I decided to try out again in 2025. All year, I worked my booty off. I danced every single day. I started teaching dance this year, so I was eating, sleeping, and breathing dance all year. I worked so hard at getting the NFL DCC style down so that I could dance bigger and with more power and have better kicks.
I brought everything that I possibly could. I put in all the effort I possibly could, but the universe had other plans. I was cut before training camp. They sit us all down in the bleachers and call everyone by number. And if they call your number, you run onto the field; if not, then you just leave. So this year, I just left.
It’s okay. My mom was there—she was working. So I saw my mom and Kelly's daughter, my best friend. My dad had flown in so he was there. A lot of alumni helped out at finals, so all of my mom's friends that she cheered with were there to comfort me right as I was leaving. I didn't feel like I was a failure. If anything, I felt like everyone was so proud of me, and they were just so happy that I gave it a full fair shot.
In the end, what they wanted this year is not what I brought to the table, which is perfectly okay. Their vision is constantly changing. All the girls that made it to training camp here were incredible, and the girls that didn't make it were incredible. I think that they had a really hard time choosing who they would like to bring to training camp.
Before auditioning this year, I had the opportunity to watch season two of _America’s Sweethearts_, which featured my audition process in 2024. I decided not to because I didn't know how it was going to affect me. It was the best decision I could have made because I think that it really would've messed with how I was thinking. I was so focused this year, and I really wasn't watching any TV at all.
When I did watch it, it was an interesting experience to see myself on a show again. I don't think they portrayed me in a bad light. I do wish that they would've shown my highlights, because I had more of them than I had bad moments. Last year's training camp was extremely positive. It was so healing for me. It was very encouraging, very uplifting. Everyone was so motivated, so excited to be there, and in good spirits. Seeing it in a different light was a little shocking to me. It was so focused on the same storyline of me following in my mom's footsteps and being micromanaged by her. That's not what I experienced.
My situation is very niche. It's not easy to understand that I've grown up going to a dance studio, my mom worked there, and I enjoy dance too. People see it as, “you were forced to dance because your mom works there.” I had many opportunities to do anything else. I love to dance. My mom is extremely supportive of whatever I want to do. If I told her I wanted to go be a surgeon tomorrow, she would be over the moon for that.