The wooden gym doors slightly creek open as I walk in hesitantly and nervous. Sweaty palms and cold, semi-bare feet tiptoe and make contact with the freshly waxed wooden floor. The leather piece of material wrapped to the bottoms of my feet begin to stick as if being permanently sewn onto the bottoms of my feet as they break into their normal cold sweat step after step. The lights flicker on from the aged gym creating an eerie green illumination on my skin until they finally turn on completely. Once I make it to the middle of the room beside the other dancers, I stand there feeling the leather foot paws becoming one with my body speaking the promising words of, “You’re here. You’re ready and there’s no backing out”. I knew then and there when the strange yet familiar lady with the blonde ponytail was ready to proceed with her business. Like the unsure certainty of skydiving, possibly expecting the worse but hoping for the best, I myself knew this could change my life either for better or worse. “Your head starts down”, she said as she turned her back towards me and the other dancers. That one body movement was what sealed the deal.

I had never challenged myself to that extent when it came to dance; when it came to anything. The feeling of bony knees leaping then crashing into the wooden floors and new skin from the bottoms of my feet creating friction with the floor continuously, made me realize something. If I had wanted this position of being an officer, it wasn’t going to be obviously easy considering I’m being the unidealistic role of “mom” to other teenage girls like myself. But it’s what I felt like I’m supposed to do. Leading and being a positive outbreak to someone was why I signed up for the “mentor” role. Besides figuring out other teenagers along with myself, I wanted to stop feeling the physical pain. The ripping of new skin, the bruising then the routine bleeding, the carpet burns, the court burns, the sore achy muscles and bones, I was going to have to set my heart and mind in the right place to realize that the whole cliché “there’s no “I” in “team” was coming into play here. “It doesn’t matter if you can execute the hardest dance combination because you’re only as strong as the weakest team member out there on the floor”. It didn’t matter if I individually hurt because we all as a team were physically hurting from the long hours. We all knew. But those words that came from my director Diane Craig one day in summer practice, advanced me to dig deeper, light a fire within and be the better person, the better leader, I had been chosen to be. Like an avalanche sending down a tiny snowball, there was no stopping me.

And here you may think, what does drill team and dancing have to do with being a better person? Despite the coming together as a team to create this compact group of individuals with some smiles, sparkles and tricks, there’s a hidden lesson only taking part of can make you understand. It’s about being aware, open, understanding, and a leader. Whether it’s being thrown into a position for wearing the officer’s white uniform or the team’s uniform, becoming the role model for a group of strangers can definitely set you apart and prepare you for the future. Whether it’s having an interview, dressing nice, being a good person and keeping your word, or being on time to a certain appointment or set date, drill team has me prepared. Being ten steps ahead for every single action taking place becomes second nature because you don’t know when another girl or other person is in need of something. It could be something drastically helpful as a lunch, an extra change of clothes, or something simple as a bobby-pin or hair tie. When it comes to the world outside of high school, it may not be one of those specific actions and yet again it could. I know that becoming a leader or playing “mom” for a drill team has a bigger meaning than giving a silly little safety pin to another girl, then she be magically inspired. The meaning is way more than coming together to figure out whether an arm or leg movement goes on count 5 or if a leap goes on count 8 and you stand up on 2 so that you can win a competition. It’s more than humbling yourself and giving up your spot on the front row. It’s about “imagining the possibilities”. It’s about sacrifice, going above and beyond the call of duty, and pulling through with a smile.