Bucs’ first male cheerleader looks to pioneer new movement

Lorenzo Gilbert didn’t follow football growing up. He ran track as a kid and played a little football with his brothers in Miami, but wasn’t one to have his eyes glued to the television on Sundays rooting for any specific team or favorite players.

But now here he is, in the NFL, on the field, rooting for the Bucs at every home game.

Gilbert, 32, is the team’s first male cheerleader, one of six rookies on the Buccaneers’ 32-member squad and one of a suddenly growing number of male cheerleaders throughout the NFL.

“It’s a big role because at the end of the day, they can never take away the fact that I was the first,” Gilbert said. “It’s scary at times because you never know how some people may perceive it because it is unfamiliar territory, but my goal is to do the best I can possibly do and just hope that that inspires others.”

Tara Battiato, the Bucs’ senior cheerleader manager, said that men have tried out for the team before, but none could match the skill set of Gilbert, who emerged from more than 100 candidates during tryouts for this season’s squad.

“You have to be an elite dancer cheerleader to be on our team regardless of gender,” Battiato said. “It’s hard to be a member of our team, and we have hundreds of candidates every season that don’t make it because they’re not qualified. … If this inspires men, women, anyone to come out and be a part of our team, that just makes everything better.”

Before last year, there were no men on any NFL choreographed dance cheerleading squad — the Ravens have had males on their squad for a decade, but they are stunt cheerleaders. Last season, Napoleon Jinnies and Quinton Peron joined the Rams cheerleading squad and became the first males to cheer in a Super Bowl. The Saints also added their first male cheerleader last season, Jesse Hernandez.

This season, Gilbert is among 17 male choreographed dance cheerleaders representing NFL teams. The Seahawks’ squad has eight males, and this year changed its name from the Sea Gals to the Seahawks Dancers. The Saints squad, the Saintsations, now has three men. The Patriots have two, the Eagles one and the Titans one.

A dancer and choreographer with Event Show Productions in Ybor City, Gilbert held an interest in trying out — he was looking for a place where he could dance and “really sweat” — but he initially hesitated to try out. Brittany Dahlberg, a coworker, fourth-year Bucs cheerleader and second-year captain on the squad, encouraged him.

Still, Gilbert’s technical training in modern dance — he studied at New World School of Arts in Miami — was much different than the sharp, hard-hitting movements that cheerleaders perform in their routines.

“He was all in from the jump,” Dahlberg said. “He said this was something he knew he wanted to do. He seemed a little more nervous than a typical gig because this is a huge deal. It’s the NFL it’s not just a little side gig. I tried to hold his hand along along the way, telling him, ‘You got this.’ I could tell he really wanted it deep down, and he showed that through the entire process. This is what his dream was.”