Jacksonville Jaguars cheerleaders join Celebration High's squad for Storm Kickoff Classic
The sidelines of Celebration High School roared a little louder on the first Friday Night Lights of the 2025 season. The Celebration Storm welcomed the ROAR, the cheerleading squad of the NFL’s Jacksonville Jaguars professional football team, to John Bushey Stadium in a surprise event to launch the season in Osceola County.
The ROAR cheerleaders arrived early to the Storm’s game against Discovery High School and brought the excitement and glam to the pregame warmup, mingling with the CHS cheerleaders and posing for media photos. After leading the Storm football team in a tunnel-run entrance, they performed with the hometown cheerleaders.
“We couldn’t be more excited about this. Especially now watching our cheerleaders meet them on the track for the first time,” Celebration High School Athletic Director Chad Boudreaux said. “I’m glad they picked us.”
The event was organized by Experience Kissimmee in a partnership with the Jacksonville Jaguars. As the official tourism authority for Osceola County, Experience Kissimmee works to highlight the area as a top travel destination.
“We identified Jacksonville as a great drive market for us,” said Tyler Weyant, Director of Sports Development for Experience Kissimmee. “A lot of Jaguars fans are located in Central Florida, so that was the building block to start a relationship with the Jacksonville Jaguars and make us, Osceola County and Kissimmee, the official Central Florida destination partner of the Jacksonville Jaguars.”
The ROAR cheer squad has been a key part of the arrangement, and ROAR members like Mia Paravisini said they were happy to take time out from their preseason team retreat to support the CHS cheerleaders.
“One of my favorite parts about being an NFL cheerleader is getting to do outreach to the community,” she said. “This is probably something they [high school cheerleaders] want to do in the future, so it definitely means a lot to be able to bring a smile to their face and be able to support their high school and their city.”
Boudreaux agreed.
“I think it’s just gonna just help our girls grow even more,” he said. “We have one of the best cheer programs in the state. They won the state championship a couple years ago. They were second in state for a few years, too. So our cheer program’s huge, but I think with them being here and seeing that, they’re gonna be inspired.”
The ROAR fields a squad of ambitious and accomplished athletes.
“About half are in school full-time in college, pursuing their careers, some are already set in their careers. We have lawyers,” said Christy Stechman Zynda, Director of Entertainment Groups and Grassroots Events for the Jacksonville Jaguars. “We have a woman who is in the military. We have women that are mothers and balancing all of this as well as being an NFL cheerleader “So I hope that they see that and know that they can dream it and be whatever they want to be.”
The ROAR team is prepping for its NFL season opener on Sept. 7. Could Central Florida see even more of the Jaguars team in the coming years? As the Jaguars’ home of EverBank Stadium undergoes renovations through 2027, the team is looking for a place to host their 2027 slate of NFL home games with Orlando and Gainesville making the short list.
“I believe that we’ll know around October, is supposed to be when we’ll get the news so we’ll see,” said Zynda.
Weyant added, “We’re hoping it’s Orlando, But still, fingers crossed right now.”
