When I was in high school I decided I wanted to be a cheerleader. If you know me, you know I am not your typical cheerleader type. When I said I wanted to try out for cheerleader at the end of my freshman year my dad said no! He did not like football and didn’t have time to take me to practices, games, etc.
I tried out anyway. I didn’t make it.
My sophomore year, I again said I wanted to try out for cheerleader and again was told no!
I tried out anyway. I didn’t make it.
It finally dawned on me that maybe I should train during the off season if I really wanted to try to make the squad. So I did. And my junior year I again announced that I wanted to try out for cheerleader. My dad again said NO! But I had worked at it for a year. I had learned some gymnastics, practiced my kicks and jumps. It was my last chance to try.
I tried again and I made it. I would be a cheerleader my senior year.
When practices began, the football coach decided he didn’t want to have cheerleaders on the sideline who didn’t know a field goal from a touchdown. He didn’t want us to yell “Block that kick” when we had the ball. So he sat us down and taught us the fundamentals of the game. That is when I first fell in love with football.
My senior year was also the first time my high school had a drama class. I had fallen in love with theatre years before and this was my chance to get back to it. That year in drama was tough, I’ll tell that story some other time, but by the end of the year I had worked through things and was given a lead part in our end of the year play.
The fall of my senior year was not a stellar one for our football team. We lost all but one of our games. It was hard to be positive and keep cheering for a losing team, but we did. And it was one of the most fun experiences of my life. I was glad that for once I had defied my father, broken some rules (don’t ask!) and tried out anyway.
By the time basketball season came around, things were different. We excelled at basketball and it was even more fun cheering. But with a part in the play, I kept having to miss games. There were even times I rehearsed in the auditorium in uniform and then ran to the gym to cheer for awhile before going back to rehearsal. Eventually the other girls sat me down and made me choose.
I agonized over the choice, but finally realized that basketball season was about to be over. The play was just getting started. Anyway, I saw no future in cheerleading, but saw potential in theatre. So I left the squad for the last few games and threw all of my energy into the play. It was another memorable experience.
I went through all four of my child’s high school years watching him spend the fall at one end of the building, working out and playing football. He spent spring on the fine arts side of the building, singing and dancing with the show choir. He was a good football player, a good dancer and an excellent singer. But when he had those few times that he had to make a choice, he chose football. It was his passion, still is. He saw no future in singing and dancing, but saw potential in football.
Over the years, I have used football analogies during theatre classes, team comparisons during rehearsals. To me there are so many similarities between the two. I usually get odd looks when I do that.
When I went back to college, I was shocked at how anti-football so many of the theatre kids at my liberal arts college seemed to be. Many wore it as a badge of honor to not only hate football, but to show their ignorance of the sport.
Now the way I see it, lack of knowledge on any subject is just that- lack of knowledge. It doesn’t make you better than others because you don’t watch TV and therefore don’t know the names of reality stars. It just means you are ignorant on that subject. And you might be fine with that. And that is fine by me. But it doesn’t make you superior- it just means you are ignorant on that particular subject.
Football is the same thing. If you don’t like or care about football- cool. But lack of knowledge on that subject doesn’t make you superior or more intellectual, or more “artsy”, it just means you are ignorant on that subject.
Yesterday we went to our last home game of the season. It has been a good season, our team went undefeated and we had lots of great family time together. Before the start of the big game, the entire stadium full of people from the opposing sides stood together to sing the national anthem.
(I am not here to discuss the merits of the national anthem or any of the controversy swirling around professional football and the anthem. I am just saying that it is always moving to me when we can all stand together for those few short minutes and be united.)
At this game there was a fly over by a brand new Delta airbus built in our very own state of Alabama. And then as part of senior day, graduating team members got to stand with their families, receive a team ball, hand their mom a rose and shake the head coaches hand. The very last team member also got the surprise of his mom, who has served in our military for 12 years, appearing from the end zone. She has been overseas and strings were pulled to get her to the game to be with her son. I don’t think there was a dry eye in the stadium. At least, there shouldn’t have been.
Later in the game, for some reason, the crowd began to hold up their phones and the amount of twinkling lights around the stadium grew and grew. I glanced over to the opposing team’s area and was happy to see twinkling lights there as well. Another time during the game when the two sides became one.
I talked with my son about the divide between the fans. We all get crazy and scream for our team. But Jon told me what I already knew. That’s the fans, not the players. They fight for their points and try to win for their team, but in the end they shake hands and move on. When they see guys they know from other teams, they don’t even think about any rivalry, all they think is that they have shared the bond of football. They all know how hard the other side has worked, just like they have. They know the other side is passionate, just like they are. And they share the understanding of giving it all you have and when the game is over, letting it go.
When you are in theatre, you cheer each other other on, you compete for parts and then you blend together like a family for each new project. You know what the show means to anyone involved, you know how hard people work on lines and characters, you know what people put themselves through to get to the finished product. You compete one day, giving it all you have and then you let it go, working for the good of the show. The team.
As with most things in life, theatre and football have way more in common, than they have differences. And as with most things in life, when the two sides take the time to get to know each other, they realize how alike they are. And when you see a son reunited with his mom, it doesn’t matter what team you cheer for you get emotional. And it doesn’t matter if you think theatre is boring or football is stupid. When you learn a little more about something, when you realize we are all in this together, learning to work as a team, do our best and letting go of the differences and the rivalries, you help make the world a better place.
Go Team!
