Cheer on Netflix

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DD loves this show and I usually end up watching with her.

What I don't understand is... why do these kids not leave? They seem to stick around year after year just to get the rings.

Season 1 told us that after the championships, there is just no advancement for the sport. That’s it. There’s no professional or higher level cheerleading available (a Lakers cheerleader is more of a dancer, not same thing).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DD loves this show and I usually end up watching with her.

What I don't understand is... why do these kids not leave? They seem to stick around year after year just to get the rings.

I obviously understand why Jerry didn't leave, yikes, but prior to him being busted, he had a scholarship offer from the University of Louisville.

A few others in the first episode of season 2 said they decided to come back after being asked for their 3rd & 4th year.

Third... and FOURTH years at a community college?! Doesn't the CC, at some point, have some obligation to help these people transition to the next phase in their academic careers?

Will NVCC allow you to just languish there year after year as long as they are getting their $$ from you?

For a lot of these kids, it seems they came from dysfunctional childhoods and this structure gives them the support they need/crave. Monica as their mother and the rest of the team as their siblings. If you have never had it and then suddenly have a family you can count on, it is pretty hard to leave that for the big scary world where you are mostly on your own (since someone else will come in and take your place on the team and you will no longer be part of the family.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just finished the second season. It was definitely not as interesting or compelling as the first, which was to be expected. I feel like that cheerleading portion was maybe 30% of the show and the rest was confessional-style interviews.

Anyone else get a weird vibe from the assistant coach from TVCC? The relationship he has with his friends seems a little atypical. You let a single adult man move into your house and have immediate unfettered access to your five-year-old daughter? There him to be a lot of touching between the three adults also, so who knows?

OMG. Yes! My husband just kept going “wtf” and had to rewind parts of that episode in the couple’s house. I am convinced they are a “throuple”. My spouse thinks the guys are gay.

It had a really weird feel. And a man that age so into the other family. It gave off a weird creepy feel—especially the way he interacted with the daughter. I don’t see men with nieces act that loved up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:2nd season dropped

And while I’ll watch the entire season, it’s so much more obvious that Navarro is competing against ONE other teams that happens to be 40 minutes away, so the whole Daytona drama is ridiculous and seems like a waste.

Fly in some judges and compete at a neutral site between the 2 of you.

And it’s NCA, not NCAA. Crazy for a junior college.

Athens and Corsicana are so depressing.

[Anonymous]

I think Coach Vontae is more interesting than Monica. I don't get why people are calling her "cold" and a man coaching other men in a college sport wouldn't be receiving that criticism. And no one has said that about Vontae, whose attitude is very similar to Monica's.

I haven't finished S2 yet, so curious to see how everything plays out after 2020 Nationals are canceled due to Covid.

Just how young is Vontae? His last season at TVCC was in 2013, so he was what, 21-22? So he's only in his early 30s? Pretty impressive!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DD loves this show and I usually end up watching with her.

What I don't understand is... why do these kids not leave? They seem to stick around year after year just to get the rings.

Season 1 told us that after the championships, there is just no advancement for the sport. That’s it. There’s no professional or higher level cheerleading available (a Lakers cheerleader is more of a dancer, not same thing).

There are 4 year colleges competing in the same sport that they could move to. Navarro is an exception because the stars are building careers around being on the show, but they could have done what ever successful junior college athlete does and find a 4 year program that will take them

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DD loves this show and I usually end up watching with her.

What I don't understand is... why do these kids not leave? They seem to stick around year after year just to get the rings.

Season 1 told us that after the championships, there is just no advancement for the sport. That’s it. There’s no professional or higher level cheerleading available (a Lakers cheerleader is more of a dancer, not same thing).

There are 4 year colleges competing in the same sport that they could move to. Navarro is an exception because the stars are building careers around being on the show, but they could have done what ever successful junior college athlete does and find a 4 year program that will take them

Right. In the epilogue they did show that one of the girls had moved on to a 4-year school and was cheering there. Sam Houston? Can't quite recall. But I was surprised there wasn't more of that. Most of these kids don't strike me particularly academic, so a 2-year degree (if they even get that) is probably it for them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The second season really showed what happens when trauma isn't dealt with. Yes, cheer gave them a safe space and a family and filled a void they all had and it seemed that none of them have dealt with those huge issues of their childhood. Once that cheer structure is removed, it seems that a lot of them will have a really hard time moving on and being well adjusted adults.To me, the second season was incredibly sad.

I agree, especially when they showed what happened with Ladarius after they all learn about Jerry. Yes he wasn't the most calm and rational person to begin with, but that news and not having Monica (his one trustworthy adult) available to help him work through it just pushed him over the edge. I hope at the end he realized he took out a lot of his justifiable rage about the situation on Monica rather than where it belonged, on Jerry.

I also enjoyed the juxtaposition of the two schools in terms of resources. Navarro takes a plane, is overlooking the ocean, had a stage made. TVCC rode the bus and is staying at a Hampton nearby. Navarro watched the awards in a big conference room on a big tv. TVCC was all crammed in a hotel room. Makes one wonder if the "celebrity" of the program and people has affected them...and whether it will affect TVCC in future tournaments.

[Anonymous]

Real talk: if Cheer hadn't been produced and been a hit for Netflix, do you think the twins (I'm not naming them even though it's out there) would have ever come forward about the sexual abuse?

I don't.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The second season really showed what happens when trauma isn't dealt with. Yes, cheer gave them a safe space and a family and filled a void they all had and it seemed that none of them have dealt with those huge issues of their childhood. Once that cheer structure is removed, it seems that a lot of them will have a really hard time moving on and being well adjusted adults.To me, the second season was incredibly sad.

I agree, especially when they showed what happened with Ladarius after they all learn about Jerry. Yes he wasn't the most calm and rational person to begin with, but that news and not having Monica (his one trustworthy adult) available to help him work through it just pushed him over the edge. I hope at the end he realized he took out a lot of his justifiable rage about the situation on Monica rather than where it belonged, on Jerry.

I also enjoyed the juxtaposition of the two schools in terms of resources. Navarro takes a plane, is overlooking the ocean, had a stage made. TVCC rode the bus and is staying at a Hampton nearby. Navarro watched the awards in a big conference room on a big tv. TVCC was all crammed in a hotel room. Makes one wonder if the "celebrity" of the program and people has affected them...and whether it will affect TVCC in future tournaments.

Of course celebrity effects teams, the same thing happens in every college sport. It also means that a community college in Texas can recruit a girl from Massachusetts. To the extent that there are talented athletes who want to go the juco rather than a 4 year program, the show is a goldmine for recruiting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Real talk: if Cheer hadn't been produced and been a hit for Netflix, do you think the twins (I'm not naming them even though it's out there) would have ever come forward about the sexual abuse?

I don't.

I think they definitely could have, because Jerry was prior to the show well known in the cheerleading community. They say they hesitated at first because they didn't want to feel ostracized from their community. But once Jerry got all real famous and was talking to Biden and such, maybe that pushed their decision.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Real talk: if Cheer hadn't been produced and been a hit for Netflix, do you think the twins (I'm not naming them even though it's out there) would have ever come forward about the sexual abuse?

I don't.

Yes I do think they still would have told their mom. They weren’t looking for publicity, but their anonymous reports weren’t going anywhere. It could have been handled quietly if the initial reports about Jerry had been taken seriously.

Do you really think two gay teenage male cheerleaders really want this kind of spotlight?

Your suspicion of them simply living with the abuse or only reporting it for “fame” is awful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree, especially when they showed what happened with Ladarius after they all learn about Jerry. Yes he wasn't the most calm and rational person to begin with, but that news and not having Monica (his one trustworthy adult) available to help him work through it just pushed him over the edge. I hope at the end he realized he took out a lot of his justifiable rage about the situation on Monica rather than where it belonged, on Jerry.

I'm the PP that wrote this and I realized it comes across a bit as victim blaming. Ladarius has every right to be that angry when his friend was doing what he knew had hurt Ladarius so badly. I do think Monica could have helped him work through some of this rage but instead she went AWOL. And Ladarius didn't really have his teammates to support him either because they were all wrapped up in their own "how could he do that" mentality. So he left for his own mental sanity but lost some of his "family" as well. Like the PP said, much of this season is just sad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The second season really showed what happens when trauma isn't dealt with. Yes, cheer gave them a safe space and a family and filled a void they all had and it seemed that none of them have dealt with those huge issues of their childhood. Once that cheer structure is removed, it seems that a lot of them will have a really hard time moving on and being well adjusted adults.To me, the second season was incredibly sad.

I agree, especially when they showed what happened with Ladarius after they all learn about Jerry. Yes he wasn't the most calm and rational person to begin with, but that news and not having Monica (his one trustworthy adult) available to help him work through it just pushed him over the edge. I hope at the end he realized he took out a lot of his justifiable rage about the situation on Monica rather than where it belonged, on Jerry.

I also enjoyed the juxtaposition of the two schools in terms of resources. Navarro takes a plane, is overlooking the ocean, had a stage made. TVCC rode the bus and is staying at a Hampton nearby. Navarro watched the awards in a big conference room on a big tv. TVCC was all crammed in a hotel room. Makes one wonder if the "celebrity" of the program and people has affected them...and whether it will affect TVCC in future tournaments.

Of course celebrity effects teams, the same thing happens in every college sport. It also means that a community college in Texas can recruit a girl from Massachusetts. To the extent that there are talented athletes who want to go the juco rather than a 4 year program, the show is a goldmine for recruiting.

I still don’t understand Blum’s decision to go to Navarro. Navarro and TVCC are not the only top cheer programs in the country. Bridgewater University in Massachusetts is a four year school with multiple NCA championships under their belt. Most recently in 2019.

Navarro is only winning the Junior College title. Within that there are subcategories for co-Ed, all girls, and sizes of each team.

In short there are many award winning college programs out there. Even if I was the the best flyer/stunter/tumbler in country I wouldn’t move to such remote, desolate towns.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I agree, especially when they showed what happened with Ladarius after they all learn about Jerry. Yes he wasn't the most calm and rational person to begin with, but that news and not having Monica (his one trustworthy adult) available to help him work through it just pushed him over the edge. I hope at the end he realized he took out a lot of his justifiable rage about the situation on Monica rather than where it belonged, on Jerry.

I'm the PP that wrote this and I realized it comes across a bit as victim blaming. Ladarius has every right to be that angry when his friend was doing what he knew had hurt Ladarius so badly. I do think Monica could have helped him work through some of this rage but instead she went AWOL. And Ladarius didn't really have his teammates to support him either because they were all wrapped up in their own "how could he do that" mentality. So he left for his own mental sanity but lost some of his "family" as well. Like the PP said, much of this season is just sad.

Monica absolutely needed to help her team through this, but she was focused on herself. Oh I was in California, oh I had Covid, etc etc. all excuses for leaving them to deal with the fallout.