I am not a cheerleader, never have and never will be, but I want to be on the Navarro Cheer team. After watching the documentary series on Netflix "Cheer," I have a completely new perspective on competitive cheerleading and what it entails. A simple flip in the air can look so easy meanwhile it takes the strength and endurance from all involving players to get it done right. I binged watched the season in less than two days, you can definitely say I was hooked on the ring of fire. Watching this show wasn't just about the enjoyment though. I learned a good deal from these students and from Monica herself.
Throughout Navarro Cheer's whole season we see the pain (the many many amounts of pain) and the gain it takes to be a successful, competing team. The series also focuses on a couple of the team members' life stories. Some of these students have come from hard and difficult times, and for many of them cheer is something that has brought them back up. Seeing that success from the struggle and strive to be a better cheerleader is truly inspiring. We see students come from dirt, students that come from wealth and students from in between who have all worked together to create a victorious team. No matter if they win or not that team is so successful because through all the obstacles they came across, they were persistent and kept trying their hardest. You can literally see the blood sweat and tears from these team members and none of them ever gave up. And that is one reason why I want to be a part of the Navarro Cheer team.
To be a part of a good team, you need to have a good leader, and that's where Monica comes in. This woman is making me second guess my questionable decisions in life because I feel the need, from many miles away, to please her. Monica is truly invested in this cheer team. She puts her heart and soul and so much of her time for the betterment of the team and the individuals themselves. She truly cares about her second family and will always want the best for them on and off the mat. To see that devotion from Monica and how much she affects those students and how much they push themselves for her, is the reason I want to please Monica myself, and it's also another reason why I want want to be a part of that cheer team. If I had Monica as my life coach, I'm confident she'd just ask me to do something and I wouldn't even hesitate for her.
Monica said something at the beginning of the series along the lines of, "You work on something until you get it right, and you continue working on it until it's not wrong." I'm going to use that quote for all my studying needs this semester, all thanks to Navarro.
