Get to know the woman who brought cheerleading to her native Brazil as an Olympic sport! New England Patriots cheerleader and Cape Cod’s own Lara Magalhaes sits down with Gabriella Celona in this in depth feature on the passion, process, and purpose behind her mission. Up next: The NFL in Brazil!
THERE has perpetually been this ongoing debate about whether cheerleading is considered a sport or not; and as you may have gathered by my tone: IT IS.
And former Patriots Cheerleader Lara Magalhaes is determined to solidify that statement internationally.
Magalhaes became the first-ever Brazilian Patriots NFL cheerleader, during the 2021 football season. Now, she has even bigger dreams for Brazilian cheerleaders like herself, and she is actively turning those dreams into a reality.
Magalhaes was born in Sabinopolis, Brazil. At fourteen years old she moved to Cape Cod, Massachusetts; otherwise known as ‘The Cape’, which is when she began cheerleading.
She immediately knew this was her sport. Magalhaes has a dance background, as dance and cheer go hand and hand.
“I truly fell in love with cheerleading,” Lara says. “Because growing up I always participated in sporting events, so performing during a game helped fuel that fire for me.”
She then continued training for cheer throughout high school and even had the chance to experience the responsibilities of being the team captain. She thought at that point this achievement would be her greatest. She was wrong.
“In 2009, I moved back to Brazil and gave birth to my beautiful daughter, Emmanuelly, “Lara says beaming. “My daughter immediately became my priority, so I took time off from cheerleading for the next six years -from the minute Emmanuelly was born, up until 2016- when I then returned to the cheerleading world and founded the first ever Cheer Association in my home country of Brazil.”
In 2017, she signed a partnership with Cruzeiro Sports Club. She became the founder of the Cruzeiro Cheerleading team that offered both sideline and competitive teams for professional Cruzeiro sports teams.
For two years she was able to create and perform in association with their professional futbol (soccer) team, their American football team, and their volleyball team.
Taking into consideration that she was a Massachusetts resident for several years, we can conclude that she had a great appreciation and love for the Patriots and the local fan community that only people from the Boston area can understand.
“So I took a shot and reached out to the Patriots cheerleaders’ head coach (the late Tracy Sormanti) in hopes that she would share how she operates things in Boston so I could better lead my team in Brazil,” Lara explains.
After speaking with the coach, Lara was personally invited to audition for the Patriots cheerleaders team here in Boston.
“I knew I couldn’t say no to this opportunity, as this was my ultimate dream,” Lara says.
To cheer professionally for her favorite American football team, she moved back to the U.S. immediately to pursue these goals.
“I physically trained day after day for the sport,” Lara states. “And studied many a night to educate myself about the Patriot’s history.”
Her former high school cheerleading coach helped her accomplish these things.
“Being a Patriots cheerleader is much more than just looking pretty on the sidelines, although that is a great perk,” Lara emphasizes. “It takes a lot of hard work, determination, and training.”
In 2019, she made it to finals but unfortunately did not make it on the team. More importantly, this was not the end for her, it became that of the people of her community, her family, her daughter, and the Brazilian Patriots fan base.
She persevered and kept trying until she finally made the team in 2021.
Luckily, the Patriots cheer coach made her feel extremely welcome, and since she still had to go that extra mile to pursue her dreams she felt somehow validated by the coach and the experience alike.
It fueled the fire inside her, the one that made her want to be able to provide the path to others who choose to do the same.
Magalhaes says, “It doesn’t matter where you come from, as long as you put in the work.”
According to Lara, her journey has taught her so much, and she is still learning every day, but she also wants to be clear that she believes it is very important to enjoy the process as well.
When speaking with Magalhaes about her journey, I couldn’t help but ask her to reflect on her career and speak about a significant moment that she felt shaped her career.
She responded without skipping: “The experiences that have been brought to me through this career path. The minute I saw my name on the website, I knew my entire life was about to change and it was a gift from God that he wanted me to have so I can inspire other people so they can achieve their dreams too”.
Before her, there were no direct international relationships within the NFL for cheer.
To this day the NFL has known they need more international diversity so it is safe to say that she has made a significant mark in the development of these new relationships.
To continue her legacy and open doors to those who will come after her throughout the Boston area, Magalhaes decided to create a student athlete development company that has two main areas: Bridge International Sports & Education (BISE) and Bridge to the Sidelines (BTTS).
BISE is the program that guidelines athletes to their path to international athletes interested in playing sports in the US.
Meanwhile, BTTS is exclusively focused on preparing aspiring cheerleaders for college & professional teams.
Bridge International has an All-Star Cheerleading and Dance team which bridges the gap between Brazilian All-Star Teams and International competitions such as The Finals, The Cheerleading Worlds, and the Dance Worlds.
Lara Magalhaes is the President of the Brazilian Sports Cheerleading Confederation and led the All-Star team to the first-ever World Titles in Brazil’s cheerleading history.
“It was such a great accomplishment for all parties involved,” Lara says smiling.
Although a large number of athletes involved with this program are cheerleaders, BISE is also known for working with American football players, fútbol (soccer) players, and volleyball players.
Meanwhile, the other program, Bridge to the Sidelines, specifically works with cheerleaders and dancers who aspire to pursue these sports professionally (focusing on the NFL and NBA.)
“Cheerleading has a lot of complexities to it,” Lara states. “Especially during the audition process, things can get pretty intense. This is why the programs we have created are super important. They are there to help the athlete understand what to expect and prepare for this process.”
Lara explains that this requires strenuous physicality: strength, flexibility, coordination and more. This is all included in conditioning, stunting, tumbling, dancing, etc. Mental and emotional aspects of cheerleading include using your brain to memorize your routines, learning how to quickly adapt to changes that may need to be made last minute, and ultimately developing high-quality collaboration and time management skills.
On top of all of these characteristics of cheer, there are much, much more I could delve into, it’s enough for a whole different article.
AS Brazil is the fifth largest country in the World; it is exciting news to announce that as of February 28th, 2024: Cheer in Brazil is officially being announced as a recognized sport by the Olympic committee of Brazil.
From here on out, the sport is now eligible to be considered in future Olympic games.
The Brazilian Sport of Cheerleading Confederation- CBCD, the non-profit organization governing cheerleading in the country, is a member of the ICU (International Cheer Union) which is the worldwide sports governing body of cheerleading.
They have been working with the Brazilian Olympic Committee (COB) for the past three years to ensure that all requirements are met to be affiliated with the COB. Magalhaes and the CBCD are currently having a huge impact on the legacy of cheerleading.
These are just the beginning stepping stones to cheerleading becoming an Olympic sport. The ICU has achieved the right to bid to be in the Olympics; now Brazil can help even more with this process!
“It really is just the beginning,” Lara says with pride. “There is so much more coming.”
And everyone from the Cape to Brazil will be cheering Lara Magalhaes on as she does it.
