Bailey Dirks

**Bailey Dirks** is one of the main characters from Cleats.

## Biography

Bailey is the least athletic member of the group who often attracts misfortune to himself. He doesn’t really like soccer and often tries to find excuses to get out of doing it. As a result, his father often tries to get him to toughen up, despite knowing nothing about soccer. He is only on the team because his folks thought it’d be good for his self esteem. His best friend is Dawn from the Panthers.

## Appearance

Bailey is a cute 10-year-old boy with curly brown hair. Sometimes in certain prints, his hair is colored as orange or blonde-ish. Sometimes, he is seen wearing a hazmat suit to protect himself from germs.

## Personality

Bailey is very cute and sweet, but also cowardly, cautious, worrisome, timid and a nervous wreck. He has a ton of fears and often tries to get out of doing something that might get him hurt. Bailey looks up to and acts as an adorable baby brother to Jack, Mondo, Abby and Peri. He also is shown to have a crush on Dawn and vice versa. Bailey is very naive, since he doesn't seem to question a lot of things, even when they are in plain sight. He doesn’t seem to have the best strategies when it comes to participating in sports.

## Relationships

### Jack and Mondo

Bailey looks up to Jack and Mondo like big brothers. They often invite him to play some sports and games with them, though Bailey is reluctant to do so and tries to ask them if there are any rules that don’t involve physical contact. Sometimes, they can get annoyed with Bailey being scared all the time. However, while Jack gets more annoyed with Bailey and sometimes yells at him, Mondo is more patient and protective towards him.

### Abby and Peri

Much like how Bailey looks up to Jack and Mondo like brothers, he also looks up to Abby and Peri like big sisters. However, unlike the boys, the girls are more patient with Bailey and actually seem to adore him. They can get annoyed with him being scared all the time, but they always are trying to encourage him to come out of his shell.

### Dee and Jerome

Bailey, Dee, and Jerome hang out a lot, they seem to be good friends. One time, Bailey reluctantly took over as the goalie and unknowingly blocked a ball with his butt. Bailey and Jerome also went to soccer camp together, but while Bailey liked the camp, Jerome didn't because the acitvities had nothing to do with soccer.

### Dawn Pruitt

Dawn and Bailey are best friends. They both are shy, timid, and easily frightened, although Dawn is a bit more brave and extroverted than Bailey. They are both shown to not-so secretly like each other.

### Edith Tippet

Bailey and Edith have a pretty decent relationship. Much like how Edith does with everyone else, she gets annoyed with Bailey being such a nervous wreck. However, she is able to take advantage of Bailey’s naivety whenever he is feeling confident and ends up making a fool of himself.

### Tanner

Bailey and Tanner have a vitriolic relationship. When Tanner first joined the Dawgs, he started mainly picking on Bailey because of how childish and timid he is, but Bailey still tried to befriend and stand up to him anyways. Tanner often exploits and takes advantage of Bailey, though the latter doesn't really seem to mind and still sees Tanner as a friend.

### Mr. Dirks

Bailey and his father’s relationship is sort of strained. While Mr. Dirks does care deeply for his son, he is disappointed in Bailey’s nervousness and failure to even look at a soccer ball. He put him on the soccer team because he thought it would be good for his self-esteem. He tries to get Bailey to toughen up, but doesn’t know anything about soccer. Despite this, they always do their best to bring out the other’s potential.

### Mrs. Dirks

While Bailey’s mother is never shown, she seems to be quite protective of him and often writes excuse notes for him during practice.

## Trivia

* Bailey was based on nervous kids that Bill Hinds often encountered when coaching sports teams.
* It appears that Bailey has some kind of form of autism, due to his special needs, fears, comfort items and reluctance to do new things.