Cheerleader- Boy for the Cheer

by Daring Diane

  In the mirror, Lee saw the young man he expected. Looking his features over, he felt no one could see through to his inner desires. The secret was safe for now.

  Bounding into the kitchen, Sally was surprised by his early entrance. “You are up early. How about some waffles?”

  Sunday practice had been cancelled after the competition.

  Chapter 21 – Week Seven/Eight – 2nd Practice Competition

  The next two weeks were a blur. Lee and Sylvia’s strategy was validated by their performance in the first competition. The goal was to meet the requirements, avoid penalties and perform everything as close to perfect as possible.

  Practices focused on perfecting the routine and honing the edges where small mistakes had been made. Given their success, a few minor enhancements were added to hopefully garner more points. Lee and Darby had to cut down on their runs due to snow, ice, and cold temperatures.

  Tuesdays and Thursdays included baseball practice for Lee and Darby. On their weekend off, their gang of friends spent Saturday evening on a local hill playing in the fresh snowfall and sledding. With over fifteen people, the snowball fight became a little war. When other groups joined in, the battle was on. Most of the kids ended up at Darby’s house where hot chocolate helped sooth the cold as everyone relived the earlier battles.

  The second competition was further away from home because Sylvia wanted to expose the squad to new teams.

  When Sally knocked on Lee’s door, she found him fully dressed in his uniform. The sports bra had not deterred him today. She helped him put the scrunchie in his hair. Due to the cold, everyone would wear their warmup tops and bottoms into the venue. The parents would collect coats outside. More time was spent arranging car pool rides to minimize the number of drivers needed.

  While it was a different location, the afternoon transpired in a similar way to the first competition. Older squads were impressed by the new team. The formations and behavior of the team got a lot of people’s attention. The result was that they were ranked 7th out of 18 teams. While only 4 teams had been at the other meet, none of them performed better than they did in the first competition.

  Some of the girls were disappointed that their rank was lower than the first competition. Yet, Lee and Sylvia were thrilled. They reminded the girls that their team had never competed in previous years and yet in their first two meets they had ranked in the top half of all participants. They should be over the top.

  Parents were effusive in their praise. Many felt the squad should have scored higher. All in all it was a successful outing and they continued to learn.

  Lee, Sylvia and Darby spent Sunday going over the performances and trying to identify what they could do to ensure their maximum score. It was too late to make major changes to the program.

  Through the football season and the end of last semester, Lee had eventually taught all the girls to walk on their hands. Lee had a suggestion to a simple addition that might catch people’s attention.

  Chapter 22 – Week Nine - Regionals

  The squad worked on their performance all week with long practices.

  On Saturday, the team carpooled to the local arena where the NBA team played. The parking lot was full of cheerful girls with cheer bags and family supporters. The squad lined up and marched into the arena in unison with no one talking. Family members escorted the team and then moved to secure a seating area together with a good view. Sylvia guided the team to the entrance for teams. Eventually, they moved to an area off to the side of the main floor where they could watch performances and practice if needed. Everyone formed up and did some stretching exercises before returning to their waiting area.

  Lee was not sure he had ever been in a more girly environment. Girls were working with make-up and adjusting their hair. It was a bit overwhelming.

  When the squad was called to the floor, Lee patted Darby on the back in a reassuring move and called the squad to order. Darby led the team to the floor where the girls circled up in the center of the matt. The pom-poms had a couple of finger hooks on them which came in handy. As the music began, the girls all leaned backwards out of the circle onto their hands and walked on their hands to their positions in the circle where they usually started. This 15 second add-on at the start grabbed everyone in the auditorium’s attention. The girls had their pom-poms on top of their hands as they walked to position. In perfect time, the girls dropped back onto their legs and stood up before moving through their normal program. When done, they marched in unison back to their waiting area. The families of the squad were obviously biased. But there were a surprising number of people cheering for the girls as they left the program floor.

  Excitement flowed through the girls as they returned to their waiting area. Lee and Sylvia tried to get everyone to remember to control themselves until after the competition.

  The second program was performed flawlessly. Everyone sat around waiting to hear the final results.

  The 65 squads gathered around in front of the main lectern to learn the results. After several platitudes, the organizers noted that there were 8 squads who had not competed the previous year and listed those teams. Lee and his squad stood and waved when called.

  The organizers announced that Lee and Darby’s team was the best rookie performance this year and maybe in the last few years. Sylvia went up to get a rookie trophy. The girls were all thrilled.

  The announcer noted that everyone was a winner for competing successfully. But, since this was a regional completion which sent two squads to the state finals, it was important to select the best. The final results for all teams would be posted after the top 5 teams were recognized. Everyone waited with baited breath as the 5th and 4th place finishers were identified. Their coaches went up to collect their trophy and medals for their squad members.

  “It is now time to announce our third place squad. The judges were extremely impressed with the top three finishers and the separation between the three groups was almost insignificant. Unluckily, one team will be third and the other two will go on to the state competition. In addition, the third place team has never placed in a regional competition.” The announcer paused for effect. “In fact, for the first time ever, one of the top three finishers is a rookie team.” Gasps were heard from the audience.

  Lee looked at Darby and she looked back. They both knew it was impossible. Sylvia grabbed Darby’s arm. Marcia was holding Lee’s hand. Lee reached towards Darby and they interlaced their fingers.

  “The third place squad in this year’s competition is …” All Lee heard was screaming. The girls were crying. Lee and Sylvia found themselves on the floor under a pile of girls. Lee felt tears on his face. There was a banging and Lee heard, “I think we can all understand the excitement, but would you like to send a representative up to get your trophy?” The woman was smiling and clearly enjoying the youthful excitement and joy at succeeding in a situation where they did not expect to perform so well.

  Lee struggled to his feet. Darby was helping Sylvia up. The crowd was still cheering and clapping and their parents section was going nuts. Lee said, “Formation.” The girls quickly lined up in two lines of six. Lee said, “Curtsy to the lectern and then the crowd on two and four.” They had practiced this move more for fun than anything. Lee snapped his fingers. The entire team in unison curtseyed and bowed to the lectern and after turning to the crowd repeated the curtsey. Sylvia tried to take Lee with her but Lee pushed her on. Sylvia was crying uncontrollably as she climbed to the stage to get the trophy and medals. She simply nodded to the crowd and exited the stage to be embraced by the squad.

  From that point on it was like they had won the Indianapolis 500. Everyone congratulated each other. Parents and friends were effusive in their praise. Other teams, coaches and judges came by to express their sentiments and to congratulate the squad. Pictures were taken of everyone. Finally, even though it was cold outside, everyone wanted to invade an ice cream place. When the owner of the local shop found out about the
ir performance, he gave the girls free treats. The entire store was the squad, and their families.

  Liam and Jack had not been to the earlier competitions and they whispered initially when they saw Lee’s outfit. Jack was concerned. Sally and Erin latched onto their husbands and instructed them to avoid the topic entirely until a conversation could be held at home. Liam and Jack knew better than to rock this boat. When the program started, they along with everyone else were astounded at what the squad could do. Darby was amazing and Jack kept telling Liam how proud he should be.

  It was clear to both of them that Lee held a leadership role. Jack just could not figure out why he needed to dress like the girls. When the results were about to be announced, Jack noticed that both Lee and Darby were surrounded by the girls on the squad. But, when the results came in, the girls, including Darby all jumped in to embrace Lee and they smothered him to the floor. After hugging Lee they moved to Sylvia the actual coach. Jack did not understand why they all gravitated to Lee upon hearing they won.

  At the ice cream shop, Darby and Marcia thanked Sylvia and Lee for getting them to the competition. They mentioned multiple little things Lee did to fine tune their performance and that without him none of this would have been possible.

  Jack noted that all the girls seemed to know Lee was a boy in spite of his clothing. He and Sally would need to talk about this in private.

  It wasn’t until days later that Lee took the time to find out who got first and second place. He did not care.

  Chapter 23 – Week Ten

  The following week Lee and Darby worked on cardio and stamina exercises at the school during the time cheer squad normally would have practiced. Several of the girls found out and joined them. Because they had a routine, the group found they all continued to wear their matching workout clothes. On Tuesday and Thursday, Lee and Darby worked with Jerry on their baseball skills.

  On Friday, the Cheer Squad all wore their normal polo shirt and leggings to class. At an afternoon assembly the principal recognized the squad for their performance. Everyone trooped across the stage to cheers from the school. A few people that did not know why Lee was dressed like the girls made snide remarks. Football players and friends told them to knock it off.

  On Saturday, the entire squad got together for a pot luck dinner in the common room at a local church organized by their parents. Everyone had a great time. Several parents offered praise. Sylvia thanked Marcia’s mom for sponsoring the team. Marcia’s mom tried to express her pride in the performance and eventually broke down in tears. Sylvia expressed how proud she was of all the squad members. She noted all the skills they had to learn and how hard everyone had worked.

  “When you have a team, it is not necessarily good to identify the most important person. People can feel slighted. The team is not what it is without all the members. But, I took a few moments to chat with all the members of the squad over the last week and every time I posed this question, I got the same answer. One hundred percent of the squad agreed that there was one person without whom we would not have succeeded. The most valuable player award so to speak on this year’s Cheer Squad is,” Sylvia looked around the room at all the smiling faces. As she started to speak again, all eyes moved to “Lee Corcoran. Thank you Lee for all you have done.”

  Lee was looking at Darby. “You mean Darby. I’m not on the squad.” Lee continued to try and talk himself out of this honor. Darby and Sally hopped up to embrace him as did several nearby girls. Jack was there hand out, “I’m very proud of you Lee.”

  Looking into his dad’s eyes, Lee could tell his dad was serious and that was all it took. Lee found himself crying and hugging his father. He was desperately afraid of losing his father’s love and support. It meant more than any other accolades.

  Sylvia asked Lee to say a few words. “Ladies and families. I don’t think this recognition is fair. I’m not on the squad. I help coach and choreograph the routines. I never expected to end up helping the football cheerleaders earlier this year. It just wasn’t my plan. I learned that plans change. When that was over and Coach Steiling asked me to help with this new sport, I was very worried. I had worked with all of you in the fall. We were friends. I didn’t want you to fail. I also had other plans. But I decided to focus on this and I committed myself to it. I was still worried we would fail. How do we build a new team in something we have never done before and expect to do better than people who have done it for years? I honestly hoped we would do well enough that we could look at it as a base to build on in future years. Maybe after a few years we could hope to place well. Unluckily,” He paused for effect. No one was sure what was unlucky. “Unluckily, the squad got third place. The problem with that is if we build on it, we will have to do better next year which means we have to end up at the state finals.” His voice and intensity rose as he concluded.

  The girls were all on their feet cheering. The parents were all clapping. Jack and Liam were coming to an understanding of Lee’s role in this squad. It was a great evening.

  The next week, Lee and Darby started incorporating playing catch into their daily exercise after their workout. They continued to work with Jerry.

  Chapter 24 – Baseball Tryouts

  A few weeks later, Jerry decided to attend baseball tryouts to see how his protégés handled themselves. Darby planned to try out for softball which began later in the week. She wanted to watch how Lee performed compared to other students. Lee wore a pair of baseball pants and a t-shirt. Jerry had suggested he dress down so that people would take more note of his performance. Darby was wearing leggings and Lee’s favorite lemony yellow top. As Lee and Darby approached the field a couple of older players noticed them.

  One senior laughed saying, “Girls, softball practice is this weekend. Today, only the men are going to try out. We wouldn’t want anyone to get hurt.” The group all laughed.

  Another added, “You girls should go braid your hair while we show you how things are done.”

  Lee and Darby ignored them. They sat in the front row of the seats waiting for the coach to show up. When he arrived, the coach invited all people trying out for the team to gather on the field. He informed them that they would begin today with some running and wind sprints. Then everyone would loosen up throwing the ball. Finally, while the assistants ran some fielding exercises, he would run people through batting practice to get some feel as to the skills of the interested students.

  During some easy running and sprints where Lee held his own or did better than many of the other boys, the older boys kept up the verbal jabs at Lee.

  “Honey, your makeup is running.” Or “Careful, we don’t want to have to send you to the nail salon emergency room.” Or “You have too much hair to be on the field. You’ll trip someone.”

  Lee ignored them. Lee planned to play infield and informed the coaches he wanted to play shortstop or 2nd base. Of course, the older boys suggested the outfield for a delicate thing like Lee.

  When fielding drills began, Lee performed very well. He had a hard throw and got his mitt on the ball. The older boys went through batting practice first since the coach was familiar with them. Several of the braggarts tried to show off when batting. Lee was clearly the focus of several of the older players.

  It seemed that the coach was almost running batting practice based on player size. His excitement and interest clearly waned as the crop got younger and shorter. Lee figured there was no use in worrying about batting earlier and decided to bat last.

  Jerry watched the boys batting and fielding. He had no doubt Lee would shine above most if not all of them. Then he saw that Lee was maneuvering to bat last and he smiled.

  When Lee finally walked to the plate with his bat, it was clear the coach had little interest. Lee took time to feather his hair backwards and carefully added the batting helmet. He wiped a little dirt off the bat and finally stepped into the box. The bullies had gathered nearby to harass the little girl trying out for the team.

  The coach tu
rned on the batting machine and said, “Just take your time and find your pitch. Let me see if you can hit the ball.”

  Lee saw the first ball coming and swung connecting and putting the ball deep into right field. The second ball landed deep in center field. The third ball fell in left. As a hush fell over the field the fourth ball came flying in. Lee pulled in the bat and bunted it to where the pitcher’s mound would be. The 5th, 6th and 7th balls hit the three outfield areas again. On the eighth pitch Lee swung lightly grounding the ball 1 foot to the right of 3rd base. The ninth ball landed just inside of the 1st base. On the tenth ball, Lee again pulled the bat in at the last minute and bunted leaving the ball 5 feet down the 3rd base line.

  There was not a sound on the field. The coach was staring at the small batter with hair almost down to the waist.

  Lee instructed, “Coach, call where you want it.”

  The coach called out for the next 5 pitches and all of them landed in the field where he called. The coach wandered in and said, “What position do you want to play? I don’t care if you are a boy or a girl, because you are on the team. God I wish I had more people that could bat like that.”

  Even the bullies had grown quiet. They weren’t sure what to say. One of them yelled, “It’s a ringer. No one can hit like that. Especially a girl.

  Lee thought he’d have some fun. “By the way, I’m a boy. Coach, do you see that girl in the front row in the yellow shirt. She is going out for softball. Why don’t you grab big mouth over there and have him challenge her to a hitting match? You’ll like what you see.”

  The coach called, “Young lady. Yes, you in the yellow shirt. What’s your name?”