3 years ago I made the best decision of my entire high school career. We were sitting down at the lunch table in the early part of the school year. Sarah to my left. Kaitlynn to my right. Kris directly across from me. We go on to talk about what we are all going to do for winter sports. Sarah being the one that has cheered now for the past three years obviously was going to do it again for her fourth year. It sparked an interest in me for some reason. I had to know more.

I went on to asking questions. What are some of the things that you have to know? What are some of the things that she is going to make you do? What will the coach think about having a male cheerleader after never having one? At that moment I knew that I wanted to at least try it out and see what I was in for. Before I could do anything I had to talk to the coach. To the bathroom I ran. With her number in my hand, I texted her and explained the situation at hand and what my thoughts were. I asked her to please either call me or text me to let me know what she thinks about the idea. 

By 1:30 I had received a text message. Shaking with nerves I peek into my pocket and it says on my caller I.D., one new text message from Michele.

I ask the teacher if I may use the bathroom. I ran to the bathroom as fast as I could. With excitement I open the text message. Her message said and I quote “I would LOVE to have you on the team. With you as my back, we could do so many stunts that we weren’t able to do in the past. Although are you sure that this is what you want to do? I am just worried that you might get some crap from some people in school?” I typed as fast as I could go. I said “I really don’t care what the others think. I have the right to participate on any sports team that this high school offers. If someone tells me that I can’t I will refer them to my attorney and the Maine Principal’s Association’s policy on co-ed sports.

Time goes by and it’s time for the practices for the winter sports season to start up. Everyone always hopes to impress their coach your first year. I was one of those people. I just didn’t want her to notice me. I wanted to be one of her captains for that year as a freshman. I finished my warm-ups before everyone else. I made sure I had everything lined up as well as I could. Sarah Merchant and I were always the first ones in through the doors for practice and the last ones to leave. One of the other seniors thought that she was an automatic captain and told us “Wow you guys need to stop kissing up to Michele. She knows who the best person is for captain and it isn’t either one of you guys.”
After she said this I looked at Sarah and said, “Now this just makes me want it more. I will not rest until you and I are captains and she has to report to us.” She looked at me and laughed. I knew she felt the same way. 

Time goes by and she still hasn’t picked anyone to be her captain(s) yet. No one asks her about it because we all knew better. She just has us practice, practice, practice for our regional competition. By then we are hoping that she will have someone picked and let us know. I really don’t know why we thought that it was so important who was captain but knowing we were told that no matter what we did we weren’t going to get it, made us want it even more. 

Regionals come and she still hasn’t picked anyone. The MPA official asked her if she has a captain and her response, “no not today maybe next competition if we make it.” The official walked away a little confused, but she didn’t question what our coach had wanted. We huddled in for one last pep talk before our performance.
We’re on the mat waiting for the music to start. My heart is beating like a rabbit. The music starts and we start moving. Our routine is going well, but not well enough. The other teams had been doing high ranked stunts and we didn’t have any. I looked at Sarah and said we need to do something spontaneous. I looked at our flyer and said, “Do a Kick Twist Basket Toss, NOT a Ball-out.” She said “Ok, but I’ve only done it a couple of times.” 
She mounted in and nailed the toss like she had been doing it for months. The crowd started going wild. Once we got off the mat, I could see Michele was impressed that she nailed the toss, but mad that we had changed the routine on the mat in a matter of seconds without tell her any of it. Sarah and I looked at each other in awe. “I can’t believe we did that,” she said. 

When Michele came back she had the scores in her hands. Looking at us she asked in a low voice, “Who were the ones to come up with the idea of changing the basket toss.” She sounded mad so we didn’t answer. She said sternly “I’M WAITING.” Sarah and I raised our hands but wouldn’t look at her. She said “because of you changing the basket toss…..we made it in 6th place and are going to States.” We all cheered for ourselves on what we had done. She said in a humble voice, “Also with your judgment on the current situation makes me see that you two work well together and can connect with everyone. Everyone say hello to your new captains.” 

I had done it. I had become a captain as a freshman and on the first year that I had ever played the sport. It just goes to show that it doesn’t matter about seniority, or how long you have been on the team. It is about how much effort you put into it. That is why this was the best decision that I had ever made.