After the Super Bowl, this Eagles cheer captain is hanging up her pom-poms

After six seasons cheering for the Philadelphia Eagles, cheer captain Arielle Hunt is retiring.

Hunt has hit the maximum number of years allowed to cheer for the team and is hanging up her green-and-white pom-poms — but not before leaving it all on the field for the Birds one last time Sunday at the Super Bowl.

One of the Eagles cheer squad’s eight captains, Hunt joined the Eagles in 2019. And though she is sad to leave the team, she said, she is leaving feeling extremely fulfilled.

“I can’t imagine cheering for anyone other than the Eagles,” Hunt said.

She’s ending her tenure on a high note. Besides the Super Bowl, Hunt was selected by her teammates as a Pro Bowl cheerleader, which took her to Orlando last weekend before she hopped on a plane to meet the rest of the squad in New Orleans.

With things moving so quickly, Hunt is trying to live in the moment and take it all in. Lately, she finds herself tearing up at the national anthem and seeing Lincoln the Eagle swoop down in the Linc.

“It’s super emotional, but … Pro Bowl and Super Bowl, you cannot think of a better way to go out.”

And there’s the added bonus of this year’s Eagles slogan: “Let’s hunt.”

“I’ve never been so proud of my last name,” she joked.

Being a Philly girl through and through, Hunt said she feels a deep sense of accomplishment in having been able to cheer for her hometown NFL team these last few years. And while several of the cheerleaders on the squad are from the Philadelphia area, she’s one of the few from the city proper.

“Getting to represent the Eagles has just always been so cool to me,” she said.

Hunt is originally from Wynnefield in West Philly, a section of the city she said she loves so much, she can’t think of living anywhere else.

The only time Hunt has lived somewhere other than her beloved neighborhood was when she made the four-mile voyage to Temple University, where she was on the school’s dance team, the Diamond Gems. It was in her last year at Temple that she tried out for the Eagles cheer team. She didn’t tell anyone other than her parents that she was auditioning.

Hunt made it through round after round, clearing interviews, choreography, and then the final round, which involved a fitness routine showcasing the cheerleaders’ athleticism. Back then, folks could buy tickets to watch the final round of cheer tryouts, both in-person and on a livestream, almost like it was a pageant.

The room was filled with families who came prepared with posters displaying their daughters’ faces. Because Hunt had played her cards close to the chest, there was no one in the audience for her.

“I remember being like, ‘We’ll just see what happens,’ and then I heard my number called,” she said.

She looks back fondly on the excitement of her family — especially her father, retired Philadelphia Tribune sportswriter Donald Hunt — that she had made the team. For Arielle Hunt, it was a dream come true to be able to cheer for the city she comes from.

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“Everyone who meets me is like, ‘You’re so Philly, I love that about you,’” she said, adding that Philadelphia’s essence cannot be replicated anywhere else. She delights in knowing that “Philly-made” is branded on her.

And when the other Pro Bowl cheerleaders mentioned how passionate Philly sports fans are, Hunt enthusiastically agreed. “Yeah, they are,” she said. “And I’m the same way!”

It’s that love of her city and its people that makes the community work Hunt gets to do with the Eagles all the more meaningful.

Last summer, Hunt and her friends brought the Eagles spirit to Overbrook Elementary School with a pep rally and school supplies. The school doesn’t have a yard or jungle gym, she said, so she brought items they could play outside with, like bubbles and chalk.

In her time with the Eagles, she has also participated in organization-specific community service, such as the Eagles Autism Foundation and Junior Cheer Clinic, which she went to herself while she was growing up.

She recalls meeting the Eagles cheerleaders of the time and thinking that being on the squad was an “unattainable” goal, but still being happy to be in the room with them.

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“It’s such a special moment to encourage the next generation of young performers to continue to pursue their dreams and that they can be whatever they want to be as long as they keep striving for excellence,” Hunt said. “I think that’s truly my favorite part of being an Eagles cheerleader.”

Come May, Hunt will graduate from a three-year weekend program in physical therapy. While cheering for the Birds in the regular season, Hunt was also finishing up her didactic work and getting ready to move onto clinical rotations this year. She doesn’t know exactly what path she wants to take yet, but she says she loves working with children and older adults.

But she’s passionate about dance, too — and has big goals. One of which is to explore choreographing at a college level before working up to choreographing for an NFL cheer team.

Hunt’s advice for those wanting to try out as an NFL cheerleader is simple: Confidence is key.

“The best thing you can wear is a smile,“ Hunt said. “Don’t hold back. Leave it all out there when you’re auditioning.”

And though she’s looking forward to the next steps in her career, Hunt is sentimental about closing this chapter of her life. Part of her will feel like it’s missing without her pom-poms, but she recognizes the personal growth she has achieved since her number was called back in 2019.

“I don’t think I would be the same woman that I am now without this team,” she said. “I’m truly forever changed.”