Eighth Grade Football

September 5, 2008

John and Jodie are settling in to school here in Oklahoma. Jodie is in 6th grade at Kerr Middle School and plays on the girls’ softball team. John is in 8th and has joined the football team.

Yesterday evening I met Joe after work in Del City, for John’s football game. Jodie’s softball games take place in the early evening hours, after school but before 5:30. So I don’t get off work in time to see her play. The football games take place a little later. Last night was KMS’ first game of the season, and they stomped Deer Creek 54-6 or something. What a way to start a season! The KMS Eagles, they are, Green and Black. Just like the West Side Rockets!

West Side Middle School in Rocky Face, GA, was where I spent 6th, 7th, and 8th grades. We were the Rockets, Green and Black. Going to John’s game brought back memories of going to football games after school in 8th grade. We lived only about a mile from the school, so I walked, my sister Elaine with me.

I would watch from the bleachers as our boys in black jerseys ran back and forth on the field, tossing the pigskin to each other, blocking the opponent. The West Side Rockets played against the Eastbrook Mustangs (red jerseys), North Whitfield Pioneers (purple with yellow lettering), and the Valley Point Greenwaves (green with yellow).

I would watch the cheerleaders and listen to their yells. My 13-year-old heart longed to be one of them. How I craved that green sweater vest with the black “W”, the pleated skirt, the green and black pompoms. Oh, I tried out for the squad, alright, but the honors went to 10 or 12 other of my classmates. It was so unfair -- I knew all the cheers, but my quiet personality held me back. I guess the cheerleading coaches couldn’t envision a quiet bookworm like myself, leading the crowd and cheering on our team. Besides, I wasn’t as pretty as the other girls. And at a public school, a cheerleader has to have two things going for her regardless of her cheering ability: looks and personality.

Anyway, back to John’s football game. Once inside the stadium, Joe and I took a seat on the bleachers. We both kept track of what John was doing on or off the field, but Joe tended to pay more attention to the game while I lived vicariously through the cheerleaders. I clapped and yelled along with them, doing old “Rockets” cheers in my seat.

Oh yes, even though I didn’t make the cheerleading squad 30 years ago, I still remember all the cheers!

Up, and down, our team don’t mess around!
We are the best from the east to the west,
‘Cause when we’re up, you’re down!

Green socks, black socks, two-tone shoes!
Let’s give the Pioneers the football blues!
‘Cause when you’re up, you’re up,
And when you’re down, you’re down.
But when you’re up against the Rockets, you’re UPSIDE DOWN!!

We’ve got a team that’s dyn-o-mite!
Come on, team, let’s fight tonight!
We’ve got a team that’s dyn-o-mite!
Rockets…..SHOW YOUR MIGHT!!

I remember every high kick, every jump. Joe said I could probably show them a thing or two!

Maybe. That was a lot of years ago. I’m a mom now. Now, another generation wears the pleated skirt. A new group of girls yells, claps, jumps. A younger generation of boys runs back and forth on the field vying for a goal. My youth is past. Their time is now.