{"product_id":"2940169384499","title":"It's Not About the Pom-Poms: How a 40-Year-Old Mom Became the NFL's Oldest Cheerleader--and Found Hope, Joy, and Inspiration Along the Way","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA forty-year-old cheerleader? When Laura Vikmanis, a single mom in Ohio, told friends that she wanted to be an NFL cheerleader, they said it would never happen. But she proved them all wrong. . . . \u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eLaura Vikmanis has got spirit . . . and pom-poms, too! But before she stepped onto the field as the oldest cheerleader in the National Football League, she was sidelined by a bad marriage and the many responsibilities of stay-at-home motherhood. She finally got the courage to leave her husband and to ask herself something she had never asked before: What do I want to do? Remembering her teenage love of dance, she signed up for a pole-dancing fitness class, where she met a former cheerleader for the Cincinnati Bengals. When the woman suggested that Laura audition to be a \"Ben-Gal,\" Laura laughed her off but soon realized that the audition process could be a way of healing herself-and regaining her confidence. Her boots were made for walking-but also for stomping on a football field.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eShe tried out for the team next to girls young enough to be her daughters. Girls with tighter abs, fuller hair, no kids, and no crow's-feet. After much adversity and multiple auditions, she finally made the team, becoming the oldest cheerleader in the League.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eIt's Not About the Pom-Poms\u003c\/i\u003e follows Laura's inspiring, funny, and eye-opening journey from demoralized divorcée to high-kicking Cincinnati Ben-Gal. Readers will cheer her on as she rediscovers her passion for dancing, takes hip-hop classes with twelve-year-olds, loses twenty-five pounds, discovers her abs, finds love again, and becomes a new kind of role model to her daughters. Laura also provides an inside look into the fascinating world of NFL cheerleaders-the grueling workouts, bad pay, twice-weekly weigh-ins, but, most important, the lifelong bond between the women, who do it all for the glory.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eLeading with her heart, Laura Vikmanis faces adversity with her head held high as she learns in mid-life to take a flying leap. Powerful and uplifting, \u003ci\u003eIt's Not About the Pom-Poms\u003c\/i\u003e shows that, no matter your age, it's never too late to go, fight, and win!\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Penguin Random House","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47097913475312,"sku":"2940169384499","price":20.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940169384499_p0.jpg?v=1763781723","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940169384499","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}