by Devon Goldstein ‘21

The Netflix original documentary six-episode series “Cheer” first came out on January 8 and took the world by storm. Just as the Navarro Community College cheer team wiped out their competition at Daytona Beach, Florida the year before in 2019, the documentary series was very successful after it premiered at the beginning of the new year.  

“Cheer” shows the process of the Navarro Community College cheer team preparing for their final competition only a few months before the competition was to take place. Although the process is a very important aspect of the documentary, the main focus of the show is the idea of being a team and supporting one another in everything they do. 

The members on the Navarro cheer team all come from different places and backgrounds of their lives. Some from broken homes, choices that almost put them in jail, and others in dark places of their lives looking for a way out. Having so much diversity on the team helps them become so successful and accomplish their goal.

Monica Aldama, the cheer team’s coach, has so much love for the kids and it shows through her passion for cheer and the hard word she puts into making the routine flawless. The students on the team constantly say that without Aldama, the team would not be able to win all of the titles they have in the past, and will in the future. 

Aldama pushes the idea of supporting everyone on the team and acting like a family together. During the season there are many interruptions and obstacles due to injuries, causing the team to bounce back quickly and come together to fill in the gaps. 

Many people do not know the work and time that goes into being a cheer coach or just being a member of the team, and this show was a great way to educate people about the cheerleading process. Starting at the beginning of the school year going all the way to January of the following year for finals. The team goes through hour long practices each day to perfect the different skills they have to present to the judges at the competition. This includes stunts, tumbling, baskets, choreography, pyramids, and more. The cheerleaders have a large amount of hard work and a big time commitment they make to the team in order to ensure the routine will look flawless and they can hit all of the different elements when it comes time for the competition. 

Along with the aspects the documentary highlighted, it also brought to people’s attention the darker side of cheerleading. The company that helps with a lot of the aspects of cheerleading is Varsity Spirit. Each year they are in charge of the final competition, and the series went into detail about how much control they have in cheerleading. For the final competition, Varsity would not allow Netflix’s camera crew to film the competition, so it was filmed on the cheer team members’ and the watchers of the competition’s phones. 

The Netflix documentary series “Cheer” is a great way to educate people about cheerleading and all of the effort that goes into a two-minute routine for a final competition. Hopefully there will be another season of the series coming next year showing the new team and how they work throughout the next cheer season to accomplish their end goal. 

Grade: A