Cheer Challenge

by Jake Maddox

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1

  The Vote

  Chapter 2

  First Practice

  Chapter 3

  Grace Under Pressure

  Chapter 4

  Inspiration?

  Chapter 5

  Something New

  Chapter 6

  Put It To a Vote

  Chapter 7

  Making Changes

  Chapter 8

  A Little Glitch

  Chapter 9

  The Big Day

  Chapter 1

  The Vote

  Amanda Reynolds stared at the blank square of paper in her hand. She couldn’t decide what to write. Who should she vote for? Who should be the captain of the seventh-grade cheerleading squad?

  She thought about what her best friend, Rachel, had said. “You should totally vote for yourself, Amanda. I’ll vote for you and almost everyone else will too. You’ll win for sure.”

  But Amanda wasn’t sure. It didn’t seem right to vote for yourself for cheerleading captain.

  The other girls were passing their votes to their coach. It was time to make a decision.

  Amanda started writing her own name. But then she quickly scribbled it out.

  She looked up. Everyone else was finished. She hunched over the paper to make sure no one could see her. Then she wrote “Rachel.”

  Before she could change her mind, she folded the paper. Then she handed it to Coach Wall.

  “So?” Rachel’s freckled face popped up in front of Amanda’s.

  “So, what?” Amanda asked.

  “So, who did you vote for?” Rachel asked, smiling. She put her hands on her hips. “I voted for you, and you better tell me you did the same,” she added.

  “Well, you know, I just didn’t know if it was right,” Amanda said.

  Rachel rolled her eyes. “Whatever, Amanda,” she said. “You and I both know you would make the best captain. No one else here could handle it.” She looked behind her to make sure no one was around. Then Rachel whispered, “Come on, Amanda, tell me! Who did you vote for?”

  The rest of the squad began to gather around Coach Wall.

  “Hey, we better get over there,” Rachel said. “Looks like she’s about to announce who won.”

  All eight members of the seventh-grade Cougar cheerleading squad stood in front of Coach Wall, waiting to hear what she would say.

  The coach held up a gold star pin. Every year, the captain of the squad wore the special pin.

  “I’m about to tell you who will wear this on her uniform,” Coach Wall said. “The captain will be a leader to you, but she is not the only one responsible for the success or failure of your season. You are a team. Don’t lose sight of that.”

  Then Coach Wall said, “This year’s captain will be …”

  The pause seemed to last forever. She looked at each girl. Then she held her hand out to Amanda.

  Finally, Coach Wall said, “Your captain this year will be Amanda.”

  Rachel yelled happily and jumped up and down. Chloe and her best friend, Courtney, leaned toward each other and started whispering. The other girls clapped.

  Amanda smiled down at the star in her hand.

  Chapter 2

  First Practice

  The next day, Amanda showed up for practice a few minutes early. She quickly changed into her uniform.

  Then she went into the gym. She was excited for her first practice as captain.

  Coach Wall was already on the floor, stretching. Amanda was glad to see her friendly face.

  “Hey there, Amanda,” Coach Wall said. “Are you ready for the first practice?”

  Amanda smiled. “Definitely,” she said.

  She sat down to start her own stretches. At cheerleading camp, she had learned to ease carefully into a stretch. With her legs pointed out in front of her, she reached down to grab her toes and held the pose as she counted to thirty.

  “Good,” Coach Wall said, “because here comes your squad.”

  Amanda looked up. All the other girls were trailing out of the locker room. Amanda started to feel nervous.

  Yesterday, she had been excited to be voted captain. It meant that the other girls liked and respected her. But now she was going to have to act like a captain. She was going to have to lead the squad. What would that be like?

  “Okay!” called Coach Wall. “Grab a piece of floor and get ready to stretch. Amanda, get us started.”

  The girls spread out on the gym floor. Amanda took a deep breath. She looked over at Rachel. Rachel gave her a huge smile and a double thumbs-up.

  “Okay,” Amanda began. “Let’s all start in a straddle position.” She watched as the other girls followed her lead.

  Then she went on, “Push it out as far as you can without hurting. Making sure your back is straight, lift your hands straight up. Turn to face your right foot. Now, bend over your right leg.”

  Near the back of the group, she saw Chloe and Courtney whispering to each other.

  “Chloe and Courtney,” Coach Wall said sternly, “this is not social hour.” Then she nodded at Amanda. “Keep going, Amanda.”

  Amanda nodded back. “Okay. Now, take the stretch as far as you can and hold. Don’t bounce. You’ll hurt yourself.” Then Amanda began counting to 30. But she saw Chloe in the back of the group, rolling her eyes at Courtney.

  As Amanda held her stretch, she closed her eyes. Being the captain was already harder than she’d thought it would be.

  Chapter 3

  Grace Under Pressure

  The Cougars’ first game was just two days later. The girls would be doing their routine during halftime of the basketball game.

  The first half of the basketball game was almost over. Amanda eyed the clock as it ticked down the seconds. Finally, the buzzer sounded and the basketball players ran off the court.

  “Let’s go!” Amanda said.

  There was a knot in her stomach. She led the squad out to the middle of the gym.

  The squad had only had two practices, and Amanda knew their routine wasn’t strong enough yet. Coach Wall had insisted that they perform at the first game of the season anyway.

  The cheerleaders formed two lines. They stood in Ready Stand position. That meant that their feet were together and their hands were at their hips.

  The crowd got quiet. Amanda plastered a smile on her face, and hoped the rest of the girls did too.

  At a card table set up near the entrance to the gym, the music guy was digging through a pile of CDs, looking for their music.

  Finally, the music guy popped a CD into the stereo. But when the song started, Amanda’s heart sank.

  It was the wrong song.

  She didn’t know what to do. The other girls were looking at her.

  Panicked thoughts ran through Amanda’s mind. Should they try to do the routine to the wrong song? Would that even work?

  Out of the corner of her eye, Amanda saw Coach Wall run over to the stereo. She turned off the song.

  The silence felt like a huge weight pressing down on Amanda. Her smile left her face.

  The other girls were frozen. They were nervously waiting for the music.

  Amanda knew she had to do something. So she looked into the stands and shouted, “Ready? Okay!”

  She slapped her hands to her thighs in Clean position. Somehow, the other girls knew to follow along. And a few seconds later, the music started.

  After the routine was over, the squad ran to the sidelines. Amanda was relieved to be done with the routine.

  “That was what they call grace under pressure!” Coach Wall said as they huddled around her. “Good job!”

  “It didn’t look so graceful from where I was standing,” said Ruby.


  “Yeah,” said Anna. “From the back, I saw a lot of sloppy arms. Plus, we didn’t land our last jump at the same time.”

  “We have a lot of work in front of us,” said Coach. “We need to tighten up our moves. But today, you worked together as a squad. You followed Amanda perfectly. Today was a great first step!”

  Amanda smiled and looked down at the star pin on her uniform.

  Chapter 4

  Inspiration?

  The next day at practice, the girls worked hard for two hours. Amanda led the team through their routine three times in a row.

  She felt like it was starting to be really good. They just needed to keep practicing.

  With fifteen minutes left of practice, Amanda knew they had time to do the routine again. “One more time, from the top,” she said, clapping her hands.

  She walked toward the CD player to start the song again. Most of the squad groaned.

  “My arms feel like rubber,” said Anna.

  “My legs feel like lead,” said Ruby.

  “If you want me to do that routine again, you’re going to have to scrape me off the floor first!” said Rachel.

  Amanda stared at them. “Come on, you guys,” she said. “Do you want to get better or what? We’ve come a long way on this routine. I think we’re getting really close. We have ten minutes left of practice. Let’s just do the routine one last time.”

  “Or we could do some yoga,” Coach Wall suggested.

  Their coach loved yoga. She’d taught the cheerleaders some poses that felt great after a long practice.

  The girls let out a sigh of relief. They started to roll out the yoga mats, which Coach Wall always stacked against the wall before practice.

  Amanda looked at Coach Wall with a pained expression. If anyone should understand the need for more practice, it should be their coach. But the coach just met Amanda’s gaze and gave her a wink.

  Coach Wall led the cheerleaders through a series of yoga poses to stretch their legs, shoulders, and backs.

  After fifteen minutes of yoga, the girls seemed more relaxed. They rolled the mats back up and left the practice room.

  Amanda waited until the others left. Then she quietly said, “Coach, can I talk to you?”

  Coach Wall smiled at her. “Sure, Amanda,” Coach said. “Let’s talk while we put these mats in the storage room.”

  They each grabbed some mats and headed down the hallway. Coach Wall asked, “What’s on your mind?”

  Amanda took a deep breath. “Well, it’s the squad,” she admitted. “I mean, do you think we’re doing okay? I think the routine still needs a lot of work, and I don’t understand why we didn’t run through it one more time.”

  They shoved the mats into the storage closet. Coach Wall locked the door.

  “You have a lot of spirit, Amanda,” she said. “You have high standards and you want the squad to perform well. But you can’t be a leader by pushing people.”

  Amanda, embarrassed, looked down at the floor. “I never meant to push anyone,” she said quietly.

  “I know you didn’t,” Coach Wall said. “Look. You have all of the energy and drive and heart it takes to be a good captain. But the other half of being a captain is being an inspiration to the other girls, making them want to be better. You have to figure out just how you’ll inspire them.”

  Amanda frowned. Coach Wall smiled at her. “Give it time. I’m sure you’ll think of something,” she said.

  Chapter 5

  Something New

  Amanda couldn’t stop thinking about what Coach Wall had said. She thought about it as she walked home. And she thought about it at dinner with her family.

  Amanda needed to figure out a way to inspire the other cheerleaders. But how? She couldn’t think of anything to do.

  After dinner, she checked her email. There wasn’t much. It was mostly junk. But one of the messages caught her eye.

  Amanda belonged to a group called Teen Cheer, which often sent out emails to its members about upcoming events.

  Usually, Amanda just skimmed those emails. But the subject of the email in her inbox was “Competitions: The Ultimate Cheer Challenge.”

  So she opened it. The email read,

  CHEER YOUR WAY TO VICTORY! TRY SOMETHING NEW. COMPETE!

  A cheerleader’s number-one job is to cheer sports teams to victory. But that’s not all a cheerleader does. At a cheerleading competition, the audience screams for you!

  Cheer competitions are the ultimate combination of skill, teamwork, and pride!

  Sign your squad up now for a cheer competition near you. Get inspired by other squads, be surrounded by talented cheerleaders at all teen levels, and cheer your way to victory!

  There was a list of locations for competitions.

  Amanda gasped. One of the competitions was in Larksville. That was just a few towns away!

  The competition was four weeks from the following Saturday. That wasn’t much time, but Amanda just knew her squad could do it if they tried hard enough.

  She followed a link in the email. When she clicked on it, she found a website with the competition information.

  Quickly, Amanda printed out all the information she could find. She planned to bring it to Coach Wall the next day.

  Amanda was thrilled. This could be the perfect way to inspire the squad!

  Chapter 6

  Put It To a Vote

  At school the next day, Amanda made copies of the information she had printed about the competition. She stashed the copies in her locker until the school day was over. As soon as the bell rang, Amanda headed for Coach Wall’s office.

  She knocked timidly on the door. Coach Wall opened it, smiling. “Hey, Amanda!” she said. “What’s up? Shouldn’t you be getting ready for practice?”

  Amanda bit her lip. Then she said, “You know how you said I needed to inspire the team? Well, I found something. I think it could be the perfect challenge for us.”

  “Come on in,” Coach Wall said. “Tell me all about it.”

  * * *

  At practice, Amanda handed out the copies she’d made of the information. She hoped the competition would sound cool to the other girls.

  Everyone sat, reading quietly. Amanda waited for someone to speak.

  Finally, Coach Wall broke the silence. “So? What do you think of Amanda’s idea?” she asked.

  “I don’t know,” Ruby said. “This is only a month away. That’s not enough time.”

  Anna added, “We would need a whole new routine. My cousin and I went to a cheerleading competition last summer, and they had huge mounts, throws, and falls. We don’t have time for that.”

  “Anna, that was a college cheerleading contest. That’s way different from this,” Amanda told her.

  “Amanda’s right. College competitions are different,” Coach Wall said, nodding. “There are safety rules you need to follow at all cheerleading competitions. College squads can do all of that fancy stuff. We can only do mounts to a certain height, and we don’t do throws or falls. There are a number of rules we’ll have to follow.”

  “What fun is that?” Anna asked, tossing the piece of paper to the ground.

  “The fun is in thinking creatively,” Amanda answered. “We have to follow the rules, but after that our only limit is our imaginations.”

  “I think we should do it,” said Rachel.

  Then something shocking happened. Chloe slowly nodded her head. “I think so too. I mean, we have a lot of really good ideas. Look at all of the changes we made to our regular routine.”

  “Exactly,” said Rachel.

  “Let’s vote,” said Coach Wall. “Raise your hand if you want to do the competition.”

  Amanda took a deep breath. She held up her hand.

  Slowly, all the other girls raised their hands. A huge smile swept across Amanda’s face.

  “Well, I guess it’s official,” Coach Wall said. “We’re entering the competition!”

  They all clapped and cheered. Then eve
ryone started talking at once.

  “Hey! Guys, hold on a second,” Amanda shouted. “There are a couple of things we have to talk about if we’re going to do this.” She pulled a pile of papers out of her backpack. “The rules aren’t just about how high our mounts can go,” she went on. “There’s more to it than that.”

  “Like what?” asked Anna.

  “Well, practice, for one,” Amanda said.

  “They tell us how we have to practice?” asked Ruby. “That’s weird.”

  “No, not how to practice,” Coach Wall answered. “We just have to agree that we will practice as a squad.”

  Amanda nodded and said, “Ruby, you were right when you said that we didn’t have much time. We only have a month to practice. I think we’re going to have to schedule some extra practice time.”

  “I think that’s a good idea,” said Rachel.

  “No problem,” said Ruby.

  “But there’s a catch,” added Amanda. “Well, sort of a catch. They have a rule that all members of the squad have to attend all of the practices. If you miss even one, you can’t be in the competition.”

  “What if you get sick?” asked Rachel.

  “You can miss one practice, if you have a doctor’s note,” said Amanda.

  The girls looked a little upset. Amanda started to feel nervous. Did they hate the idea now?

  Coach Wall held up her hand. “This competition is about teamwork,” she said. “The point of it is not just to compete as a team. You have to practice as a team too. As the captain, Amanda will be in charge of taking attendance at every practice. When we get to the competition, she will have to turn that sheet in. The judges will not bend on these rules.”

  Amanda smiled and said, “Let’s start by figuring out when we can all meet. Then we can get down to the real work.”

  She pulled a calendar out of her bag and put it on the floor. The other girls gathered around.