who was a veteran cheerleader was in her last season for the team was exclude from the Super Bowl Game. Courtney said the reason she was barred from attending the game was because of her fluctuation in weight during the season. Courtney even commented that she was benched for gaining a pound and a half. This is nuts. I can’t even imagine the pressure to be that perfect. What kind of job requirements are these. I understand that the cheerleaders represent the team and therefore must look amazing, but to punish someone for gaining a pound or two is crazy. It creates an unhealthy body image and eating habit. I hope that Courtney’s story raises awareness in professional cheerleading and makes people rethink the standards that are set for maintaining a certain body image. ravenscheerleaderBaltimore Ravens cheerleader Courtney Lenz, 23, says she has been barred from the Super Bowl because she weighs too much. Lenz made the comments during an interview on “Access Hollywood” on Wednesday evening. “They said that I had quote, unquote, a rough year,” Lenz said. “I’d been benched earlier in the season for a little bit of a weight gain. We do get weighed every week during the season, and you can’t fluctuate at all. I gained, I think it was 1.8 pounds. I had been consistent and they let me cheer previously and then I gained 1.8 or 1.6 pounds and they said because I had gained weight and they wanted me to be consistent or they wanted me to lose, they benched me for a game and because it was a disciplinary action, that was the reason.” Lenz went on to say that she weighs 124 pounds. “During the season, I was 124. That was consistently, they wanted me to get back down to 121, 120, which is what I was at when I was 18, 19, when I started on the team,” she said. “That was the only disciplinary action I had during the year. I got benched because of my weight, and they said that was the reason. Anybody that had disciplinary action taken during the season was automatically disqualified [from the Super Bowl]. However, there are some girls on the team that were also benched for their weight, and are going. So they just aren’t consistent, it isn’t fair. That’s why I brought this to the attention of the fans because what they’re doing is not right.” Lenz has been a Ravens cheerleader for five years. The Ravens released a statement Thursday morning about the situation: “As set by the NFL, we are permitted to bring 32 cheerleaders to the Super Bowl. Our selection process was based upon three criteria: seniority, performance ability and personal conduct throughout the season. As much as we would like to take the whole team, we are unable to do so, due to parameters set by the NFL.”

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