Going somewhere?
Going somewhere? Hey!
Rebecca!
Move.
Calm down. Calm down.
Steve Irwin taught me real good
how to handle this stuff right here.
Move, duck.
This duck about to make me go to jail, I swear to God.
Move. Move.
I like being in my own energy, being in my own space,
dealing with La'Darius, because I know me the best.
I wanna wake up and just feel peace.
Quiet and peace.
I did my time.
I've cheered with the best of them.
I-I can't be killing my body anymore. I'm tired.
My body is dead and burnt out.
I mean, I could still do it, but it's like...
Mm-mmm.
I'mma need y'all fish to bite, before I get in the water and bite you.
When Monica was Dancing with the Stars,
we had another assistant coach named Kailee Peppers,
and she was in charge.
Kailee, she had a problem with me.
I was so nice to her.
I constantly was talking to her about, "Hey. This is what Monica would do."
One minute!
I was like, "Hey. You gotta take care of these rookies.
They don't know what they're doing, and you're not teaching them.
It's your job."
And that's when the responsibilities fell to me,
'cause I felt like it was my job to get these people on track.
I don't think it's unfair for them to expect, um, you know, Monica out of me,
because that's what they're used to.
With Navarro Cheer comes high expectations.
And so I-I don't think that it's unfair,
it's just very hard shoes to fill, for sure.
I was teaching people how to tumble,
and teaching mid-layers how to catch,
flyers how to hold their weight.
It was just, like, a lot.
Every time I do something, I'm thinking about who's better than me.
I'm gonna watch how they do it.
I'm gonna imitate how they do it.
That's what I want you to do. That's how you become a good cheerleader.
I remember Monica saying to me one year,
she was like, "I should just let you coach the team."
And I told her, "Yes, 'cause I've learned from the best."
Oh, yes!
When Monica was in LA, I was definitely missing her.
I think I called her more then
than I ever have in the years we've been in Navarro,
because I wanted her to be there.
I wanted her to see all the good that I was bringing there,
that I was being exactly what she wanted me to be.
And none of the calls ever went through.
When she came back, I was just like,
"Monica, these assistant coaches are not what you think they are."
And I was telling her what was going on, and I just really felt
like she was not trying to listen.
When she came back from Dancing with the Stars,
it was almost like she forgot where she came from.
And it comes to a point where you really sit down
and you really reflect on all the times you've been yelled at,
all the times you've been told, "You're a bad apple," this and that,
and I finally... I finally, really just had enough.
I said, "I'm leaving."
I don't care about anybody else's feelings,
'cause clearly people don't care about mine.
It's okay. Learn when to give up.
If things are not working, then learn to give up.
Learn to walk away.
Things are not always, "You gotta stick it out. You gotta push it through."
Learn to give up.
Learn to choose you over anything that is not serving your best interests.
You are my peace.
But there you go to grow up and be just like your mommy and daddy.
Monica, her favorite line is, "Be accountable for your actions."
It's her turn to be held accountable.
The tough exterior is coming back.
I'm not allowing people to walk over me no more.
I'm not allowing people to just do whatever they wanna do
and take me for granted.
Let's get into it.
Since we being honest and open and we want to be celebrities, Monica,
you wanna go dance with the stars, let's... let's make you even more of a star.
Let's show them how infamous you really are.
Y'all forgot I had a voice now!
You can't... you can't... you can't stuff me down no more!
Y'all forgot I had a voice!
Girl!
And I'mma keep on talking!
And I wanna see you lie.
'Cause, you know, you're a Christian woman. Right?
You're a Christian woman, huh?
Now let's see you lie in front of the world.
I bet you she could do it.
She been doing it.
Back-to-back winter storms slamming Texas.
Millions there are without power, water,
or heat amid some of the coldest temperatures in over 100 years.
The entire state, for the first time in weather history,
under that winter storm warning.
The temperatures here have been sub-zero.
At one point, it was in the single digits for a couple of days straight.
More than 620,000 waking up without power in Texas this morning,
and some 7,000,000 people under orders to boil their water before using it.
Pipes freezing, bursting, all over that great state.
I... I-internet's down right now, so the phones don't work here,
and the internet doesn't work here, um...
Last week was tough.
The really cold weather came in on Sunday and then the ice came in Monday.
And then more snow for Tuesday.
Texas is just not really equipped for snow or ice.
The dorm that our athletes live in, Cardinal Hall,
got the worst of it with the storm.
Did not have water for another full day,
and then they didn't have hot water for another day after that.
That's worrisome,
because looking at the calendar now, we've got
six weeks.
Then you stack that on top of everything ending last year the way it did.
It was heartbreaking to a lot of them
because I know how much they put their heart and souls into the routine.
And there was nothing we could do.
But now we're rebuilding.
We don't have a ton of age experience or mat experience,
which, you know, it can be good or bad.
The rookie class is probably the best rookie class that we've had.
It's hard being able to give the athletes the experience they've had previous years.
Normally, they have all that bonding experience in their dorms
and... and outside in the community.
Now you have a limit to how many people can visit your room.
Everything feels like eggshells.
You're always afraid that tomorrow is gonna be the day
that you lose two weeks of practice.
They do their best to have fun and... and they do what they can do.
But it's not the same. It doesn't feel the same.
Why do you do it like this?
This is scary.
I just saw his insides, guys.
Girl, we're non-science majors and we're doing this.
Did you think this is what Biology during COVID would look like?
No. Definitely not.
I thought they'd make us go to class.
Everything is, like, online now,
and I feel like we're just missing out on a lot.
I just don't know if I wanna do another year here of school and cheering.
I'm waiting for Daytona to say if I'm coming back,
so it's really up in the air.
♪ Kali ♪
♪ He wanna pop out ♪
♪ I wanna rock out Call when I'm in town ♪
♪ Ooh, what do you mean? I don't want your man... ♪
This year has been really different.
I feel, like, more confined to my room with Cassadee,
and it's, like, just being stuck here and not being able to do anything.
It's definitely been hard because there's a lot of people
that I had super close relationships with that aren't here anymore.
And it does get lonely.
This year, especially, a lot of people have animals.
Hi, Scoob!
Blake pointed at the guinea pigs and then we agreed to get her.
Willow, you have bedhead.
No! No! Don't pee in here!
No! We can't do that!
When you have to quarantine, it's really a lonely place to be,
and it really can mess with your mental state.
I just happened to see this puppy on my Facebook feed,
and my husband was like, "If she makes you smile, we'll get her,"
because I think they just felt sorry for me.
They definitely keep me happy and they keep me, you know,
not feeling so lonely, 'cause I'm, like, alone most of the time,
other than at practice of course.
Having been around college one way or another for the last 20 years,
this year's just been really tough.
Very difficult to be a college student right now.
COVID feels like it's never going away.
I think it just started a lot more drama,
'cause, like, there's so much more rules, and, like...
you don't want to get into quarantine again.
I talked to a lot of the rookies.
A lot of them just, like, don't wanna come back.
All first semester, every day, I was like, "I wanna go home!"
I was so homesick, like, no cap.
I knew we were gonna have to wear masks because of the pandemic,
and I knew that classes were probably gonna be hybrid,
but I just feel like I'm spending all this money to come to college
and not getting the full experience that I really wanted.
- We don't get that chance... - We didn't have homecoming.
- We didn't get to cheer at any games, and... - I know.
It's hard to, like, come in wanting to be coached by Monica,
and then it's like, "Never mind."
Monica gets stressed a lot
because she hasn't really got to know the rookies as much.
And as much as we want to get to know her,
it's like time is running out.
It sucks being the rookie class that walked into this with COVID,
and then everything with the headlines,
I was like, "This is crazy."
The rookies got it bad
because we're seeing so many negative things about Netflix's Cheer.
Like, "Navarro Cheer athlete," all this stuff...
And we're like, "It's not all Navarro Cheer athletes."
We just wanted to come here to get the experience.
Lately, it's been about the whole,
"More people from Navarro College going to jail for talking to underage kids,"
or whatever.
It's also been about our coaching staff,
like when La'Darius was making allegations...
And I'm like, "Guys, we're supposed to be a family."
I give props to Kailee for what she did first semester,
'cause we all thought she was being...
She literally gave us an entire pyramid that is flawless.
- And we use every element she taught us. - She knows what she's doing.
There's been a lot of stuff go on and I think that
this is what's gonna, like, make or break our team in Daytona.
Can we have one normal day in Corsicana?
- We still can't. - We never have a normal day!
- We can't take a break. - Period!
I don't want anything in Navarro Cheer headlines anymore,
that's all I'm... I'm asking.
There's been so much shit going on.
Mm-hmm.
I mean, that stuff that La'Darius's been tweeting, but...
He can choke.
Oh.
La'Darius.
Ugh. Yeah.
What happened? How come he's not here?
Um, La'Darius was not on the team this year.
He came back in the fall.
Um...
Had, uh, you know, an issue
right when school started back in... in...
Had an issue right when school started.
Um, a little blow-up with Kailee over a dog and he left.
Basically, he had... he had two dogs.
He gave one to Kailee, and then...
Apparently, he didn't want her to actually keep the dog,
and Kailee was thinking that he was letting her have the dog.
And that wasn't the case.
He basically came to her and was like,
"No. This isn't your dog. I want my dog back."
She said she was gonna watch him until the end of the semester, and...
or her, cause it's a girl dog, and that I would get her back.
My door is just like, getting beat in,
and he's like, "If you don't open this door, I'm gonna kick the door in."
And, "How dare I change the name to the dog?"
And just going on and on.
I went over there and I knocked on the door.
And I knocked, like, three times.
And I can hear her on the phone talking to Andy.
And she's like, "He's banging on my door! He's gonna knock the door down!"
And I'm sitting there outside, and I'm literally laughing
because I'm like, "Girl, ain't nobody finna hurt you."
And then it caused a big scene.
He basically wanted to get Kailee, like, fired.
It's kinda crazy that all of this spiraled out
from some doggie drama.
It was... it wasn't that.
It was before that.
There was, like, drama before that and stuff with the whole Kailee situation.
Kailee and La'Darius had... They were teammates before.
They already have history.
And I think it was a more of a power move of,
"I cheer with you, now you're my coach."
I feel like it's... it's harder because I'm young,
and a lot of them are older than me.
And so it's just establishing, you know, that line of respect
between coach and athlete, no matter the age.
And then it became, well, not just a Kailee situation.
Then it just got into a really big, big mess.
Trying not just to hurt her, he was trying to hurt all of us.
He was trying to take away the one thing we all come here for.
Cheer is so toxic, and that is the reason why I left.
Why do you think he went so hard after you?
Honestly, I have no idea.
I was completely caught by surprise.
It's her turn to be held accountable.
All those messages and tweets and stuff that I was sending out,
that was true.
All those things I was talking about, that's true,
stuff I've witnessed, other athletes have witnessed, not just me.
That was my ride or die.
Strong emphasis on "was."
I still care for him,
but I tried helping him off the ledge numerous amount of times,
and it's like getting continuously burned, but still putting your hand in the fire.
Now, he...
I don't know.
La'Darius was literally my other half. Like, everyone wants him to succeed.
Everyone wants him to live a good life.
It's just his actions aren't making it so easy
for people to stay around in his corner.
It'll come back to them. They're already going through it now.
They're going through it now.
I ain't even worried. Not even stressed.
I don't know why La'Darius would be so angry at the program,
or angry at Monica or Kailee,
especially when Monica's done so much for him.
Every day, I feel like it's something new on social media coming at her.
You're never gonna find somebody better than me.
They ain't gonna be able to do what I could do.
They ain't never gonna make you feel the way I can make you feel.
I know what I'm made of,
and I know what I bring to the table.
This weekend, he posted this.
He went to a competition in our uniform.
Can we do something about that?
Like, you're gonna try to ruin our name,
yet you don't hate it that bad that you still wanna go represent us?
I guarantee you that he's trying to make some money.
But that's not right.
Like, that's so mentally screwed up. Like, I don't even...
Listen, I've been really hurt over this
because I went above and beyond for this kid.
I literally have done more for him
than probably anybody at this program that's ever come through,
because I was bound and determined the boy was gonna graduate.
He came to my family's house for Thanksgiving when he had nowhere to go.
I paid his dorm deposit.
I've literally done everything in the world for this kid.
Never even raised my voice at him, yet you're gonna slander my name?
You know what I mean? Like, I don't get it.
And I've been very... Like, I've taken it very personal, so...
Y'all get on the mat!
What I know of La'Darius is a sweethearted kid
that has been part of our family at... at times.
You know, we've had him over for holiday dinners.
We loved having him.
It's tough because I love La'Darius.
It just made me realize that the feelings were not mutual.
I don't know if it'll ever... It's not gonna be like it was.
How could it? When he drags your name through the mud like that, you know.
It's, um, way more than I've ever had to deal with in all my years of coaching,
and... well, I would love to have some closure and some clarity,
and be able to mend our relationship.
You know, he's been a part of my life for the past few years.
You can't just throw that away.
I always looked at her as my mom.
I did.
Like, she was like... she was something very special to me.
I let a lot of things go.
I let a lot of things just pass over,
because I really wanted her to be the woman
that I've always wanted in my life.
And just this past year...
I just felt like she wasn't there.
She was not there.
Monica is 100% feeling it more than anyone.
Like, I can see it on her face.
All you've done is help him.
Like, you were literally like a mother to him.
Now everyone's just coming at her
and she's trying to be 100% perfect now,
because she's, like, if she does one thing wrong,
someone's gonna say something about it.
So now she's just on edge.
This is your life,
and someone's trying to destroy it now.
You can tell it's eating away at her,
'cause sometimes, like, you'd be talking to her and then she'll just drift off,
'cause she has so much going on.
She's here, but it's hard for her to be here
when the whole world wants her to come down.
I feel like that's where we got, like, a short end of the stick
is we walked into a bunch of problems already happening.
I felt like everything was going downhill.
Like, "Can I get out of this place. Please?"
I don't wanna be in any of this drama.
Yeah. I feel like a lot of people that, like, were supposed to come here
were like, "Nah. Let's go down the road instead."
- Oh. No. Just go for it. - Do you need a second?
Ready, go. One, two, three, four, five.
Noses are so sensitive!
Oh, wow!
I'm sorry!
Go. One, two, three, four, five.
I hate it!
I'm actually pretty good at taking these.
I just put my hands behind my back and I just squeeze my hand.
- You take that like a champ. - Thank you.
One, two, three.
Oh. Shit.
God bless America.
Circle up!
All right, guys. Welcome to today.
Um, remember we gave you guys only two days a week of tumbling last month
because we wanted to save your knees and your ankles.
We're in grind time now.
So every time we come in expect to tumble, especially if we're in here.
We're gonna be on the Bandshell both days,
so it's gonna kinda feel like how it is in here.
So you gotta start getting your bodies and your minds right for this.
"Let's have fun," on three! One, two, three!
Let's have fun on three! One, two, three! Up CJ!
Take care of your bodies, especially tumblers.
We're gonna warm up tumblers! Warm up some tumbling!
Try to get reps in!
Obviously, every year, we try to bring in more talent.
Try to fill those holes at places that we're losing on the mat.
So bringing in these new guys, it's gonna help us win.
- Come on, Dee! - Come on, Dee. Stick!
Nice!
This rookie class is exceptional.
Their talent level is unbelievable.
Let's go, Jaymo! Pop it up!
Dee and Jaymo came to Daytona in 2019 to come watch us.
Thank you!
I was like, "Hey. This was a good opportunity for him."
You know, I could probably get him to where he needed to go
and get us a championship.
It's the most rookies that I've seen on-mat within my two years,
and it's crazy.
I mean, the talent that they brought in this year is just insane.
My rookie year, our tumblers were not this skilled.
Angel, Dee, Benji, like, Jaymo, all of them.
Come on, Angel.
They have definitely raised the bar.
Jaymo's a great athlete. He's coachable.
He works his butt off, and he's the one to ask, you know,
"How did that one look? What could I do better?"
When he knows that I want something done, he gets it done.
Benji is a character.
He's very passionate about what we do. Very flexible.
His jumps... all the way up here.
Dee can out-tumble anybody.
I've never seen anybody do the skills he's doing
with the ease that he's doing it on the hard mat.
Is he the most talented rookie? Yeah. Is he the most talented kid in America?
He might be.
Dee does things that just... that don't seem natural.
What... what is a quint?
It's five spins. So, like...
full is one, double, two, triple, three, quad, four, quint, five.
Are you gonna do it at Daytona?
100% no. Anything besides gymnastics, that's illegal.
Five spins, you're gonna have to put him on slow motion and count.
The human eye can't recognize five spins in one skill.
Dee is from Alabama, but he was on the same team as Jaymo in Georgia.
I mean, a couple schools wanted me to go there.
Navarro...
Navarro wanted you to go?
Yeah. Like, yeah.
I was looking at TVCC, though.
It was just masculine dudes. They're not being over-the-top.
Cool knows cool. We're dudes.
Let's go, Angel!
Angel, she's Jaymo's sister.
My whole goal was to get Dee and Jaymo.
I didn't even think about Angel.
I was like, "Angel's not gonna cheer for Trinity Valley." You know?
Then her mom reached out to me and was like, "Hey. I talked to Jaden."
"I know you're interested. I wanted to let you know Angel's interested too."
You know, I immediately responded, "Yes. Without a doubt."
You know, um, "Yeah. I would love to take Angel."
The first time a roster came out and I saw Angel Rice on the list...
- Dude, same! I was like... - I was like, "Is this a joke?"
16-year-old cheerleader Angel Rice from Georgia,
seems like she can just flip and flip and flip forever.
Angel Rice is huge in the cheer world.
She's like the Madonna of cheerleading.
I knew everything about Angel before she got here.
Like, I know every team she's been on, how many years she's been on.
- I know all the passes she did. - Please, Sadarien!
I was the biggest Angel Rice fan. I still am and even bigger fan now.
In my opinion, she's the best girl tumbler ever.
Nobody do what she do.
The people they compare her to,
she can do everything they can do, they can't do everything she can do.
The GOAT. I mean, she's like Simone Biles of cheerleading.
She's a powerful tumbler.
She's learned to bring all her power to her tumbling.
She's remarkably strong.
She can base better than a lot of the boys!
Georgia kids are built totally different.
Atlanta kids are built like brick walls.
We don't get hurt. We're not crybabies.
We're tough.
Her technique is exceptional. Her landings are exceptional.
Her consistency is exceptional.
She is scoresheet perfect almost every single time.
I've been trying to get Angel down here since I was a rookie.
Like, "Come. Please come. Please come. Please come."
"You'll love it. Like, please."
She finally came this year and I'm so glad it was before I left.
Like, everywhere I go, I know I create good bonds,
but the bonds here are different for me.
Like, these are my sisters and brothers,
so I think I chose the right school.
I've never understood. His jumps is always so...
Mommy never made me stretch.
- She tried, but it just didn't work. - She didn't go!
Literally, I'm just not built to bend.
It's actually kinda funny having my brother on the same team as me
because I've watched him grow from a baby till now.
And I'm like, "Holy goodness. Like, you're actually, like..."
He's good. Like, I didn't think he would ever be this good.
There's nobody that can out-tumble these guys.
We've got the best tumblers in the world.
Of course, you're gonna take a minute to answer.
Oh, my God!
My biddie.
- You were gonna let that ring. - Right.
How are the rookies doing?
I think...
like, we have a lot more harder rookies.
- Like, "Me's." Like, a lot more of them. - Yeah.
- But in... in, like, in boy forms. - Boy forms?
- Yeah. They're boys. - But... but boys, not girls.
They're boys. The girls are pretty good. We got the girls down, but, like...
This in a boy form, basically.
- And, like, three or four. Yeah. - Three or four. Yeah.
That's what we need.
Yo. Literally! I swear to God!
I'm coming right now.
Please!
I was gonna say, when are you coming?
Next week?
I'm trying to get that situated for... I wanna come next week.
I won't be able to come down on Monday because I have a big boy job now, y'all.
We need some of you here.
I could definitely tell a difference with him not being on the team
because he was probably one of the most outgoing people
that we've ever had come through the Valley,
and, you know, he just brought that flare,
and kind of not having that,
I realize that, you know, I do miss having him,
'cause it does... it does affect us.
That's it. Five, seven. One, three...
- Five... - Seven, eight
Nice, Ollie!
Five, seven, eight, one.
Benji!
You talking to me?
Why you ain't doing nothing with your face, man? Why?
- I don't know. I don't know. - Why? I'm trying... Why?
Do something.
Come on, man. Do something different.
This team is, like, the most talented I've ever been on.
We've got tumbling, stunting, kids who can do all of it.
But one of our weak points is performing.
It's terrible.
Benji!
Smile!
I don't know why they think it's stupid to perform or smile.
Like, they're good-looking people, why not just smile?
You don't have to, like, go all out and, like, you know, perform,
like, you know, all of that, but at least smile.
They won't even smile! So...
They think they're too cool for school.
If they're too cool for school,
and we lose Daytona,
I'mma beat all three of them up, so...
Yeah. They need to get it together.
Really, I think the only people that ha...
that will have any kind of choreo issue,
those four boys coming to the front, you'll have two more counts to do like...
another one of these.
Bam! A bam-bam!
I can't wait to see it, Dee!
Dee gets super happy in them TikTok dances.
Maybe we'll just throw a TikTok dance up in there, you know.
This is how Dee performs.
That isn't enough.
He's got his mouth closed, but how you really wanna do it is,
you wanna, like, open your eyes, show your mouth, like, that type of stuff.
The judge is gonna see if you're doing those things during those times
then you're giving a performance.
When you think about a cheerleader, they can dance, they can perform.
Every team I was on, I just did my tumbling passes,
and I went to the back,
then I did my tumbling passes.
Then that was the end of my routine.
I ain't never have to perform or go to the front and smile and all that.
That's why I say, "I'm not a cheerleader, I just tumble."
You could go on YouTube and watch all my routines I ever been in.
- You ain't never gonna see me smile. - I've never once had to smile.
- Or had... or had to dance. - I don't even smile in real life.
Only time I ever smile is when I'm laughing.
Like, the routines I was in, I was always... I got to skip the dance.
I never had to perform.
So when I got here and Vontae and them be like, "perform,"
I genuinely don't know how to.
I look like a goof.
- Basically. - That's exactly how it is.
That ain't got nothing to do with me.
Jaymo, Dee, and Benji, we call them "The Weenies."
I don't know who gave them the nickname, but it's pretty accurate.
When we first got here, I was expecting,
"I'm finna go to school and I'm finna go to practice."
I'm thinking... I'm thinking this finna be like All Star.
You pop up to cheer,
- then mind your business. - Go back to your room.
Yep. It wasn't like that. Yeah, you were right.
- We made a bad what-you-call-it at first. - We started a bad reputation?
- We just can't come back from it. - Ain't no coming back.
♪ Take them lights away ♪
When you roll them up, leave them up to the front.
Dee, Benji, Jaymo, all are taking them over there by themselves,
because y'all barely help!
The Weenies tend to band together.
If one person's acting out, the other two will try to be there with him.
Ben got on flats. Whoa, whoa, whoa.
Boy, you got on ballerina socks? Bro! Hey, yo.
The way our culture has it set up,
where you're 15 minutes early to practice, you don't get on teachers' nerves,
and all of that is part of learning how to be a rookie,
because you have to act appropriately where you're at.
That's not happening.
There's different types of rules here. Like, I follow regular rules, like...
I don't know.
♪ How do you call your lover boy? ♪
♪ Try it ♪
- What number you at? - 28.
You're lucky I ain't counting. I'm counting your ass from now on.
When you guys get in real trouble, he runs you?
Yeah. We usually run. That's usually our punishment.
You didn't bring any shoes to practice?
I didn't say study hall was canceled.
They're running today.
Meet me at the hills. I'm finna be running-running.
The abuse I'm getting, he need to give it to the stunters.
♪ Try it ♪
Go ahead, get the hell off that phone, boy.
Bro, why you gotta look like that?
Those are the Weenies.
- Hello, hello. - Here he is!
- Hi. How are you? - Hey!
- Hi!
- Ready to wrap it up? Put a bow on it? - I am so ready. Yeah.
How many... how many times have they done it today or this week?
Oh. We hit four in a row.
Four in a row? Really? So one more should be easy.
- Hi, babe. How are you? - Hi! Good.
Should be easy, easy, easy.
Get set, let's go!
Because we lost the majority of the team,
we have a lot of alternates needing to step up.
She doesn't know. She... That girl does not know how good she is.
She has no idea. I'm obsessed with her long legs.
We have Gill back. She is competitive.
She wants to be the best.
She works very hard.
Cassadee has a heart of gold.
She tumbles. She can fly.
The talent is ridiculous.
Seven, eight, yes, and...! Yeah!
Cassadee is always smiling and just joyful,
and it's always, "We can overcome,"
or, "Keeping it together."
I mean, we'll rotate through centers,
but, I mean, I think Maddy should stay.
Everyone else can rotate, but she's gotta stay. She's the one.
Maddy was determined to come back this year
and have that spot flying on mat.
When she's not where she thinks she needs to be in a formation,
you know, it lights her fire,
and she wasn't gonna let anything get in her way this year.
Let's go, come on! Hold!
Maddy looks so good.
I think I grew this year as a flyer more mentally than physically.
I didn't have that confidence that I needed to do co-ed stunting,
'cause I went into it so scared that I wasn't gonna be good at it.
When I was learning, if I did anything wrong,
I'd be like, "Why am I doing it wrong? Why isn't it great?"
I think that I grew out of it
and I made myself a lot better because of it.
Five, six and seven, finish your motions!
One, and two, go, three, and four.
Five, and six, and seven, and yes, James.
One, and two, go, three, and four, and five, six...
Dawgs!
- Yes! - Wow!
- Wow. That was so good! - So good!
Yes! That is so good.
Good morning!
This is Willow.
I literally hang out with her all the time.
She's so soft and fluffy. Like, I literally have such a great time.
She's been my company and my friend.
And I don't like being by myself all the time,
so, like, when people aren't here too, like, I just hang out with Willow.
This semester, I feel like a mom.
I think rookies changed a lot about me, to be honest.
I think that's why I've been the softest this year
out of every year that I've been here.
And I have a soft spot for all the rookies here. All of them.
One, two, three, four, five, seven...
Let's go!
Seven, eight, nine...
For them to be able to talk to me about things
and ask for my advice...
You see how far your feet are?
You wanna drop them just a little bit more.
She's grown as a leader and trying to help teach athletes
how to gain skills or become confident in themselves.
I gave Ayana the correction to drop her toes...
It's nice as a coach to see Jada involved in that aspect,
because, you know, that's what you want.
You wanna see that somebody's grown.
He needs to be able to throw you, and use your weight...
Seeing the leader that she has grown to be has been, like, absolutely phenomenal,
'cause I remember the first year here,
you know, it was kind of tough to get her to trust the process
of what we are and what we're about as a family.
And the second she did, it was like a click for her.
And, I mean, now she's here for her third year, so that says a lot.
With Dee and Jaymo, I told them, "I don't know how to coach you guys."
And so you really just need the one person that's gonna get to you the right way,
and that's Jada.
We got 30 minutes left. Talk about it after.
Thirty minutes.
I'm... I'm glad I have them.
I like having hard rookies and hard people to deal with.
You just gotta try to understand people.
And some people need that, like,
they need people to prove to them that they actually care,
and wanna see them succeed.
Her job is to be encouraging,
to push, to have that competitive spirit.
She's super determined, and we feel that,
and it carries on even in practice and everything, like,
we can't joke around, like, this is it.
If y'all wanna get somewhere, we gotta do it.
Even if you're in pain, having a bad day, any of that, like...
Jada, I just feel like she's somebody you can look up to.
She's gonna lead you.
She's not gonna be the type of leader that you don't see setting a good example.
We gotta follow by their example,
because if we do bad, it affects them.
This is a mental game.
If you're Valley bred, you can get through this.
Built different.
I think she's stepping up as a leader now,
because she knows that her time is coming to an end here.
And she wants to leave as much as she can of herself behind, and leave an impact.
We have very little time.
And then we're gone, so... sorry.
I hate being sad, but I literally can't stop crying,
thinking how I won't have this again
or won't see some of these people for a really long time.
I'm not afraid of failure,
but this is the one competition and team
that would hurt the most losing with.
Today is a big day because we're doing our first full-out,
which is the...
real start of grinding, really.
But, um, for me personally, like, I'm pretty excited to do it.
I do get a little bit nervous too,
especially because Vontae is not gonna be here.
But I can't even show those emotions
because we gotta be strong for today.
One minute! You guys keep your bodies warm!
Be working on jumps on your own if you haven't already.
This is your warm-up time!
The goal for me in any type of preparation
is to try to get yourself in the mindset that you will be when you compete.
Beautiful, Jada!
I went to Daytona 20 different times,
and that's where I pull the knowledge set that I have
for when we're trying to get the kids ready.
Most of these athletes a lot of these things they can do in their sleep,
but the mental challenge of feeling like you have to perform for your team
and not let them down, like, that's what gets people.
We're in kill time now. We're still in warm-up time.
So stay warm, do whatever you gotta do,
maybe it's skills, but you guys still have five minutes
until we actually move!
They wanted to go super serious, treat it like Daytona.
It takes an hour and 20 minutes to run through the entire thing.
And there's a lot of waiting.
So hurry up and wait. Hurry up and wait.
You don't know how many minutes it's gonna be.
You don't know if you got time to use the restroom.
Get hyped up.
- This is my moment! - This is my moment!
- I will hit! - I will hit!
- I am a champion! - I am a champion!
Let's go, guys! Let's go!
And then you wait 20 more minutes.
All right, listen!
Dark hallway very much simulates backstage.
You guys are out in the sun, doing your warm-ups, everything,
and then you go wait backstage while music is playing in the dark.
Okay? I'll let you guys know when it's time to come out.
- As loud as you can play it! - We gotta prove ourselves today!
Trust yourselves. Find your motivation.
Find your "why," whatever that may be, and do what you gotta do on this floor!
♪ Gonna break it down for the Dawgs ♪
All right. Listen up. This is your competition.
This is what you listen to before you go. Listen to it.
From Athens, Texas, Trinity Valley Community College!
You got it!
Let's go, y'all!
One, two, three, four...
Five, six, seven, eight! Cards!
Okay, y'all! I see that!
Let's go, y'all!
One, two, five!
Let's go, Lee! Let's go! Let's go, Jaymo!
Let's go!
Let's go, Angel!
Go on, Jada! Almost done!
Let's go!
And one, three, five...
Let's go!
Good job.
Yeah!
- Let's go! - So...
That was tea. That was tea.
- I'm proud of you! - You too, honey!
Bring it in! Over here.
You should be really proud of yourselves.
First time as an athlete or coaching in 20 years I've ever seen anybody hit,
even though it was a soft zero, it was still a zero,
first try, never seen it.
Now we just gotta make it a harder zero.
At Daytona, you hit well, you hope that all your work appeals to the judges
more than the other routine that hits.
I just want our kids to know what it feels like
to have worked as hard as they have and get to have their name called last.
This is awesome! We're here!
Practicing Navarro cheerleaders!
Oh, my gosh!
- Hi! - Hi!
Can we get an autograph? Thank you!
Oh, my gosh! We love Navarro!
We're really huge fans and we really want to see Navarro.
- And we love cheerleading. - Yeah.
- Oh, my gosh! Alice, yes! - Thank you, guys! Bye!
- Thank you! Bye! - Is that Jerry?
No. Jerry doesn't go here.
I don't think.
I wish La'Darius still went here.
- Who's your favorite, Violet? - Probably Gabi.
Alice, who is your favorite?
It has to be Lexi, Morgan, or, um, Gabi.
But Morgan left and I'm kind of depressed about that, but...
Yeah. She was awesome.
I liked Morgan, and Lexi, because Lexi was a good tumbler.
- She was the best tumbler to me. - Yeah. She's the best tumbler.
- And Morgan was pretty good at flying. - Yeah.
I'm so sad that they left, but other people are there to fill in!
So, we just know that they're gonna be okay.
Look who it is.
Oh, my gosh!
- Hi! - Hi!
Thank you.
- Hi! - Oh, my gosh! Hi!
Nice to meet y'all! I love your outfits!
Thank you.
Ready? One, two, three.
Awesome! Oh, my gosh!
- I just met Monica! - So excited.
We just met Monica.
Oh, my gosh!
Oh, jeez.
This is a heavy one.
Oh, no. I see you, no.
You'll get hate for having a messy...
Oh, yeah.
The things... the things that y'all think are charming...
Let me let you slip into my DMs.
Do you know that I got DM'ed about everything from the shirts that I wore,
to the shoes that I wore, to the gum I chewed?
I'm not lying!
I just have gotten,
you know, a lot of... of hate messages just on social media.
And you really, honestly, are damned if you do and damned if you don't.
I can post a picture from two years ago,
and the mask people are gonna want to know why I don't have a mask on.
I'm a "super-spreader."
Then I can post a picture with a mask on, and I'm "brainwashed."
And I'm like, "You know what? I give up." I'm done. I don't... I don't know.
Nobody's happy no matter what you post.
It's... so you just have to have tough skin.
I mean, if God had an Instagram, he would get hate.
It's... it's just the way it is.
And, you know, as much as you want to not look
at the comments and messages, you do.
It's human nature. You're gonna do that.
"This chick Monica who runs a community college cheer team
seems like a grade A ****."
That's awesome.
"Unpopular opinion, Coach Monica from Netflix's Cheer
is a complete bitch, making the kids practice while he's hurt."
She is such a good coach,
and yet she was skewered in the press.
Like, we would never criticize Nick Saban for letting a quarterback go out there
even though his shoulder was hurting, right?
I thought it was the most sexist, paternalistic thing.
I don't let most of it get to me, but sometimes it's just...
you just wanna really, honestly,
crawl in a hole and just go away for a little bit.
What's this?
Six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven.
So we're missing a bunch.
There's one with the ruffles.
Exponent means you multiply Y by itself five times.
- Y times Y times... right? Okay. - Yeah.
And now that two is multiplied by something...
When I first came here,
you know, Monica and I were not, like, super duper close.
But I would say she became way more of a mother figure to me,
and once I actually got to know her on a personal level,
legit like my second mom.
Okay.
I know that was a lot of algebra. I'm sorry.
When I felt like I was at my lowest,
she would pick me up and embrace me.
- Yeah. Let me see if it's right. - Okay.
I don't tell her as much as I should,
but I really do love that woman with all my heart.
Yay. Okay, good. You did that one by yourself.
- Awesome. - Yes.
If I'm having a bad day, I'll call, she'll be,
"Hey. Come to the office. Come talk."
The middle of the night, you text her?
She'll text you first thing that morning, "What's wrong? What's going on?"
Sometimes you need that support
from the people that you're always so strong for,
and you need them to be strong for you.
Sometimes we think Monica is like this alien superhero woman
who can take on anything and we have to remember that she's human.
So frustrating.
It's almost like, you know, that year of bad luck.
I mean, over a year...
You know, I don't know if she broke a mirror seven years ago or something,
but it's just, like, she has just had really just bad luck.
She's gonna have days that, just like we do,
that you're gonna be like, "Is this even worth it?"
You know that... that poem Footprints? I feel like that's me right now.
There's only one set right now and it's God's, because I'm on His back!
He's just taking me along.
This year, I want to win Daytona for her.
- We can! We will! We must! - We can! We will! We must!
- We can, we will, we must! - We can, we will, we must!
NC! NC! NC! NC! NC!
Let's go, guys!
Yes!
Come on, guys!
Forget about it.
Get her up! Hold!
Yes!
Come on!
Yes!
My fam!
Come on. Let's go!
Hold! Hold!
- Come on, Maddy! - Finish it!
Yes!
- Wow! - Yes!
Come watch the video! Get your mask on!
- Damn! - That was good!
Wow! Yes!
Wow. Overall, it was really good. Like, the performance, the energy.
We know we need to still fix timing on the pyramid.
So just be mindful to really think about the little things
when it comes to the timing of that. Yep.
We're working on fixing the pyramid, but I feel we never work on tumbling.
It's always been stunt or the pyramid, stunt or the pyramid.
So if that's your job, to be a tumbler on the mat, do your job.
That's just what I see.
Like, if you go in and you do, like, an extra, like, you know,
five to ten reps every other day,
like, you're not gonna kill yourself.
But, like, doing it a bit here and there will make a difference in the long run.
Still think about the small details and still perform and have fun,
because everyone that we're gonna be competing against,
they're all going to be doing basically the same thing,
but the thing that sets us apart versus them is how we do it.
You know, shouldn't our biggest competition be ourselves?
Like, stop thinking about other teams...
When are we thinking about other teams?
- You know how she said... - I've never thought about it.
I'm just wondering because we don't think... we don't even talk about other teams.
Well, yeah, but I mean...
Like, I've... I've never coached y'all to talk about... to think about other teams.
We don't, but, like...
I'm just saying, like, we don't have to talk just to talk.
Like, there's a lot of, like, things that y'all are saying that, like,
if you mind your own business
and worry about your own body and your own technique,
then you'll be great.
I don't understand, uh, the world that we live in right now
that's so, like, everybody worrying about everybody else,
and they're so hypocritical, honestly, like...
Have I not seen everybody make mistakes in this routine?
I don't even know what y'all are talking about.
And until you've won 14 college national championships,
I really don't need your opinion, thanks.
Mind your own technique, and your own business, and your own skills.
And how about that?
Okay, so then let's do that? Just don't care about the team.
My God. What the hell are they even talking about?
I think a lot of people expect Monica to be this superwoman.
But in all reality,
she is gonna have emotions just like we do.
You can only be so tough.
We haven't been able to have as many team bondings.
We haven't had, you know, the normal, like, year because of COVID,
and people are just super quick to, you know, jump on someone's case,
or go and, like, attack someone for... whatever reason.
Like, they could be just looking away and someone has something to say.
Oh my God.
I'm about to lose my shit.
The bickering between each other, between the vets specifically
and the fighting with each other, has got to stop.
Because that's not... we're not setting a good example for them.
If anything, we look terrible bickering and fighting with each other.
At the end of the day, if it's not gonna bother you in the next five years,
it's not worth fighting about for these five minutes.
I feel like, right now, we just need to get whatever this is fixed.
We need to act like we are Navarro.
♪ This game of cruelty ♪
♪ Hardly becomes me ♪
♪ This game of cruelty ♪
♪ Is easily The most boring part of the week ♪
♪ Why can't you say to me ♪
♪ "I mean something to you"? ♪
♪ 'Cause everybody knows ♪
♪ Everybody sees that this Is the thing you do, do to me ♪
♪ Oh, everybody knows ♪
♪ Everybody sees that this Is the thing you do, do to me ♪
♪ You think I'm livin' it Livin' it, livin' it, livin' it, oh ♪
♪ In the spotlight... ♪