The True Meaning of Cheer
By: Kailey Wyatt

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    Believe it or not, but cheer-leading is one of the most dangerous sports in the world. The show Cheer on Netflix showcases all the aspects of true cheer-leading and why it is so dangerous. Cheer is an American television series on Netflix that first appeared in January 2020. It is a six part series that follows the nationally ranked Navarro College cheer team in Corsicana, Texas. 

    Over the past couple of years, there have been a lot of controversy regarding whether cheer-leading is a real sport. Many people do not have the full knowledge of cheer-leading and therefore they just assume that it is not a real sport. Lisa Bell, a junior and cheerleader at Hillgrove High School, says, “ Cheer is a sport because we exert our bodies in extremely long practices and compete to win just like any other sport.” Cheer-leading requires a large amount of commitment and dedication, and the show Cheer does an exceptional job of showing why. Throughout the show, the athletes work together and go through so much adversity all to leading to the most important part of their season, the Daytona Beach Nationals. The show displays the everyday life of the athletes and the demanding practices they have with their hard-driving coach, Monica Aldama. Jordan Rodgers, a freshman at Hillgrove High School, shares her thoughts on Monica’s coaching style, “Monica is a very tough coach and she always knows what is best for her team. She knows how to coach cheer-leading and she knows when to draw the line between having fun and working hard.” Even though Monica is a well driven coach, she treats all her athletes like her own kids. She has a kind heart and looks out for them not only in cheer, but in their actual lives. In the show, the directors showcase five individual athletes that shared their story of how they got to Navarro. They go by the names of Jerry, Morgan, Lexi, LaDarius, and Gabi. Each one of them had a unique story of how they pushed through hard times and stayed focused on their goals. Bell says, “My favorite part of the show was getting to know the kids because it showed everyone has a different story but can end up in the same place.”
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    Overall, the show is very intriguing and exhibits why competition cheer is definitely a sport. Bell says, “Cheerleading is underrated because people don’t understand what we do.” After the show blew up on Netflix, it is believed that more people now know what real cheerleaders have to go through. The biggest takeaway from this action-packed show is do not judge anything before you have done it.

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