{"id":351834,"date":"2026-06-26T20:16:15","date_gmt":"2026-06-26T20:16:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/351834\/"},"modified":"2026-06-26T20:16:15","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T20:16:15","slug":"dallas-cowboys-cheerleaders-first-new-zealand-member-details-culture-shock-of-american-customs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/351834\/","title":{"rendered":"Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders\u2019 First New Zealand Member Details \u2018Culture Shock\u2019 of American Customs"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders\u2019 first-ever member from New Zealand is opening up about the culture shock she experienced joining the team<\/a> after moving from the Southern Hemisphere.<\/p>\n

Faith Ward<\/a>, 22, joined the acclaimed cheerleading group<\/a> this season after being reached out to in July of 2025 by a recruiter on social media who she initially thought was a scammer.<\/p>\n

Speaking to People<\/a> in an interview published on Friday, June 26, she explained how her first year<\/a> as a Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader has been and how her first year in the United States has also been.<\/p>\n

The athlete, who was born in New Zealand but lived most of her life in Perth, Australia, said that in addition to learning about the NFL<\/a> and the rules of American football, the biggest culture shock for her was \u201cthe portion sizes of food.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Faith<\/p>\n

Instagram\/flexi_faith<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t realize how much I spoke about food on the show, which makes me look like I fit in perfectly,\u201d she told the outlet. \u201cI order something and it comes massive. I love American food. Texas barbecue is my personal favorite, but that was definitely a shock, the greasy processed-ness of the food.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ward\u2019s other big culture shock was captured on the third season of the Netflix<\/a> docuseries America\u2019s Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, where she can be seen trying to turn onto a busy highway in Texas after driving on the opposite side of the road in Australia all her life.<\/p>\n

\"Faith<\/p>\n

Instagram\/flexi_faith<\/p>\n

\u201cIn Dallas, everyone drives like you\u2019ve got seven lives and fast. In Australia, it\u2019s very like you\u2019re chill, you\u2019re by the beach, you\u2019re driving,\u201d she told People.<\/p>\n

Finally, she revealed the other American custom she had to adapt to, which was waiting until a higher-up finishes speaking to speak herself.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, you see me talking eight hundred miles an hour in the show,\u201d she explained. \u201cI was born and raised that you should be acknowledging someone as they\u2019re speaking as a sign of respect.\u201d<\/p>\n

She added, \u201cComing here to Texas, the \u2018yes ma\u2019am\u2019 is a respect thing and you stay silent until the end.\u201d<\/p>\n

This story Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders\u2019 First New Zealand Member Details \u2018Culture Shock\u2019 of American Customs<\/a> first appeared on InTouch Weekly<\/a>. Follow InTouch Weekly on Yahoo<\/a> so you don\u2019t miss what\u2019s coming next.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders\u2019 first-ever member from New Zealand is opening up about the culture shock she experienced…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":351835,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[125334,102,32536,104,103,122157,38962],"class_list":["post-351834","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-dallas","tag-culture-shock","tag-dallas","tag-dallas-cowboys-cheerleaders","tag-dallas-headlines","tag-dallas-news","tag-faith-ward","tag-new-zealand"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/351834","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=351834"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/351834\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/351835"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=351834"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=351834"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=351834"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}