Meet Kayla, a Rochester Native and Minnesota Viking Cheerleader!

As the Vikings take the field during the Home Opener game against the Green Bay Packers, make sure to keep an eye out for four local girls on the sidelines as part of the 42 Minnesota Vikings Cheerleaders (MVC)

This year, 4 different ladies originally from Rochester have made the squad and I was able to get in touch with them all for a blog series:  Meet Kayla, who graduated from Mayo High School in 2011 and was part of the Mayo Dance Team. When she isn't cheering, Kayla works full time for the company Sigma Beauty, a cosmetic brand that is most well-known for make-up brushes and cosmetics.  She is the sales trainer for their whole sales program and works with retailers around the world to provide both digital and live training material to the stores.  Her first year with the MVC was right after she graduated. "I actually found out I made the team in April of my senior year, so I actually was able to share that with my entire high school.  It was crazy! I never dreamed that I would make it my first year!"  The MVC tryout process, which began in April, is highly competitive and after a month of auditions the team is selected.  In her Sixth year as a Minnesota Vikings Cheerleader Kayla says try outs are still nerve-wracking.  "We have to re-tryout every year and it is interesting because the expectations of the coach is 'as a Veteran, you need to keep improving and keep getting better and better than you've been before, so it's a little bit nerve wracking every year because you have that expectation set for you especially being a 4th, 5th or 6th year Veteran, but with hard work you can definitely make it back." said Kayla.  "I made the team very young, and it's a lot of time commitments, but I love it and I couldn't imagine my life without it."  As for the games, "We only do home games, unless (cross our fingers) we make it to the Super Bowl, then we would have the chance to cheer in the Super Bowl."  I went to London my 3rd year when we played the International Series game, and last year we got to travel to Ohio to the Hall of Fame Game, so we do have some unique opportunities to travel as well, we just don't travel for the away games." said Kayla. Get to know more about the Kayla by reading her bio on Vikings.com!