I watched all of it and have moved on to watching Cheerleaders on the AweomenessTV channel on YouTube. Not as good, but entertaining and Gabi from Cheer is in it as a fifteen year old.

I was a UVA cheerleader (though 10 years ago) and despite being a school with a strong athletic program, cheerleading / dance team / pep band, were all lumped together as spirit programs" and got very little budget.

It was incredibly frustrating, we were expected to raise our own money by coaching camps, be pimped out (not in a sexual way but in a "go be a friendly pretty face way....) for recruiting and donors, do PR at community events, sideline cheer at all basketball games (which is a lot of time and we got none of the academic support or accommodations other athletes get), and yet we couldn't compete b/c we didn't have enough money when in reality thats all most of us wanted to do.

The kicker was traveling with the team and getting a $35 per diem for food. Athletes get free everything, laundry done, etc - we had to do a lot more than normal athletes AND pay out of pocket if we wanted more than a subway sandwich for lunch

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Anonymous wrote:Monica does not come off as inspirational IMO

+1. I also got a very cold, robotic vibe from her. Her coaching methods seem to be 100% discipline and lack of reaction, and 0% encouragement. She barely praised them if they did something perfect. It is bizarre.

These are adults in college. They aren’t motivated by stickers and participation trophies. Some of them are 23+ years old and just now going to college. How would you encourage a 23 year old employee on your team to get work done? Through hugs and glitter?

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Anonymous wrote:Monica does not come off as inspirational IMO

+1. I also got a very cold, robotic vibe from her. Her coaching methods seem to be 100% discipline and lack of reaction, and 0% encouragement. She barely praised them if they did something perfect. It is bizarre.

It’s bizarre if you have no idea how top athletes are coached. These aren’t babies who need to be coddled and are just learning a sport. This is a different level.

Anonymous wrote:Monica does not come off as inspirational IMO

+1. I also got a very cold, robotic vibe from her. Her coaching methods seem to be 100% discipline and lack of reaction, and 0% encouragement. She barely praised them if they did something perfect. It is bizarre.

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Anonymous wrote:I get the sense that she’s inspirational because she’s the first person who has effectively introduced discipline and authority into some of these kids’ lives.

I agree. She is not outwardly warm and fuzzy, but she demonstrates her belief in the kids by establishing boundaries and enforcing those boundaries. That's what the kids need.

At one point, I found myself turned off by her lack of involvement with injuries. But honestly, I think that's that's the way it should be. Coaches should focus on coaching and let medical decisions be made by the training staff and the athlete's doctors.

I’ve coached cheerleading (high school). It’s not my job to do anything with injuries other than to determine if the trainer or ambulance is needed. After the athlete has been checked out, I am then responsible for listening to the doctor or trainers orders. Practice still continues.

Anonymous wrote:I get the sense that she’s inspirational because she’s the first person who has effectively introduced discipline and authority into some of these kids’ lives.

I agree. She is not outwardly warm and fuzzy, but she demonstrates her belief in the kids by establishing boundaries and enforcing those boundaries. That's what the kids need.

At one point, I found myself turned off by her lack of involvement with injuries. But honestly, I think that's that's the way it should be. Coaches should focus on coaching and let medical decisions be made by the training staff and the athlete's doctors.

Anonymous wrote:Re: Monica. She is an interesting one.... I did not get a warm and fuzzy “these are my kids” vibe that she portrayed. The entire time her demeanor and tone was quiet, reserved, focused. She barely smiled, even when the team did something right (except for at competition). When somebody fell or got hurt she never ran over to them. I just didn’t see what was so inspirational or amazing about her. Yes, she counseled Lexi and obviously had a soft spot for Morgan, but I don’t think the documentary portrayed her as an amazing coach. She seemed detached and a little cold and dead eyed.

Have you met elite coaches? This is how they are. I think she does a great job of pushing her athletes while balancing how their backgrounds have shaped who they are. They have athletic trainers to deal with injuries. In addition, she has can't be their friend, she is their coach. They have to respect her otherwise they could run all over her.

I get the sense that she’s inspirational because she’s the first person who has effectively introduced discipline and authority into some of these kids’ lives.

Anonymous wrote:Monica does not come off as inspirational IMO

What is inspirational in your opinion? She’s won numerous titles. Athletes go to her bc she produces and wins.

Monica does not come off as inspirational IMO

Re: Monica. She is an interesting one.... I did not get a warm and fuzzy “these are my kids” vibe that she portrayed. The entire time her demeanor and tone was quiet, reserved, focused. She barely smiled, even when the team did something right (except for at competition). When somebody fell or got hurt she never ran over to them. I just didn’t see what was so inspirational or amazing about her. Yes, she counseled Lexi and obviously had a soft spot for Morgan, but I don’t think the documentary portrayed her as an amazing coach. She seemed detached and a little cold and dead eyed.

Amazing show! I binged the entire show last night. Really loved Morgan & Jerry.

Anonymous wrote:How did Jerry not make the Louisville cheer team but made the Navarro team?

Jerry’s problem is he can’t tumble. You can teach any “big” guy to stunt. Once you get the timing and grip down it’s not that hard. Teaching tumbling and at that, high level tumbling to a teen/ young adult is incredibly hard. He may have not been the full package Louisville was looking for. Louisville has been know as one of the top university cheer programs in the country. All that to say, I really liked Jerry!

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Anonymous wrote:Is Navarro really better than Kentucky or even Texas Tech? I understand that sometimes they score higher overall, but the whole time I was watching I was wondering why Gabi didn’t go to Kentucky.

BC UK and other top tier cheer programs at 4 year schools wouldn’t put up with her coming and going as she please do compete with other teams, do photo shoots, etc. and she also didn’t seem too excited at continuing on with more college.

Interesting. Why bother with college at all? Does all-star cheer top out at a certain age?

Have you watched Last Chance U also on Netflix by the same production team? It’s similar in that there are some talented athletic programs at the JUCO level but in a lot of them the coaches are working with kids from very disadvantaged backgrounds (look at some of backstories with the Navarro cheerleaders) who couldn’t make it to the 4 year level, or did and flames out and are looking for redemption back at JUCO to rehab their image.

Yes all star cheer tops out at a certain age.

No I haven’t, I’ll check it out. I’m familiar with JUCO in the context of basketball and football when the athlete is using it to make grades to get into a 4 year college. It doesn’t seem that Gabi in particular comes from a disadvantaged background although the point about working and promoting herself is taken. I guess it is also possible that she didn’t get into UK.

She also doesn’t seem that interested in school.