Chapter 5: Helpful Greg

Fall was in full swing and turkey day was fast approaching. Competition between the football teams was heating up at an alarming pace. While the football jocks were working their tails off in practice sessions the cheerleader squad was not resting but working very hard on some new routines. Those girls can really put their heart and soul into the squad trying to make it the best ever. I went down to the college library and checked out a couple of books on cheerleading routines. I decided I would help the girls with some new routines by taking parts from the books and combining them into something new.

I mentioned my plan to Tracy and she thought it would be great. The coach they had was just there as pretty much a figurehead and wasn't able to come up with anything significant. At the next practice session Tracy discussed my plan with the squad and they loved it. She even went so far as to contact the school office and get the position of assistant coach created and filled by me. That put me in hog heaven being around 16 girls while delving into the new routines. I really had my work cut out for me trying to visualize what routines we could take parts of to make up something new.

I also had to study what goes into choreographing routines for the girls. I had to keep in mind that whatever they did was to be played out on grass and not on comfortable gym mats. A lot of what was in the books was for college or pro team cheerleaders whereas our girls were junior high and high school age. Some of the girls were very good but we needed the whole squad to be a part of it.

I laid out a regimen of exercises for them that would build strength while maintaining coordination. Most of all was amplifying the squad spirit which most of them already had in varying degrees. We had several brainstorming sessions where we tossed around ideas of what to do. They got a chance to review several existing routines and point out the parts they liked. I made up a story board where we could tape the desired elements to form a complete routine.

These elements ranged from tosses to spins, Jumps to dives, and building vertical towers. We were limited by safety rules from the school where safety was of paramount importance. That meant no four level pyramids and no tosses without a safety catcher nearby. After selecting and arranging the various elements we came up with a very good overall routine that was sure to win some competitions.

When word got out about my new position I caught a lot of flack from some of the guys in school calling me wimp, girly boy, and some others not fit to print. One guy even had the nerve to ask me if I was going to be wearing one of those miniskirts. I had to control my temper so I merely said to him "The routines I work on with those girls involve a lot of strength and coordination. Besides, think about it, I get to put my hands in places you guys can only dream about. Also, you don't get to travel to all of the away games on a bus with 16 girls with me the only boy."

One routine we call the carousal involved two girls holding a third up high, turning slowly clockwise, while a circle of the other five rotated around them counterclockwise. Some of the routines were so complicated that we had to enlist the JV squad to help the varsity squad. 16 girls running around in organized chaos sounds crazy but it worked out beautifully. The squad even was able to enter some district competitions and win hands down. Regional competition was tougher but my girls pulled it off and won that also. Then they were headed for the big time, namely the state competition.