Team Manager COACH!
Chapter 24
LANA AND DENNIS, assisted by several interested girlfriends, examined the labels and care instructions for the various uniforms. It turned out that the cheer uniforms and the basketball uniforms were made of the same material and care instructions permitted them to be washed together as long as the colors were similar. They started with the white home uniforms since those would be needed on Monday.
It took the rest of the afternoon to wash and iron the uniforms with various girlfriends taking turns at the ironing board.
“Whose underwear did you get?” Lana whispered, nudging Dennis.
“Um… not sure. It’s really pretty, though. I feel bad about girls spending money for pretty undies and then wearing them once and giving them to me. And what am I going to do with them all? After I appreciate the gesture, they end up shoved in the drawer with all the others,” Dennis said.
“The condom drawer?” she giggled.
“Um… Yeah. I guess. But really, what am I supposed to do with them?”
“We’ll have a little meeting and discuss the matter together. I bet we can come up with a clever idea. Maybe we can wallpaper your room in them or something,” Lana suggested. Dennis groaned.
Word had gone out that Peg was singing each Sunday in Advent and little Trinity Lutheran Church was packed Sunday morning. Because of the number of people already in the church before Dennis and his girlfriends arrived, they ended up scattered in four different pews with other members of the basketball team and cheerleaders.
Peg looked wonderful in the new dress Dot bought for her. But she was radiant when she stood to sing.
Come thou long expected Jesus
Born to set thy people free
From our fears and sins release us
Let us find our rest in thee.
The church sat in silence when she finished, each member of the congregation transported by her voice to his or her own center of worship. Daniella and Roberta bracketed him this Sunday and leaned against him as he held their hands. Outside the church, the first light dusting of snow fell, heralding the winter along with the holiday season.
“She has such a beautiful voice,” Roberta sighed as they left the church. “It seems sad that she is limited to this little church.”
“I don’t think so,” Daniella said. “This setting is right for her. Do you think she’d be happy singing in some cathedral or on television for a megachurch?”
“I suppose you are right,” Roberta said. “I just think about how many people would love to hear her sing.”
“We’ll need to get to church a lot earlier next Sunday,” Dennis said as his sister and his other girlfriends caught up with them. He hugged Peg and whispered how beautifully she sang.
Monday night’s game was at home, so Dennis was able to lead conditioning exercises for the JV, the wrestlers, and the non-athletes at 3:30 before heading to the locker room to start taping the girls who needed it.
The roster was looking pretty stable. Even Ardith was surprised that none of the girls dropped out. She hadn’t let up on them in practice and Dennis’s conditioning exercises were pushing them even more. She looked down the roster to pick the evening’s starters for the game against the Bearcats. She wasn’t making the mistake she’d made Saturday of putting in weaker players to start the game. She hated to start all three Armor girls and both Longs, but they were the strongest players she had. She handed the chart off to Dennis and he took it to meet the scorers and officials while she gave the team a pep talk.
“The varsity is pretty smug right now because they have a better record than the Angelines,” Ardith said. “We can’t do anything about that. They play their game and they win or lose, just hoping for a winning season. We know a secret they don’t. What is this game?” She waited for an answer and called on Natalie, this year’s first captain. The second captain from the sophomore class was Judith.
“This game is the championship game,” Natalie spoke out strongly. “We have a 0-0 record going into this game. It’s the only one that counts.”
“Right. And what are we going to do?”
“Beat ’em!” The girls knew the rest of the routine.
“How are we going to do it?”
“Run, run, run!”
“Who are we?”
“Angelines!”
The team headed for the gym and started their quest for a win.
The first quarter looked like a shooting match between the two schools. Nearly every possession resulted in a score. At the end of the quarter the score was tied at fourteen. Ardith made some strategic changes, moving Daniella under the basket at right forward, replacing Diane. Rosie went in at center. Judith came out and Leanne went in at point guard, moving Natalie to breaking guard. And the team broke loose. Daniella snatched the first rebound of a Bearcat shot and threw the ball hard downcourt where Natalie picked it up, took one step, and laid it up and in. Nat was determined that she’d match her taller sister’s feat of being able to dunk the ball, but she wasn’t quite there yet. Nonetheless, the shot was what the Angelines needed to show their power. They outscored their opponents by seventeen points in the second quarter.
“We’re not going to let up in the second half,” Ardith said. “Everyone make sure you are warmed up and loose. We’ll be doing lots of substitutions. I won’t change that unless we start slipping. You freshmen have the opportunity to show your stuff this half. Let’s get out there and show them how we win!”
It wasn’t quite the break-away in the third quarter that it had been in the second, but the Angelines held a commanding lead. In the fourth quarter, Ardith had a few minutes of playing all four freshmen who were dressed, rotating Daniella, Natalie, and Roberta into the lineup with them to keep them organized. They expanded the lead by eleven more points to end the game 69-33.
Since they were at home, the girls showered, dressed in street clothes, and got into the boys’ game midway through the first quarter. They were having a tougher time controlling the varsity Bearcats and ended the half three points behind in a low-scoring game. They came back in the second half, though, barely strong enough to eke out a win, 44-42.
Everyone’s focus shifted Tuesday. Students, the community, local churches, and the school board prepared for the evening meeting regarding suitable sports attire for students. Members of the Disciples of the Pentecost Church were active early enough to picket at the conclusion of classes, not obstructing traffic, but holding up signs and singing gospel songs like “Onward Christian Soldiers.” The signs were mostly excerpted from scripture.
“Women should adorn themselves in modest apparel. –I Timothy 2:9”
“Let beauty not be in fancy clothes. –I Peter 3:3”
“Clothe yourselves with humility. –I Peter 5:5”
“Be clothed with strength and dignity. –Proverbs 31:25”
Dennis was called out before conditioning exercises to see the pickets as they walked somberly to and fro. He made the decision to leave the workout to the cheerleaders as he went to his computer to adjust his presentation slightly. He worked straight through until the time to go to the meeting. His girlfriends brought him dinner before the meeting.
He went into the multi-purpose room and connected his computer to the projection system as people packed the room.
“We have asked the student committee on athletic dress codes to present their recommendations. We find them incredibly simple and have asked their chairman, Dennis Enders, to explain what this simple statement means. Dennis, if you would take the podium.”
“Thank you, Superintendent Jones. Members of the School Board, teachers, parents, and fellow students. The committee on athletic dress codes felt the simpler the rules, the less subject to misinterpretation they would be. We have summarized them thus:
- Athletic uniforms are prescribed by individual sports’ rule books. They are acquired by the school according to those rules and student athletes agree to wear the approved uniform when representing the school in competition.
- Practice clothes, workout clothes, and gym clothes—unless mandated by the high school athletic association or governing body—are a matter of individual choice for the participant and are worn for comfort, flexibility, safety, and personal taste within minimal guidelines.
- Minimal guidelines are described as:
- Shirts or tops must cover the nipples and lower pectorals, including the lower hemisphere of breasts.
- Shorts or bottoms must cover the buttocks, commonly referred to as butt cheeks, including exposure of the cleft between, commonly referred to as the butt crack, and genitalia, including anus, penis, testicles, vulva, vagina, clitoris, and any forward rise or cleft commonly referred to as the mound or Delta of Venus.
“We of the committee find that describing workout wear more specifically than this removes a degree of freedom of expression and choice that is protected by the Constitution of the United States and unnecessarily complicates the selection of personal athletic wear commonly available in athletic clothing stores. We believe that given their choice in the matter, students will choose appropriate clothing for the activity in which they are engaged.
“We know that various religious sects cite holy writ in enforcing specific modes of dress. We have some Amish students in our student body who daily dress more conservatively than other students. Two Muslim students wear head coverings. These are fine for those students who participate in that particular religion and most sports have made allowances in athletic uniforms for students of those religious beliefs. When a religion attempts to force their standard on all members of the community, we see bloody results, such as the suppression of women by the Taliban in Afghanistan. It is that which we oppose.
“We have students of many different beliefs, denominations, and religions in our school. We encourage those who oppose this standard based on Christian modesty to review the words of St. Matthew in the Christian Bible:
“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin.
Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.
If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith?”
“I have provided the following video clip of the students here at Bartley High School engaged in a normal workout. This workout precedes our team sports practices each day and is joined by an additional twenty-five or more students who are not currently on any athletic team, but participate to enhance their good health and well-being. Represented here is nearly half of our student body. I challenge you to spot anyone who is distracted from their workout by the clothing of someone else. We’re serious about this.
“Thank you.” Dennis played the two-minute clip of a workout session Olivia had recorded. Most of the people in the meeting were panting in sympathy with the students working out.
Of course, it wasn’t over that easily. Once Dennis’s presentation of the new suggested athletic dress code was over, people wanted to respond. They wanted to respond whether they agreed or objected. Some just wanted to ask a question for clarification.
“Dennis, was it really necessary to make the shorts so very short?” asked Claudia’s mother. “The cheerleading rules say practice shorts need to be two inches below the crotch.”
“And when the cheerleaders are practicing, they conform to those rules. Cheerleader rules, by the way, are the most stringent of any of the sports,” Dennis said. “They don’t have to follow cheerleader rules when they are working out, though. Only when they are practicing. So, let me ask you to please look around and identify the person or people you think would be appropriate to hold a tape measure to Claudia’s crotch and measure to her hem.”
There was a gasp, first from Claudia’s mother, and then from much of the room as the implication sank in.
“I see. I withdraw my question,” she said.
There were several other comments before Kristen Conway got to the microphone.
“You can’t seriously think this code is okay!” she began. “It’s sinful. Such behavior and dress cause boys to sin. These girls made my poor Harry stumble and fall. It cost him his life. I’m only trying to save the lives of other boys in the school.”
“Sit down, Kristen,” shouted a voice from the back. Dennis looked around and saw Carol Reston standing up. The one-time basketball team member had graduated over the summer after being unable to finish all her classes. She’d been drugged, raped, and thrown from a moving car. After her own abusive behavior to Dennis, he had rescued her and kept her alive when she was injured. “Harry was a known violent and abusive bully as far back as kindergarten. That’s before the way girls dress could have had any influence on him. Besides, he preferred little boys. Stop trying to pass off your own failure as a mother onto innocent girls who had nothing to do with it!”
“That’s not true! Harry was a good boy. He worked out every bit as hard as that Enders boy ever did. He was murdered because of him!” Kristen declared hotly, pointing at Dennis.
“That’s quite a different story than blaming the girls for your son’s downfall,” Superintendent Jones said. “Thank you for your comments, Mrs. Conway. You may step away from the microphone.”
It appeared she was going to stay and say more, but the next person in line nudged her out of the way and a member of her church helped her back to her seat.
“I’m all for these new clothing rules. Yes, when my daughter works out, I’d like her not to be showing her cleavage or quite so much of her middle and legs, but that’s between her and me, not a bunch of rules fabricated to appease the most anal retentive among us,” a man said. His daughter stood beside him. He’d identified himself as Ken Decker, Francie’s father. “My daughter has never been interested in athletics and was pretty sedentary. She got sick this summer and the doctor told her she needed to get more exercise. She was in that video Dennis showed of the workout. The change that has come over Francie since she joined those workout sessions has been remarkable. She’s dropped some of the weight that was causing circulatory problems and has more energy now than I can ever remember. Frankly, for the results she’s shown, I’d be okay if she was working out naked. No, that’s not permission to do that,” he laughed and hugged his daughter. “Really, these kids show more maturity and dedication than most of the adults in this room.” He and his daughter turned to sit down. She grinned and threw a thumbs-up at Dennis.
As had happened the previous month, Lon Stackhouse approached the podium and it was obvious the meeting was about over.
“This meeting has been two hours none of us will ever get back again,” he started. “What it’s really shown is that our kids have a lot more sense than their parents give them credit for. This proposal and the maturity of the students it represents can be adopted as written. It’s one of the reasons AgCentral is in negotiations with the district to determine if an addition for our athletics facilities can be sponsored by AgCentral.”
There were gasps from everyone in the room. AgCentral was willing to fund an addition to the athletic facilities? This was news no one had heard prior to this time. The game the previous evening had shown how crowded the gym was when the fans were enthused.
“I suggest we call a halt to this discussion and ask the school board to adopt the athletic dress code presented to us so capably this evening. Mr. Superintendent and members of the board, let’s get this done and go home.”
There was a loud round of applause and the Superintendent rapped his gavel to bring the meeting back to order. He turned to consult with the other board members and then addressed the general meeting.
“The Board of Trustees of the Bartley School District hereby adopt the proposed athletic dress code as written. This meeting is now adjourned.”
“I failed, Brother Jules. They ridiculed me and my dead son.”
“There now, sister, let’s not be too hard on ourselves. We brought light to the world and the world comprehended it not. Come to the arms of God and be comforted.” Kristen approached her minister and they embraced.
“I always feel so safe and warm when I am in your arms,” she said. If only her husband gave her such a secure feeling. But when he embraced her, he smelled of beer and only wanted her to submit to his carnal desires. Brother Jules was so different—so clean and comforting.
“You are always welcome in my embrace. I offer you nothing more than the comfort God grants all his children in times of need.” He sat in his chair and pulled Kristen with him into his lap. “Let us comfort each other that we might rise again to fight the Lord’s battles.” He smoothed her hair and kissed the top of her head. It was so loving and gentle. She snuggled against him and when his lips touched her forehead, she lifted her face to his and received his kiss on her lips as if it were the blessed sacrament.
She was safe here. She would do whatever her guide asked of her. She hoped he would accept her service as their kiss intensified.
Wednesday was an early-out day at Bartley High School. The compressed class schedule meant Dennis did not go to Boone for his morning classes. Instead, he went to his first high school class of the day at 9:45 in the morning.
The school was buzzing about the new athletic dress code and the possible new athletic facility. As usual, no one had the whole story but everyone was willing to fill in the blank spots with their own speculation. Some had boldly pronounced that there would be a new AgCentral Athletic Pavilion, a separate facility that would house a new gymnasium, multiple workout rooms, and a custom area for Dennis to lead conditioning workouts in. Someone had spotted right away that Lon’s daughter Debbie was one of Dennis’s girlfriends and was on the Angelines basketball team.
Other students had suggested that they would do just enough remodeling of the existing facilities to increase the bleachers and get AgCentral’s name on the building. Speculation included everything between, so someone might have been nearly right.
When Dennis walked to the center of the gym to start the afternoon’s exercises at 1:45, there was a round of applause from the hundred students attending the session.
For once, the workout and practice were over in time for the crew to rush to Boone in time for the opening of the Bears game against the Trojans at 5:30. Brenda was in the starting line-up and played most of the game. She was effectively shut down on her inside game, making only two of her eight attempts. She drained two from the three-point zone as well. Where the Trojans made their mistake was in fouling her repeatedly inside as she attempted shots or dragged down one of her six rebounds. Brenda made six of her nine free throw attempts for a total of sixteen points. The crew cheered themselves hoarse each time she stole the ball from the bigger Trojan players.
The Bears beat the Trojans 81-76. Brenda was elated, but exhausted at the end of the game. Daniella and Roberta had ridden to the game with Dennis, Natalie, and Amy. They switched cars and Daniella drove Brenda’s car, so Brenda and Amy could make out in the back seat.
That left Natalie alone in Dennis’s car with him—a perfect opportunity for the two of them to park and make out for a while.
“Nat, I don’t know what I’d do without you. I love you so much, I can’t imagine not being together forever.”
“Keep thinking that way, lover. We’re still only sixteen, but that just means we’ve made a good start,” she giggled. “Guess whose underwear was in the laundry bag Monday night!”
“Um… Yours?”
“Aw. I thought you could recognize my scent in my underwear. No, it wasn’t mine.”
“Whose?”
“I’ll give you a hint: It’s not one of the twelve.”
“No. Please tell me it isn’t so. I don’t want any more girlfriends. I don’t have enough time with you as it is.”
“I don’t think she really wants to be a girlfriend. She’s…”
“Don’t tell me who. I don’t want to know. I’ll just imagine it’s one of my girlfriends.”
“Okay. I won’t say. But I think you are going to get twenty-seven pair this year.”
“There’s only eighteen on the team! And there’s only twenty-one games.”
“Twenty-seven if we play all six regional and state tournament games. And we will. Just remember that if you get a jockstrap, that doesn’t count.”
“A jockstrap? What…? Oh! The cheerleaders. Without the guys, that makes twenty-six. Who else?”
“Oh, come on now. Who do you love? I mean besides me and who isn’t on the team.”
“Brenda?”
“Geez, you’re dense! Not only do I think you’ll get number twenty-seven from her, I’d be surprised if she doesn’t take them off in front of you and hand them to you.”
“Oh.” Dennis’s heart caught in his throat for a moment and the syllable was barely a whisper. There was only one person he could think of. Would Lana really do that?
“It’s going to be really hard on her when we graduate and she has to stay here while you and the rest of us go off to college.”
“That’s really too much to take in. Do you really think Lana would do that? And that she’d miss us when we go to college?”
“You. She’d miss you. Oh, she’d miss the rest of us, too, but she’d be lonely without you. You accepted her as your girlfriend, Den. You’ll accept her as your lover, too.”
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