Caroline & Michael & Scott

Chapter 13

After the big victory, all the Bulldog players were whooping and hollering as they entered the locker room. After undressing, when heading towards the showers, Scott saw Coach Decker talking to a stranger in a suit. After showering and dressing, Coach Decker called Scott over.

"Aldrich!" Coach beckoned. "Come over here." When Scott arrived to where the two men were standing, he introduced them. "Scott, this is Mr. Taylor, from the University of Wisconsin."

"Please to meet you, sir" Scott said, as he shook Mr. Taylor's hand.

"It's good the meet you, son… I was quite impressed with your play tonight. I think you may have a future with the Badgers. Would it be possible to meet with you and your parents tomorrow morning, say nine o'clock?"

"I'd have to ask them, sir… But I'm sure it'd be fine… Let me give you my address."

After Mr. Taylor wrote down the Aldrich address, the two shook again, and he left.

Scott could hardly contain his joy. "Oh boy… This is it!"

******

Promptly at nine o'clock, Mr. Taylor arrived at the Aldrich house. He rang the bell and Mrs. Aldrich answered the door.

"Hello, Ma'am. My name is Charlie Taylor, from the University of Wisconsin. I hope your son Scott told you to expect me."

"Yes, yes he did… Come on in."

He entered and offered his hand "You're Mrs. Aldrich, I presume?"

She shook his hand and said "Why yes, yes I am, Mr. Taylor."

"Please, call me Charlie."

"Well, alright Mr. uh… Charlie… My husband and Scott are in the living room, waiting for you."

As they entered the living room, Mr. Aldrich and Scott stood up. Mrs. Aldrich made the introductions. "Honey, this is Mr. Taylor… uh, Charlie, from the university."

"Pleasure to meet you, Mr. Aldrich" Charlie said as they shook hands.

"We've been waiting for this for a long time" Mr. Aldrich replied.

Mrs. Aldrich continued "And of course, you're already met our son, Scott… Charlie, why don't you take a seat?" gesturing to a seat by the couch.

Scott and his parents sat on a couch, while Charlie sat on a seat at a right angle to them.

"Mr. and Mrs. Aldrich, I was quite impressed with your son last night. You must be quite proud of him."

"Oh, we are" they answered simultaneously.

"We at the university think he might be a valuable addition to our squad. Let me tell you a little bit about our school. We have a distinguished academic reputation. And despite what you may have heard about college life, the coach and assistants make sure our players stay on the straight and narrow. We monitor their grades and make sure they keep their noses clean. They're too valuable as assets to waste."

Mr. Aldrich spoke "You don't have to sell us on UW Mr. Taylor. We know it's a good school… Let's get down to what we're all interested in: Is the university gonna offer my son a football scholarship?"

"Well… yes and no." Seeing the Aldrich's puzzled expressions, Charlie explained. "College football recruiting is a complicated matter, sir. Sometimes people are disappointed. But we at UW pride ourselves in being up front with all recruits, so they know exactly what's going on."

"And that is…?" inquired Mr. Aldrich.

"Let me explain the process first. Colleges can verbally offer scholarships and players can verbally accept, but nothing's official until National Letter of Intent day. The NCAA, which governs college athletics, doesn't want one college to have an advantage over another, so all colleges can only officially offer scholarships, and all recruits can only officially sign "letters of intent" to attend, starting on the same day. Since many recruits are not of legal age, 18, by that date, it's up to not only the recruit, but also his parents, who'll have to sign for him. Up until that date, either side can make a verbal commitment, then subsequently change their mind. But typically, if either side has doubts, they don't make even a verbal commitment until they're certain. It's all a matter of trust. We at the university and our recruits have been good about keeping our commitments, and informing each other about any change in circumstance. I'll be straight with you… I talked to the coach and we like your son. But there's only a limited number of scholarships every year and we like another boy that plays Scott's position a little better. The problem is, he hasn't made a commitment yet, and he's also been recruited by other prestigious schools. So, I'm prepared to make you a scholarship offer… contingent on the event that this other boy does not commit to us. I'm sorry, that's the best I can do… Of course, because of this circumstance you're free to accept any other offers that may come your way… We'd just appreciate it if you'd let us know."

As he said this, it was well understood that Mr. Taylor was just being polite. It was extremely unlikely that Scott would receive any other offers.

Charlie got up to leave. "Well, thank you for letting me take up your time. It's been a pleasure meeting you. I'll keep you informed, but to be honest, I myself don't expect to know anything before February… Thanks, I'll let myself out."

"Great…" thought Scott, happy that he might get a scholarship, but unhappy that it wasn't certain. "I thought the Marine game was my last competition until college – if I made it. Now there's still a competition for a scholarship - and there's nothing I can do. I just have to wait."

******

It was the 15th of January, the third Saturday of the month. Every year around this time, the Milwaukee Ballet, in conjunction with UW-Milwaukee, held auditions for their summer ballet program. For 15 dollars, you got the privilege of getting to compete against candidates in Milwaukee and 19 other cities for the limited number of spots. If you're lucky enough to get selected, you got the privilege of paying 1,500 dollars (room and board extra) to spend six weeks in July and August in Milwaukee, being instructed by professional dancers and instructors of some renown. Several ballet companies around the country held auditions about this time of year for their own summer programs. It was a way for some instructors and dancers to make a little extra money during the break in the ballet season. More importantly, it gave the companies a chance to scout out some fresh young talent. Companies had to replace dancers all the time. Dancers with lead talent were well known, whether they were from outside and had to be imported, or already in the company and promoted. But because a dancer's career lasted but a limited time, there were always a few from the corps de ballet that also needed to be replaced every year by new, unknown dancers. Caroline and her parents had selected the Milwaukee summer ballet program because of its reputation and because it was the only program that was both affordable enough and close enough for them. Fred, Caroline's father, was driving Caroline down US-41 to Milwaukee in the family Buick.

"Dad, I really appreciate you taking me down to Milwaukee. And..." Caroline added, crossing her fingers "you and Mom paying 1500 bucks if I manage to make it."

"Oh, you'll make it, Puddin'. I don't know much about ballet, but you're the best ballerina I've seen. As for the money, don't mention it. Nothin's too good for our princess."

Normally a chatterbox, Caroline said little during the three hour drive down to Milwaukee. As much as Scott on a game night, maybe more, Caroline became very serious and concentrated prior to her performances. She had spent two months selecting and preparing for a dance with Miss Morgan. She practiced the same dance to the same music so often, she often dreamed about it. Pretty soon, it would be for real. If she did well and was selected for the summer program, she'd have an advantage in getting a dance scholarship. If she won a dance scholarship... who knew?

When they arrived at the UW-Milwaukee campus, Fred stopped briefly for directions to the school theater, then dropped Caroline off. Only judges and candidates were allowed to watch during the tryouts.

"Good luck, Puddin'. See you in a couple of hours."

"Thanks, Dad." Caroline waved at her father as he drove off.

After entering the theater, Caroline was directed to the dressing area, where she quickly changed. She took her bag with her clothes with her to the wings of the stage, where she watch the tryouts already in progress and waited for her name to be called.

Caroline always felt nervous prior to a performance - any type of performance. She still vividly remembered freezing up during her turn at the Wisconsin state spelling bee. This was a little different - the pressures were all internal, the fate of her hopes and dreams riding on her performance, instead of external, her fear of the reaction of the audience. But ballet was different - even in the third grade, constant rehearsals of the dance she was to perform allowed her to block everything but her performance from her mind. Would that be the case again...?

"Caroline Duffy."

"This is it!" thought Caroline. She tried to appear confident as she strode over to the piano player and handed her some sheet music.

Caroline cleared her throat and announced, somewhat nervously "I'll be doing a short excerpt from "Giselle"."

Caroline got into position, struck a pose, then nodded to the piano player...

…

After it was done, Caroline smiled her thousand watt smile at the judges. She knew she had done well. "Well, that's the best I'm capable of doing... It's in the hands of the judges now. I can hardly wait the two months for their decision."