Back in 2017, I recommended Last Chance U as a show you should be watching. Fast forward to 2019, and the same producers have given us #Cheer, a docuseries that follows cheerleaders in a junior college in a small town in Texas, Navarro College.
Before you roll your eyes and say you have no interest in following a bunch of kid cheerleaders, just like Last Chance U, it is really not about just football. Navarro College is a beast at cheer leading, winning the championship most of the time the last few years under the tutelage of Monica, a hard nosed proud-to-be-Texan who is fiercely protective of her kids as she calls them.
I wasn’t sure what to expect but I trusted the producers of Last Chance U, so I went in. Man, was I in for a surprise. I have a whole new respect for the sport that is cheerleading. That ish is hard!!! I am a squeamish person so I constantly had my eyes covered as I watched them tumble and fly and flip.
The beauty of this show is seeing the background of the kids and how they ended up here and for some how cheerleading saved their lives. There’s Gabi, who is a social media influencer with endorsements and has horrible manager parents, Lexi who just makes the wrong decisions, Morgan who is fearless and in awe of Monica, whose dad left her to fend for herself when he remarried and Jerry, who is arguably the best person on earth.
The whole show focuses on Nationals in Florida and it shows the team practicing relentlessly amid blood, sweat and tears (literally) and I can’t tell you the number of times I screamed as I watched. The actual event, I legit couldn’t watch because I was that scared. There is a segment where someone teaches the kids about Texas that is cringe worthy. Throwing that in here so you look out for it.
Overall, this is a good watch in just 6 episodes. You get to appreciate the different walks of life and see people fight for something so strongly. People face their fears and manage the cards they are dealt.
Cheer is streaming on Netflix.