By james art 
ARLINGTON — David Greene’s world involves playbooks and placemats, not pompoms and pyramids.
But that all changed for the football coach and athletic director at Newman International Academy’s Gibbins campus in Arlington, who found himself in a new role just before Christmas.
When Green couldn’t find a replacement for the charter school’s cheer coach, who had to resign just weeks before the state cheer championships due to pregnancy complications, he did what he could to save their season.
“The last option was that their football coach was going to be the cheer coach,” said Green, who is in his second year at the school.
Green put 21 girls and five soccer players he recruited from his team through “soccer”-style workouts, including two a day. Unfamiliar with modern cheering terminology and technique, Green learned a lot on the spot. He had help from assistants, one of whom had cheering experience, and guidance from the team.
With only four weeks of practice to prepare, Green and the team weren’t sure what to expect heading into the Texas Charter School Academic & Athletic League state championships on Jan. 18.
At the end of the competition, the judges awarded Newman the state title, leaving Green in tears.
“I get emotional, especially when you see something moving forward,” he said. “I got to see the excitement in their eyes and that’s what I needed.”
But students weren’t necessarily thrilled when Green took over the program.
“It was definitely a shock at first when we had our first meeting with him, to see him come in since he’s known as a football coach. … I was definitely skeptical,” senior Hannah Cambeau said. “After our first practice, he showed that he’s not here to make us figure things out, but that he’s going to help us figure out our routine.”
Cambeu praised the players for their willingness to learn. The guys, who mostly helped out with stunts, agreed to step out of their comfort zone when Green invited them to join.
“It was definitely an experience, something new. Something we weren’t born into. Nothing of our nature,” junior Damarion Anderson said. “And so they taught us a lot of new things. Hopefully we can carry them over into next year.
The training format was not foreign to football players. Green used her whistle — a sound the girls had never heard at cheer practice — and performed drills during rehearsal. He wanted to make sure no one was standing around, just like at soccer practice, so if one group was learning a new component, another group was doing repetitions of the routine.
The students said Green took the perspective of a judge, making sure the routine was clean.
“Even if he doesn’t remember the count exactly, you can always count on him [to say]“Attitude ladies” or “Smile, maybe add a little wink. The judges love that,” freshman Jayla Smith said.
Green, who was a firefighter for 25 years before becoming a coach, said his friends teased him for fun after the team won state. They sent him the meme of Saturday Night Live Spartan cheerleaders skit.
Taking the job seemed crazy, Green admits, but his daughter, who works in the theater, inspired him to do it.
“Dad, here’s something you have to remember,” he recalled her telling him. “You know how you feel when you get ready for a Friday night football game? … These cheerleaders have the same feeling, you get 10 games. They get one.
“That stayed with me,” Green said.
The experience of continuing the season and winning state resonated with the students as well.
“We were about to give up on the competition entirely and then Coach Green came and brought us back,” junior Madeline Kao said. “Most of us didn’t even believe we could win, so when the announcement came that we won first, I felt like in that moment, I felt so much pride for my school and so much spirit.”
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