NFL's Oldest Cheerleader, Laura Vikmanis, cheerleader for the Cincinnati Ben-gals.At 42 years old, Laura Vikmanis is the NFL's oldest cheerleader. A registered dietician, trainer and mom of teenagers who set her mind to making the squad and joined the Cincinnati Bengals' Ben-Gals squad in 2009, Vikmanis serves as a guide for her younger cheerleading teammates. If it sounds like a Hollywood film, well, it soon will be.
We've already seen inspirational true stories about aspiring football players overcoming the odds to play for their favorite team in films like Rudy and Invincible. So it only seems logical that the next move is to tell the story of an NFL cheerleader struggling to make the squad.
The Hollywood Reporter writes:
Vikmanis, a mother with two teenage daughters, was shaken after her husband left her for a younger woman. At a Cincinnati Bengals game, her sister suggested she find something to make her happy, and Vikmanis, who had been a dancer, looked to the field and said being a cheerleader looked like fun.
At age 39, she tried out for the Ben-Gals squad but failed. Vikmanis, however, spent a year improving her fitness and working on routines and returned to tryouts the following year. She made the squad, thus serving as an inspiration to her daughters and as a mother figure to the cheerleaders, many of them 20 years her junior.
I think the film could work if done right. Though I could also see it being overly cheesy or cutesy too if done poorly.What do you think? Do you want to see a film about a struggling 42-year-old cheerleader? Or, perhaps the bigger question is: who do you want to see play Vikmanis?
