I waived my arms furiously, trying desperately to keep up with simple dance motions. I counted beats in my head, poorly. I looked to my left and right to see that the other cheerleaders were equally off beat and confused. However, everyone smiled, cheerleaders and audience members alike.

We all crammed into cheer uniforms. The one I received had shoulder straps, something I had yet to encounter. I was hopelessly entangled in the crisscrossing straps; the trapezoid of fabric around my waist barely went past mid-thigh, revealing a prominent tanline. This was the case with all the cheerleaders. We reveled in the confusing manner of dress.

I had to explain to one of my fellow cheerleaders that the skirt zipper went in the back of the outfit. When he questioned this, I only shrugged my shoulders and laughed. None of us knew what we were doing and everyone was relishing in the chance to be confused together.

Robin Frejborg (11), an exchange student who played football this year, said, “I wanted to support the girls because I play football myself.”

I asked if he had ever done anything like this in Finland.

“Never,” Frejborg responded, laughing at the question.

When we weren’t attempting to keep with Katie Gingrich (12), who kneeled in front of us  doing cheer poses we could mimick, we laughed at the uniforms, at each other, and at the game.

The field was in a state of chaos. The football flew wildly and randomly, people scattered like ants when the ball was kicked, and flags were flying off the touch football players. David Joseph (12), the girls’ coach, looked ready to pull out his hair, nervously clutching a clipboard. In sharp contrast to Joseph, the girls on the field laughed and smiled, savoring the strangeness and everyone’s equality in their inability to catch the ball.

“I’m very unathletic, so I wanted to see how I’d do in an athletic situation,” Elizabeth McGrath (12) told me.

“How do you think you’ll do?” I asked.

“I think I’m going to do pretty badly, but [the game’s] going to be fun,” McGrath laughed.

The game was a magical chance for both girls and boys to revel in the foreign nature of the opposite sex and the equality that accompanied everyone’s lack of understanding. The game dropped barriers between people because of this equality. I feel the experience was healthy for the seniors and juniors involved; the game helped draw us together.

I believe Joseph summarized the event best when he told me, “I don’t know what’s going on, [the players] don’t know what’s going on, but [the game] is going to be fun.”

By: Quinn Murray

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