Celebrity gives her a chance to dance

Arnold Schwarzenegger invites a Sickles High cheerleader to his fitness EXPO in Ohio to perform solo fitness dance routines during each day of the event.

By JANE BOKUN

© St. Petersburg Times, published February 27, 2000

CITRUS PARK -- Jennifer Rosen has a date with one of the world's biggest celebrities this weekend, but she's not nervous.

"I'm used to it," she said.

The 15-year-old Sickles High School cheerleader has been invited by actor and bodybuilding champion Arnold Schwarzenegger to show off her fitness skills in an exhibition routine at the Arnold Classic Fitness EXPO in Columbus, Ohio. The show, which attracts sports figures and bodybuilders from all over the world, started Thursday and winds up today. Rosen was to perform solo fitness dancing routines for about 45 minutes each day of the event.

Rosen has been performing in gymnastics and fitness shows throughout the country since she was 5. Her road to meeting the action film star began when she was seen at age 12 by Jim Lorimer, Schwarzenegger's business partner.

Lorimer saw Rosen do an elaborate aerobics-type routine when she competed at the Eastern USA Fitness Championship in New York City. Rosen placed second in the contest, and Lorimer recommended her to Schwarzenegger. He in turn invited Rosen to appear at the Arnold Classic EXPO, all expenses paid.

"It was fun and I got to meet Arnold," Rosen said. "He was nice."

The next year Rosen was invited back, but she broke her ankle practicing for the event. She kept training and has come back each year since as a popular attraction at the fitness show.

Rosen, who recently moved to Lutz from Carrollwood, said she owes a lot of her skill and endurance to training with her coach, Kelley Paz, a former college gymnast now working at Lightning City Gymnastics on Nebraska Avenue.

"Jennifer is extraordinary," Paz said. "She has poise beyond her years, along with being one of the strongest athletes I've ever encountered."

Paz said at the age of 11, Rosen could do 35 pull-ups. Today, the high school sophomore works out four times a week with one hour of strength training and gymnastics and an hour of a cardiovascular work-out -- in addition to her workouts as a cheerleader.

All this exercising, however, has become a normal part of Rosen's life and sometimes, she said, it can be painful.

"I just have to block it out," she said.

She said she also receives encouragement to continue from her mother, Sandy Rini.

"I'm just so proud of her," Rini said.

Sisters Stephanie Rosen, 18, also a cheerleader at Sickles and a former gymnast, and Lindsey Rosen, 12, who competes in karate, also cheer her on.

Rosen hopes all her hard work and determination will pay off some day in a profession she would enjoy.

"I hope one day to be a professional choreographer," she said. "Or maybe after college I'll teach deaf children to communicate through dance."

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