从啦啦队队长到橄榄球员

by Ashley Mateo

Everyone has that stereotypical[陈规的] idea of a cheerleader： cute， peppy[活泼的]， bows in her hair. And that was me， from kindergarten to eighth grade. I loved being on the squad[小队]， from the girly parts like curling[使卷曲] each others hair for competitions to trying new stunts[惊人表演，绝技] at practice. But I also loved watching the football games as we cheered—sometimes I was more focused on the plays than our routines[常规，日常事务]！ Every time someone scored， I wished I was the one in the end zone[（球门线到底线的）球门区].

A Long Shot[很少机会成功的尝试]

I grew up tossing[投，掷] a football and going to games with my dad. Once while waiting to cheer in my middle school game， my dad and I were watching the high school team play—they were losing—and he said，“I bet you could do better than that.” His words stuck with me， and right before my freshman year， I started to feel bored with cheerleading—and more excited about football. I thought， maybe I should be on the field[运动场].

I decided to go to a preseason[活跃季节前的] meeting to see about joining the team， even though theyd never had a girl on the roster[花名册] before. When I walked into the school gym， packed with guys and parents waiting for info， everyone turned and stared， like， what is she doing here？ I saw guys I had cheered for—guys I considered friends—and I wondered what they thought about me playing alongside them. My school is small， so there arent tryouts[选拔赛]—you just sign up for the team. But I still had to officially sign up in front of the whole crowd， with all eyes on me. I could feel the tension[紧张状态] in the room， and as I walked up to hand in my forms， I almost felt like I was doing something wrong. I worried—are the coaches going to laugh at me？ Will they tell me I cant play？ Instead， they looked at me like I was pulling a joke on them， but they finally took my papers and told me to show up for training camp the week before school. I was officially a football player！

每个人都对“啦啦队队长”有一种固定印象——她们总是活泼可爱，头上系着蝴蝶结。从幼儿园到八年级，我都是这副模样。我喜欢在啦啦队的感觉，从赛前女生之间互相盘头发，到练习新的特技等等。不过，在为球队打气之余，我也喜欢看橄榄球比赛——有时球赛甚至比我们自己的啦啦队环节更让我投入！每当有人进球，我总是希望自己是球门区的一员。

孤注一掷

我是玩着橄榄球长大的，从小就跟着爸爸去看球赛。有一次，我和爸爸在我的中学看球赛，在等待给初中队加油助威的空当，我们看到高中队出师不利，胜利无望。爸爸说：“我敢打赌，你肯定比他们踢得好。”他的这句话烙在了我的心上。就在我升上高一之前，我开始厌倦当啦啦队队长给球队助威，转而对球赛更感兴奋。我想，也许我应该站在球场上。

我决定去参加一次季前赛集会，看看我能不能加入球队——即使他们的名册上从未出现过女生。我走进学校的体育馆时，那里挤满了在等消息的男生和家长。一时间，所有人都转过身盯着我，好像在说：“她来这里做什么呀？”我看到了以前在啦啦队时为其助威过的男生，我把他们当做朋友，不知道他们会怎么看我和他们一起踢球的事呢？我的学校不大，所以没有选拔赛，只要报名就能入选。……