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PASSION TO DANCE

MATT RODRIGUEZ

Age: 16

School: Junior at Topeka High School

Dancing: Matt is the only male member of the Topeka High drill team. He has danced in the SRO talent show and Black Student Union talent show, and he co-directed the Mr. THS event.

Other activities include: Marine Corps Junior ROTC, student government representative, Black Student Union, Association of Latin American Students, Students Together Rising Against Packin' Pieces and school theater.

THS junior

dances way past criticism

By Barbara Hollingsworth

THE CAPITAL-JOURNAL

Girls have integrated the football huddles and wrestling mats of high schools.

But boys dancing on the drill team?

"I have discouraged him from day one," said Topeka High drill team mom Susan Worely. "I said, 'They're not going to put a boy on the drill team.' "

But they did. Worely's son, Matt Rodriguez, is believed to be the first boy on the school drill team.

"I'm an extremely stubborn person," said Rodriguez, a junior who also is in the ROTC program. "When I say I'm going to do something, I do it."

Since the sixth grade, Rodriguez has memorized the moves he watches on music videos. He has taped and replayed Michael Jackson's "Beat 2It" many times. He learned from watching 'N Sync, Justin Timberlake, Missy Elliott and Britney Spears, whose picture is posted throughout his room. It is work that paid off last spring when Rodriguez tried out for the team.

Worely, who also attended Topeka High, said she had heard her son dancing in his bedroom for years but was impressed when she saw him dance for the first time at school events last year. And she said she now supports his dancing.

"I talked to family and my sisters. They told me I should be proud and he's making history," Worely said.

Topeka High is so diverse that Rodriguez said he feels comfortable being on the drill team --- a feeling he said he might not have at other schools. Another boy also tried out for the team this year but didn't make the cut.

Still, Rodriguez tried out for drill team as a second choice. Originally, he wanted to create a dance team for boys and girls at the school but was turned down.

"To show I wasn't giving up, I decided to try out for drill team," he said.

This week, Rodriguez practiced with the team for the first time at Topeka High School. Early in the week, he said he felt like the outsider even though he knows a lot of the members. He felt more at home by the end of the week.

"I'm very glad I did it," he said.

The drill team performs at pep rallies, football games and parades. Rodriguez said his drill team debut will be Sept. 10 during a football game at the Hummer Sports Park. As the only boy, he said he will be under more pressure to perform well because he will stick out more and be watched closely for mistakes.

"The first game, the pressure --- it's on," he said.

Rodriguez said he is already looking beyond that first game. As a senior next year, he said he hopes to be on drill team again.

"I'm trying out for captain," he said.

"Why don't you see if you like it first?" his mom asked.

"Oh yeah, I do," he responded.

And he wants more boys on the team: "It's nice being the only guy - -- at first --- but next year I want more boys to come. Even if I'm the first, I'm not going to be the last."

Rodriguez said he isn't sure what his uniform will look like, although it is a popular question. He said he will probably wear the same type of top as the girls but different, "hopefully loose," pants.

He said he doesn't like the stereotype that boys don't dance on drill teams. Nor does he like stereotypes about how boys should dress --- in baggy clothes that hide their bodies --- while girls' fashions tend to reveal more skin. Rodriguez leaves his shirts partially unbuttoned, showing his chest or stomach.

"My philosophy is if you've got it, flaunt it," he said. "I like to be different. If there's a room full of guys, you can see me."

In his room, Rodriguez keeps journals from each year where he writes poetry and creates collages of the people who are important to him. In one collage, he clipped words from headlines that seemed to describe him, including "The Dirty Star," from a story about pop singer Christina Aguilera surprising people. Rodriguez can relate.

"I push myself away from what's expected," he said.

Barbara Hollingsworth can be reached at (785) 295-1285 or

barbara.hollingsworth@

cjonline.com.

PHOTOGRAPHS BY NICK KRUG/THE CAPITAL-JOURNAL

Topeka High School junior Matt Rodriguez practices his routine to the Trojans' fight song during Thursday morning's drill team practice at the school. Rodriguez received considerable criticism before joining the team, but he said his stubbornness pushed him to do it.

Rodriguez studies a routine performed by some of the returning members of the Trojans' drill team. He said he hopes to be team captain his senior year.

Team: Debut set

for Sept. 10

Please see TEAM, Page 2C

Continued from Page 1C