College “cheer” On Netflix: It’s A Hit

[oncecoolcoachnowmom]

I knew something was weird about their parenting style when the mom was going on about having to pretreat her make up stains and then the dad was like (to the mom) "I know where all her stuff is please just let me hang it up."

Y'all. My son is in elementary school and he is capable of hanging up and putting away his own things.

She is probably no different than some of my HS kids who tell me mom does xyz thing and I know they should probably be doing it themselves - but isn't she 20/21?

 

[NJ Coach]

I thought this was the best cheer related thing I've ever seen. Couple thoughts:

The Butlers come off BAD. It did reinforce things I had heard about them in the past.

Varsity also comes off pretty bad, but also reinforced what we already know to be true about them.

The weight thing didn't bother me, as it was the athletes weighing themselves, and mentioned weight checks for the team were done to ensure they stayed healthy. The athletes also told Morgan she was crazy when she complained about her weight.

While I didn't like the way the injuries were shown, I did like that Monica went by what the trainer said (with the exception of the back, and I mean, she wasn't wrong. She flat out told him not to cheer that weekend, and he did it anyway). We all know injuries like the ones shown happen, especially at that level, and especially with pyramid. I knew the elbow was going to happen as soon as I saw the issue on the other side. I literally yelled don't throw.

Overall, it was an extremely well done piece. It felt honest and truly was an expression of what all of us have gone through. No premeditated drama, no forced scenes. I loved every second, and hope they do another season.

 

[icequeen]

I feel for Gabi, granted i want to imagine her parents have given a lot up to move everywhere for her to cheer on elite teams, so im sure shes grateful for everything they have dropped to let her cheer all over the US. But shes in college, she shouldnt be living with mom and dad having them control her every move. Im sure she is smart and her parents dont shelter her to the point where she aint street smart. But if she isnt suffering in the long term from that, her siblings sure will. Just my two cents. Im curious to see where she ends up after navarro.

She is back at Top Gun on OO this year

 

[icequeen]

I thought this was the best cheer related thing I've ever seen. Couple thoughts:

The Butlers come off BAD. It did reinforce things I had heard about them in the past.

Varsity also comes off pretty bad, but also reinforced what we already know to be true about them.

The weight thing didn't bother me, as it was the athletes weighing themselves, and mentioned weight checks for the team were done to ensure they stayed healthy. The athletes also told Morgan she was crazy when she complained about her weight.

While I didn't like the way the injuries were shown, I did like that Monica went by what the trainer said (with the exception of the back, and I mean, she wasn't wrong. She flat out told him not to cheer that weekend, and he did it anyway). We all know injuries like the ones shown happen, especially at that level, and especially with pyramid. I knew the elbow was going to happen as soon as I saw the issue on the other side. I literally yelled don't throw.

Overall, it was an extremely well done piece. It felt honest and truly was an expression of what all of us have gone through. No premeditated drama, no forced scenes. I loved every second, and hope they do another season.

This! All I could think about was the rumor of why she originally left Top Gun after about two minutes of watching, I was like ok maybe the rumor was true.

 

[catlady]

I'm truly hoping the back injury was made for TV drama. Anyone that knowingly messes with a neck or back injury is going to come across as an idiot or incredibly cruel, especially when the injured's job is to catch flying people. That just seemed out of character for Monica....and, the liability risk....I'm having a hard time buying that scene.

As far as Gabi, the series either created or highlighted the fact her parents are struggling with codependency. I'm not a fan of that being put in the series for Gabi's sake.

Other than those two things, I really enjoyed the series.

 

[Sterling von Shimmer]

I'm truly hoping the back injury was made for TV drama. Anyone that knowingly messes with a neck or back injury is going to come across as an idiot or incredibly cruel, especially when the injured's job is to catch flying people. That just seemed out of character for Monica....and, the liability risk....I'm having a hard time buying that scene.

As far as Gabi, the series either created or highlighted the fact her parents are struggling with codependency. I'm not a fan of that being put in the series for Gabi's sake.

Other than those two things, I really enjoyed the series.

I think the scene was real if only because you don’t need manufactured drama in cheer :). Plus the guy who did this is a well-established documentarian, and I think he really embraces the “true” documentary well: “Here are the facts, you decide.”

As much as I don’t like to rely on generational stereotypes, I think Monica’s decision to work the athlete like that is just “old-school” coaching. In HS, a bunch of us were also on the local studio dance team. And I don’t know how many times I was told, “If you do the dance competition, you’re doing the cheer competition (later that same day). I don’t care if you’re tired or sore. If you did it there, you can do it here.” Exactly like she said. The only difference was we were too scared to tell our coach if we were injured in a situation like that. (In that respect, Monica is much nicer in that the guy felt comfortably telling her at all).

Now given how much our culture has changed, her response is not viewed as very reasonable. All I could think about was how fast I’d be fired for working a girl while she was visibly injured (but then again I’m working with kids vs adults). That said, it’s not a foreign concept to me.

 

[Sterling von Shimmer]

One question:

Why do they do NCA when there is only one other team in their division? Is it because nobody else offers a JuCo division and so they think their chances are stronger at NCA?

I would just have to think that competing against the same single team would get dull after awhile. Fortunately they’re both really good so at least their victory means something. I can see why getting grand national champs means so much to them. It takes the competition to a whole other level.

 

[Keep_Believing]

NCA and NCA style is very popular in Texas.

 

[Ems]

One question:

Why do they do NCA when there is only one other team in their division? Is it because nobody else offers a JuCo division and so they think their chances are stronger at NCA?

I would just have to think that competing against the same single team would get dull after awhile. Fortunately they’re both really good so at least their victory means something. I can see why getting grand national champs means so much to them. It takes the competition to a whole other level.

There are so few Junior/Community/2 year Colleges that compete NCA or UCA. Plus it’s so hard to determine what colleges at UCA are two-year schools since they’re all now lumped in with 4-year universities in the open divisions (unless it’s obvious and they have CC or JC in their name). But the only other JC team I know (off the top of my head) that competes is Shelton State CC, which have been super dominate in UCA. I also think they feed into Alabama, which could be a reason why they stay UCA.

Since there’s probably little to no money (and recognition) for JC athletics, plus the high turnover of being a two year school, there’s very little reason for a cheer team to even exist (from a school administrative standpoint). Besides NC, TVCC, and Shelton state, I would honest to god be SHOCKED if any other JC cheer team got anything from their school. I honestly doubt any other JC teams will become serious competitors at any time in the near future. And if one does pop up, oh my goodness the coach is a miracle worker and/or the coach/athletes have a lot of money.

(And as an FYI since I haven’t posted in a looooong while, I cheered competitively at the CC level, albeit ~7ish years ago ohmygodImgettingold.)

 

[Keep_Believing]

Blinn junior college has won six years in a row in their division, but they are small Coed Nca.

 

[luv2cheer92]

One question:

Why do they do NCA when there is only one other team in their division? Is it because nobody else offers a JuCo division and so they think their chances are stronger at NCA?

I would just have to think that competing against the same single team would get dull after awhile. Fortunately they’re both really good so at least their victory means something. I can see why getting grand national champs means so much to them. It takes the competition to a whole other level.

There used to be several more teams in the division. It's really only been the last 2 years that it was just those 2 teams.

 

[SL&AM]

I feel for Gabi, granted i want to imagine her parents have given a lot up to move everywhere for her to cheer on elite teams, so im sure shes grateful for everything they have dropped to let her cheer all over the US. But shes in college, she shouldnt be living with mom and dad having them control her every move. Im sure she is smart and her parents dont shelter her to the point where she aint street smart. But if she isnt suffering in the long term from that, her siblings sure will. Just my two cents. Im curious to see where she ends up after navarro.

There was an episode of cheerleaders way back when she was on SMOED where it showed her going to the traditional high school with the other teammates in the house and within a short time span, she left the traditional school and went the online route. It was the first time I remember thinking she was sheltered because she was almost in a panic about being surrounded by non-cheer people. The mere idea of dealing with non-cheer peers overwhelmed her. After watching Cheer, I can see why that would have been the case.

Now that I've had time to digest what I watched and a bit more sleep, I finally realized who her parents reminded me of and it was Gabby Douglas' family. The crazy thing is, unlike Gabby's family who went from poverty to even lower to get her to the Olympics, the Butlers have money. While setting Gabi up for success in adulthood is definitely a perk, this isn't a matter of, "If you quit now, we can't eat tomorrow..." It may be the prestige that comes with it...as much as mom tried to downplay who Gabi was to the lady watching them, it didn't seem authentic.

In hindsight, they've been handling her career for years and years so they may not even realize how deep they are. I hope watching this creates positive changes that allows Gabi to have more ownership in her life and her parents time to focus on their other kids.

 

[ErinS]

I’m not going to lie. I almost didn’t finish the series. The first episode felt like it lasted 4 hours, I didn’t want to hear the sad stories—-I teach at a Title I Middle School—-I have enough sad in my life that I can’t fix and it was just too much. I try to avoid it.


But I gave it another shot. I liked the story telling aspect of it. I liked how it was filmed. I liked how they were able to weave all of the stories together. I definitely cried when they showed La’Darius’ brother crying watching the performance (I’m going to assume Netflix paid for these Varsity TV subscriptions )

I did not however like La’Darius. He was mean. He was a bully. I get why he was that way, I see kids like him EVERY day, but it just pained me to watch how hurtful he was to people. Hurt people, hurt people.

I knew who Gabi Butler was, but not who she was as a person. If I was younger and followed her It definitely would have humanized her. She was incredibly likable, relatable, human. You could see her desire to balance “normal” with everything else. Her parents were awful. I don’t know if the dad (they) still lurk here but his posts back in the day definitely highlight that they weren’t putting on for the cameras. The whole family (older sister included) came across as panicked and manic. Could just be who they are as people, culture whatever....but I found it weird....and I’m glad Gabi got her 7 years away...I know she returned home so clearly what we saw either isn’t that bad or not bad to her....but whew. The Butlers. Hate. To. See. It.


Jerry....grew on me. He certainly was a ball of energy and positivity but he in the beginning was annoying. Excited he made mat. His back ground story was humbling. Glad he got into to U of L and made the team. I was shocked to see he returned to Navarro this year (if this is a spoiler...my bad)...but seriously how long can one spend at a Jr. College. What are we getting from there? Was he not prepared for a 4 year university? So many questions.

Lexi—- I looked her up too. Bless her heart. Hope she comes back out of whatever path she went back down....Mom and Grandma certainly have her back. Hope she survives.

Morgan? — she was sad too. Always looked worried. That leaving your kid by themselves in a trailer just baffled me.

The way the back injury was handled made me bad. Doesn’t matter if he did what you told him not to do, it doesn’t make it any less of an injury.

When Sherbs got hurt I literally sat on my couch “wait ain’t nobody over——-“ *thud*. Awful.


I was originally supposed to watch with my 14 yo niece, but I didn’t it. I need to find out if she watched and what she got out of it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[catlady]

I think the scene was real if only because you don’t need manufactured drama in cheer :). Plus the guy who did this is a well-established documentarian, and I think he really embraces the “true” documentary well: “Here are the facts, you decide.”

As much as I don’t like to rely on generational stereotypes, I think Monica’s decision to work the athlete like that is just “old-school” coaching. In HS, a bunch of us were also on the local studio dance team. And I don’t know how many times I was told, “If you do the dance competition, you’re doing the cheer competition (later that same day). I don’t care if you’re tired or sore. If you did it there, you can do it here.” Exactly like she said. The only difference was we were too scared to tell our coach if we were injured in a situation like that. (In that respect, Monica is much nicer in that the guy felt comfortably telling her at all).

Now given how much our culture has changed, her response is not viewed as very reasonable. All I could think about was how fast I’d be fired for working a girl while she was visibly injured (but then again I’m working with kids vs adults). That said, it’s not a foreign concept to me.

I feel most people cringed because they have a lot more knowledge on injuries than in years past versus culture change. She made it clear he wasn't supposed to cheer AS the second day at the comp with his injury, "old school" of today would have replaced him or found another form of punishment. That scene came across as a vindictive person in power showing an athlete the consequence of crossing her will be further pain at the expense of his health and fellow teammates. Or, the alternative, she's just really ignorant.

My take: The athletic trainer was right there, so either his injury wasn't as serious as it was made out to be, he was cleared and that conversation was intentionally left out for drama sake or, she chose to ignore the seriousness of the injury and doesn't need to be coaching. We didn't get that tidbit of info, but cheer (or any other sport) doesn't need to give the impression that top coaches abuse their athletes at any expense to win.

 

[oncecoolcoachnowmom]

I’m not going to lie. I almost didn’t finish the series. The first episode felt like it lasted 4 hours, I didn’t want to hear the sad stories—-I teach at a Title I Middle School—-I have enough sad in my life that I can’t fix and it was just too much. I try to avoid it.


But I gave it another shot. I liked the story telling aspect of it. I liked how it was filmed. I liked how they were able to weave all of the stories together. I definitely cried when they showed La’Darius’ brother crying watching the performance (I’m going to assume Netflix paid for these Varsity TV subscriptions )

I did not however like La’Darius. He was mean. He was a bully. I get why he was that way, I see kids like him EVERY day, but it just pained me to watch how hurtful he was to people. Hurt people, hurt people.

I knew who Gabi Butler was, but not who she was as a person. If I was younger and followed her It definitely would have humanized her. She was incredibly likable, relatable, human. You could see her desire to balance “normal” with everything else. Her parents were awful. I don’t know if the dad (they) still lurk here but his posts back in the day definitely highlight that they weren’t putting on for the cameras. The whole family (older sister included) came across as panicked and manic. Could just be who they are as people, culture whatever....but I found it weird....and I’m glad Gabi got her 7 years away...I know she returned home so clearly what we saw either isn’t that bad or not bad to her....but whew. The Butlers. Hate. To. See. It.


Jerry....grew on me. He certainly was a ball of energy and positivity but he in the beginning was annoying. Excited he made mat. His back ground story was humbling. Glad he got into to U of L and made the team. I was shocked to see he returned to Navarro this year (if this is a spoiler...my bad)...but seriously how long can one spend at a Jr. College. What are we getting from there? Was he not prepared for a 4 year university? So many questions.

Lexi—- I looked her up too. Bless her heart. Hope she comes back out of whatever path she went back down....Mom and Grandma certainly have her back. Hope she survives.

Morgan? — she was sad too. Always looked worried. That leaving your kid by themselves in a trailer just baffled me.

The way the back injury was handled made me bad. Doesn’t matter if he did what you told him not to do, it doesn’t make it any less of an injury.

When Sherbs got hurt I literally sat on my couch “wait ain’t nobody over——-“ *thud*. Awful.


I was originally supposed to watch with my 14 yo niece, but I didn’t it. I need to find out if she watched and what she got out of it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

This was my exact reaction to her fall.

"Jesus nobody is over there wtf are they *hits ground*"

The coach in me was mad because I feel like no one was actively spotting to be like "whoa nobody over there but I got you fam." Not saying she wouldn't have fallen, but someone paying attention with a little bit of hustle would have at least absorbed the impact a bit.