Cheer (2020) s02e04 Episode Script
Hell Week
1
Can y'all
scoot along, please? Here we go.
Well, I'm excited for you to see the routine.
It's really good.
Girl, I cannot wait.
I've heard about it.
I'm actually not even entirely sure who's on mat.
I'm not a flyer.
I heard about that.
When I was at CA, someone's like, "Yeah, like, it's not good.
" - Well, it's good, it just - No.
it wasn't good.
- I was not doing good.
I did struggle.
- You struggled? I was really heartbroken at first because that's what I came here that's what I wanted to do.
I set, like, such a high standard for myself when they made that routine because I was literally center for the whole thing.
- So, you moved since then.
- Yeah.
Yeah.
I'm I was center for, like I'm still center for the toe full, but I was center for - Toe full? - Yeah.
Finally they put a female toe full in.
They put me, Kassidy, and Lexi's in.
You were always the person that, like, got on us about, like, the little things.
- I know.
- And now we don't have that.
What I thought originally when I left, I was gonna be able to help from afar, be like a satellite, "Yeah, no, fix this, fix this" But ever since I left, I felt like either me, myself or a lot of other people detach themselves so much.
And that's why I'm, like, moving away from it.
I left the program because I messed up in the first semester.
There was a homecoming party which involved drinking with a lot of alumni over.
However, there were athletes that were currently on the team that were at the house.
I should've done better to, like, keep them away, but at the end of the day, they were at my house with alcohol, and I didn't control the situation the way I should have.
And now I'm paying the consequences.
I try to, like, watch from afar.
Like, that's why I don't even talk to anybody anymore.
Like, when I see y'all in the gym, I say hi and I'm like, "Hey!" And it's, like, try to, like, walk away from y'all, or try to, like, not linger around y'all too much, because then I start feeling sad again that I can't be there for y'all.
I feel like I've been so lost lately since I've left the program.
Monica mentored me while I was here, so I don't have that, like, stability anymore.
It's hard when something in your life fills such a huge gap in your heart, and it fills you up, it makes you feel whole.
And when you leave that thing, it's hard to feel whole.
And, honestly, I've been having a hard time feeling grounded.
Kapena is one of my favorite people.
But if you want to have a coaching role, whether it be volunteer or whatever, you do have to set higher standards for yourself.
It's tough.
I mean, sometimes you get really attached to these kids.
But as much as I want to give them a second chance, if you don't uphold the rules, then there why have the rules? You're around these individuals so much they become your brothers, Monica becomes your mother.
People with complications or have grown up missing something with their parental figure or their mother figure, and when you come to Navarro, Monica fills that that void.
When you leave, that void is still there.
And that's what keeps bringing everyone back.
And although it was like hell, it was so hard on our bodies, on our minds, you know, I would go and do it all over again.
The athletes that are here don't wanna leave, and they come back so much because of that family atmosphere we have.
In cheer, you have to depend on everybody around you.
Everybody must do their job to make the routine perfect.
For me it's gonna come hard on you if you're not doing your job.
You spend two years of your life here trying to get out.
Trying to get out of Corsicana, get out of the program and move on.
Then you spend the rest of your life wishing you could have those two years back.
Who's eating pancakes? How many pancakes am I making? I'll have one if there's one to give.
There's plenty.
I'm just wondering how many I should make.
I'm determined to finish my pancake.
I'm slowing down.
I watched that video you did.
Y'all looked good.
- You feel good about it? - Yeah.
We've been going full-out, so we can tweak it, and fix it, and fix formations When do you get new uniforms? - Oh my God.
You haven't seen them? - No.
Let me see.
Made me nervous because it's going back to white.
I don't know when it Shush! No, no, no.
It is a black uniform with a little bit of white right here.
No, I like it.
It is white.
But I like it.
Why are you offended by the white? Because the last time we wore all white, white pants, white uniform, we lost.
- All white.
- The both times.
She said, "A little bit of white.
" I was not Yeah, I was like, "Okay.
" - "A little bit of white.
" - I like those a lot.
- I don't understand.
- Those will look good on the mat.
There's a bit of gray on your sweatshirt.
Y'all are funny.
Yay.
Make sure my hands are clean.
I want the girls to try these on and we need to probably tumble in them.
More than a bad sign Been down The last time we wore white, we lost, so we don't do that anymore.
Apparently, every year there's white, they lose.
So every single person is complaining.
Good! If you don't want to be on mat, you don't have to wear it.
You know I won't have no luck at all White is not our type of uniform that we like to wear.
It has not brought us a lot of success in the past.
I remember when Monica told me that she wanted to wear white, and I was like "Ooh.
" I was like, "Are you sure?" And she's like, "Oh, yeah.
I feel confident.
" "You sure you want to wear white in finals?" She's like, "Oh, yeah.
We can do it.
" - Stop.
It's not my fault.
- I was like No, and I'm not saying I'm not I'm not blaming you.
We don't practice all year to for a white uniform to make us mess up.
- But maybe that's - But now look at what happened! It's a black uniform with a little bit of white.
Black and red sleeve, black top here a little bit of white.
It's fine.
All right.
I was like, "I'll I'll have your back on it no matter what.
" Because that I'll always have her back.
But now you know it's not a white uniform.
It it just has white on it.
So, it's not a white uniform.
We don't say it is, and we don't consider it as one.
One for real, baby I won't have no luck Take off my arms first.
I like the black one.
It fits way better.
It's easier to, like, do stuff in.
Like, this one's too hard.
Like, you can't even move it.
But I don't think a uniform is gonna change if we win or not, honestly.
If we just hit, then we'll win.
You need to fight whoever made those uniforms.
- 'Cause why? 'Cause why? - Huh? Wait, what? - What did you say? - Nothing.
'Cause you you're moving too quick.
You're leaning in I'm in one of those moods.
Not enough sleep.
- Look at you.
Look how beautiful you - What did you say? I said you need to fight somebody who made that uniform.
- Oh.
Okay.
- No, no.
Not like that.
Oh.
You made that uniform? Okay.
Let's talk.
Let's let's do something.
You gotta put some white in there, because it look like two different uniforms.
We had we did.
That was in the proto.
When we got it, everybody said red looked better.
They lied.
That's right.
I forgot.
You got all the answers.
- No.
Well, I got the right one.
- I got you.
This one just one time.
Everybody always is like, "Monica" But instead of telling you the truth, that it the white would've looked Why why would it matter if we Girl, I'll wear red, green, orange, yellow, and pink.
I don't care.
I'll never be scared of no uniform.
A uniform ain't gonna stop you from whatever you need to go do.
Everybody be doing all these superstitions.
Girl, no.
Whoever made this uniform needs to go back to the drawing board, 'cause it doesn't look good.
You wanna bounce around pyramid ideas? What did we decide? The back handspring full ups, with the hand in the middle.
The merry-go-round to inversion, pop through, but not spin over.
Yes.
And then ending with the the traveling cartwheels.
Mm-hmm.
And then a rewind in the center or something in the center, or are we going to try to do the four people? Last couple years, I came up with the pyramid.
This year, it's a little different because Franklin's back.
And he likes to do different types of pyramids that nobody's ever seen.
Right.
Cat and Caylee will do the traveling cartwheel.
And then we will rotate them, put Cat on the outside.
We'll have Cat This year with the pyramid, if we do the skills that we have now, it should score pretty high.
- And so when we turn it right.
- This way.
But if it's not hitting, we're switching it up.
If we do the four-person structure at the end, or the the two shoulder bases, the one-one-two's The last couple years, I've just been that bold guy that's just like, "Oh.
They'll get it.
" Not this year, you know.
This year, they're gonna be 100% confident even if we were to make a change.
You know, it's a lot of pressure when you're not 100% confident in your skills.
Your brain now is probably screaming, telling you you can't do this.
Every part of it.
Push it out.
Prove yourself wrong right now.
Prove me wrong right now.
Prove to everybody in the world that you can do this the first try, and every time afterwards.
Show yourself, show this team, show the ones around you all you need is the people out here.
- All right? Talk about it.
- Yes, sir.
Okay.
I definitely wanna say that we've already done this routine.
Okay? And just because the word "full-out" is in front of it or is with it, it's not it's not it's not a full-out.
Okay? It's a routine with all skills.
Think of it that way.
And just be cool, calm, collected, and take one section at a time.
Everyone do your job, worry about your own job, and let everyone else do their own job, and the whole picture of it all will come together.
Oh, man.
This is our our tape ball.
We used to bring that out right before full-outs and we take it everywhere with us.
It started back back in when they first won the first championship back in 1989.
When we win, we retire it, and we start a new one the next year.
If you don't win, you continue with the one that you had the previous year and continue to tape.
When I first cheered at Trinity Valley, the tape ball became a tradition.
You know, if you wanna get into symbolism, there's all the blood, sweat, and tears that we put into those routines.
W-when you look at the size of the current tape ball, do you feel pressure? No.
No, because I've seen it bigger.
I've had to carry it when it was bigger.
No, I It's only been two years.
But let's keep it only at two years.
Let's retire it this year.
In second place, let's hear it for Trinity Valley Community College! In second place, Trinity Valley Community College! When I started at Trinity Valley, we weren't just trying to beat the team Navarro.
We were trying to beat the idea of Navarro.
And our national champions with a 97.
45 from Corsicana, Texas, Navarro College! Monica is so good at what she does.
It's hard to compete against her because of the the machine that she has built.
And it took several years of trying this and that before we even got to be up on the same level as them.
In second place with a 97.
15, Trinity Valley Community College! The pressure I put on myself to be competitive had become such a huge part of my life that it changed the person that I was.
Our national champions with a 98.
60, Navarro College! I became a person that would get very agitated very fast, and so those same impatient things were happening in my day-to-day life, and I did not like that, so I left.
It's Vontae's program now.
Monica already has everything down to a science at this point.
She has the full buy-in of all of her athletes because they know the tradition that she's built.
Is there pressure on Vontae being the coach at TVCC? Oh, hell yes.
No question about it.
Vontae knew what he was getting into, and he's one of those people that just lives for that stuff.
He's just gotta get that first monkey off his back and win that first championship, and then the pressure will go away.
From Athens, Texas Trinity Valley Community College! We're a family! Do it for each other! Do it for the people standing next to you! Let's go, yo! Go, go, go.
Hey, let's go! Come on! Hold, change, hold, change! - What is this? - Let's go.
Oh, shit! Sorry.
It's first full-out.
Doesn't matter that much.
We're not on bandshell.
What, what, what's going on? When do we just get to stop? We don't! That's a choice to be lazy, not finish.
That's a waste of being on this mat! When you take a break, it makes me want to put you off the mat.
That's what it makes me wanna do, because that shows me you ain't got no fight.
And I ain't putting nobody on the mat that don't have a fight.
Y'all know me, I'm I'm straightforward.
I'm not gonna lie.
I'mma tell you how I feel.
Today wasn't your best.
And it wasn't your best because you didn't work together.
If I yell at you, understand that I love you.
Understand our goals.
Understand we're trying to help you guys.
Most of you guys, y'all tend to forget that I went through everything that you guys are going through, but I didn't win.
I didn't win.
Maybe I should have wanted him to be a bit harder on us.
Maybe I should have asked him to push us a little bit more.
Because I wasn't dying as I left Trinity Valley.
I was dying to come back, wishing that I could push a little bit more for the people that I had to leave behind.
You don't wanna get on the bus and wonder why you lost.
When I was at Trinity Valley, I didn't get the chance to win.
My last year at Trinity Valley, I'm one of the best stunters on the team at the time.
And I was the alpha and I was center stunt.
Then we get to Daytona, and I dropped that stunt.
That stunt came down and we didn't win that year.
You know, I was so prideful.
I yelled at the girl and didn't do my job as a teammate.
And it Obviously, that was a big lesson for me to learn, but I'm gonna always think about that.
You know? So, don't be upset.
Y'all know how I am.
I say what I have to say, I let it go.
You gotta let it go too.
If you start holding on to things for too long, it festers up and then becomes some weight on your shoulder you need to take off, and it's hard to take off because you put so many pounds on it.
You gotta clear your mind from it.
Make it better or let it go.
Let's break it out.
As a coach, I'm gonna always tell you the truth even if you don't wanna hear it.
Because I don't want them to leave Trinity Valley without having a ring on their finger or saying that they're National Champion.
One, two, three.
National champs.
Finish the fight on three.
One, two, three, hearts! CA! You're exhausted, I know, but I expect you to trust me.
I know when you shouldn't be doing another routine.
I've sat you out when I know you shouldn't.
When you got here and I saw you crying, I look at your legs, I look at how your head's moving.
I'm watching to make sure you don't get tunnel vision.
You didn't have those.
You had tired, you had dread, you had wanting to just be done in your eyes.
I needed you to push through that.
That's the worst thing you can have.
I'm not mad at you, Jeron.
You know that.
I yelled at you because you needed to be yelled at.
You needed you needed that.
You needed to understand that.
As much as you might think that you can't do it, I trust that you can do it.
I know you.
I know you can be frustrated.
It's okay.
Everybody blows up.
We've all had moments.
But I don't know.
As much as you might not wanna be that person, you are that person.
But when you can't be it, don't be the opposite of it.
Jada feeds off you, without a doubt.
I think she looks up to you the most out of everybody on this team.
All right? So, I'm not mad.
You know how I am.
I say what I have to say, I let it go, but you got the message.
- Yes, sir.
- All right.
My head hurts so bad.
- From what? - She has a concussion.
- There's no way she doesn't.
- Yeah.
Little bitch, you just got your spot on mat, so don't say That's why it's on the DL.
Her head was hurting so bad she sat in the car and just cried.
- Was your first full-out hard? - No.
I almost forgot your name when I was cheering for you.
- Thanks.
- So, I was like, "Come on, Gill!" That makes me feel so special.
I pretty much cried through the entire thing, so But, yes, every time I hit my hips, I'm like, mouth open.
Did you perform in the routine? Yes, because I wasn't in the stunt.
It all just hit me so hard, getting taken out of the air, feeling like I wasn't good enough to be a flyer.
And I've never felt like I was in the position that I wasn't good enough for something.
I'm sorry, Maddy, but I'm glad I don't have to lift you up in that pyramid anymore.
Gill, I'm so glad too.
In the end of the day, if I'm not the best in the stunt, I'm not the best in the stunt.
I'm not gonna sit here and make a pity party for myself.
I want what's best for the team.
And at first, I did make a pity party for myself, but I needed to, like, let it out for a sec, and then I was fine the next day.
Or maybe not the next day, maybe the day after that, but now I've accepted it, and this routine's starting to come together, so I'm not gonna like, I trust their judgement.
I get what they're saying.
It was more like, "Why couldn't you do your job?" I was not trying to hit my head off your kneecaps.
I was not trying to hit my head on your head.
Okay, y'all.
Listen! Y'all, look at me and be quiet.
Eyes up here.
I don't wanna practice till ten o'clock.
Right now, if you're not in the pyramid and you can't stop yourself from talking to the person next to you, spread out.
Like, literally, there's no reason for us to discuss something, and y'all are having 5,000 side conversations.
If it's not about the pyramid, just don't talk.
Because at this rate, we'll be here till midnight, and then I'm gonna be really pissy tomorrow at practice.
'Cause I'm gonna stay here as long as I need to to get these reps done.
So if that's one hour, I'm going home.
If it's five hours, we're still here.
So, talk all you want if that's how long you wanna be here.
I was so good this time last year.
You also didn't have a first semester this year.
- Yeah.
- To, like, get the tumbling reps in.
It took some getting used to.
This is where it gets awkward.
It'll all be easier after Hell Week.
Hopefully.
Get up in the air.
Ready? And just stay there.
Like, quit moving around the floor.
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight! One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight! One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight! One, two - Let's go! - Five! One, two, three, four, five One, two, three! Who throws who throws Morgan over, you and who? - Dillon.
- Dillon.
Okay.
I've said this multiple times now We talked about how good our throw was and I wasn't throwing hard.
It wasn't good.
So what I'm saying is, I've said it multiple times, like, it's always lower than theirs.
Like, can y'all, like, fix it? - Are you throwing? - Monica, I always throw.
That's all you got? Okay, Monica.
Let's just get set and let's do it again, then.
Are you having an attitude? Like, it's always, "La'Darius, are you doing this?" - "La'Darius, are you doing that?" - Oh.
I'm sorry.
You don't say anything to anybody else, then everybody blames me.
- It's Morgan's fault.
- I didn't say It's your fault, Morgan, 'cause you didn't jump far enough.
Do it again.
Ready.
I don't know who to blame, the people involved in it.
But you always got my name, always.
Okay.
Come Come.
Do that again.
No.
'Cause you That's so disrespectful, and I'm over it.
You know what's disrespectful? The way you're talking to me now.
So disrespectful.
I'm not the only person in that pyramid.
Then I'll put someone else in that spot.
No.
It's not that.
He just needs to be better.
Then the whole team needs to be better according to La'Darius.
Listen.
Let me tell you something.
Last year, it was always Sherb's fault.
Then it was Ally's fault you got switched.
- I never blamed Sherb.
- Now it's Maddy's fault.
I'm not doing his spot for him.
If he's not strong enough to do it, then that's his problem.
Every time we're in practice, all you do is say nobody's good enough.
Nobody can match your energy.
Nobody can match your talent.
It's not about my energy.
It's effort.
The fact that I'm blamed for something I didn't do You're involved in the stunt.
You want me to blame just Dillon? Did y'all not come straight to La'Darius? If you don't wanna be on the team 'cause I'm not the right coach, then you don't have to be here.
I don't know what else to do.
In the past, everybody has seen that I've had an attitude problem, which I currently am still working on.
It's always something you're involved in, the other person's not giving 100%, which is not true.
And that there that's a pattern, and that should tell you something.
When I'm irritated and I'm mad, I go for your jugular.
That's how I've always been.
And I've been learning how to change that.
People are scared to talk to you because you come across as like, it's Well, it's You don't have any leeway for error.
- Mm-hmm.
- La'Darius was very young.
He was only 18 when he came to Navarro, and this was one of the few places he's ever felt like he had structure in his life.
He had consequences, he had expectations, he had people that believed in him.
That is good for him, and he thrives on this environment of structure, being with people that are gonna have your back, that are gonna love you no matter what.
But if you've always been in survival mode, it's just you against the world.
That can be scary for someone that's trying to work with you.
Me and Monica are like mom and son.
Like, I love her.
But with Monica, when she loves you, she's going to single you out and call you out because she expects more out of you.
I try to bend over backwards to give you everything in the world, and then you think that I'm always accusing you of being the one at fault.
I have seen La'Darius grow so much since his first semester at Navarro.
But sometimes the La'Darius that I got to know when he first got here comes back.
All the criticism, I take that so much deeper.
I don't feel like I criticize you often.
Why do you think I don't have your back? Because I freaking love you and I'm trying so hard.
I'm giving everything.
It's like I'm just not good enough.
I just can't do everything for everybody.
- And you shouldn't.
- But that's the thing.
I've been doing it for so long it's expected.
- No.
- And I'm just It's hard.
- Come here.
- It's hard.
I worry about La'Darius all the time.
He definitely has highs and lows, and when he's at one of his highs, he's, you know, really happy and in a really good place, but, you know, it can go quite the opposite pretty quickly.
When you feel lost and you feel lonely in the world, you wanna go to where you feel, you know, a part of something.
I'm changing, and I am working on it.
- You know what I'm gonna do next time? - What? I'm gonna walk outside, drink some coconut water, I'm gonna walk back in, and then I'm gonna go full-out again.
Okay? You're gonna see a new me.
Bet on it.
I'm telling you.
Just wait.
Just you wait.
I got it.
Pyramid! Never mind! So this is where I-I grew up.
Right here.
This was before everything changed.
I lived with my mom and we lived in this house at the very end, and this is where I literally went through the worst part of my life, honestly.
Um, I was nine.
And one day I remember sitting on the couch, and I was just chilling with my siblings.
We were all watching TV.
We heard a knock on the door.
My mom got up and I seen her put on some shorts.
You know how girls always put on their boyfriend's shorts and stuff.
That's what she always do.
Get up, put 'em on, walk around the house.
And all I know is, when she went out the door, she never came back in.
We come out, and there's cops all right here.
She had drugs.
Like, she had drugs in her pocket.
That's what she went to jail for.
For the drugs that he had.
I didn't even know what the cops were, didn't know what they was doing.
All I see was red and blue and they were putting her away.
At that moment, that's when I learned what that was.
And we were getting evicted at the same time.
So it was really stressful because they were moving things out.
Honestly, I was mad.
I was mad because I just At first, I thought she was leaving us.
It was dark, I'm sitting there like, "When will somebody come get us?" "Where are the people that are supposed to be watching us?" So, what I've been through, my skin is a little bit tougher on the outside.
Like, I have to go make my own life.
God.
- Can you see it? - Fore! It went right? I think it's gone.
I think I'm across the street.
Because I pulled right in the back and I hit a tree.
Franklin's the most caring person I know.
He was my coach.
He was the person I looked up to.
That's not it.
He was one of the first cheer coaches that kinda got to me.
Oh, man.
Hit your ball on the fairway.
You don't have to walk in a swamp.
An excellent golfing partner.
He's still like my coach.
He's gonna hype me up.
He's gonna make me feel like, you know, I'm doing good even though I'm doing terrible.
- It sounded great.
- It did, but I don't know where it went.
If I make it on the green, he's like, "Vontae, that was such a good shot.
" That was a good putt.
I'll have a good drive every now and then and he'll make me feel good about it.
But at a certain point, I'm like, He's just He's not telling me how bad I really am.
When I started at Trinity Valley, Vontae was the best.
He was the best guy to have on the team.
In the two years that I coached him, he had one bad day.
One bad day at practice.
I had to pull him out and say, "Hey, man.
" "You can go home.
You've never had a bad day, but you're having one.
" "We can't have it.
You're too big of a leader.
" He goes, "No.
I'll fix it.
" I said, "Okay.
" He went back to practice, and everything was fine.
I did cheer for a little bit before I came here.
But to be an actual cheerleader where you had to go on the sidelines and cheer for guys, you know, that wasn't something I was used to at all.
I'd never done it before.
I'd just done the competitive side and All Star.
And I know I'm good enough to play football here, and to be around those guys, you know, like, and cheering for them it was kind of different.
You don't see yourself on the sidelines cheering for people at games when you've been on the other side, so it was it was a struggle for me.
I was very closed off.
But the team had started to come together with some of the sophomores.
I saw the love that they had between each other.
I saw the connection that they built and of course I wanted that.
So, that started to show me that I can trust what they were doing.
I can trust the process that was happening here.
It was different, but that group of people made it easy.
Franklin showed that he cared, that he was gonna always be there.
So, for me, you know, that meant a lot because that means I could I could trust him and he's gonna always have your back.
I think that's why I'm still here.
You try to make sure that the individuals that are on the team are functioning well as people, and friends, and a family, and then also as an athlete, but usually not athlete first.
All right, uh, listen up.
Lightning's gonna do his performance that he was gonna do at the talent show.
So, he wanted to be able to show it to somebody.
There's just there's too much that goes into to being on a program like this to only focus on the athleticism side of it.
I think those traditions come with the trust and building trust with the people around the mat with you.
I was shook, but I liked that.
Good job.
Why am I so funny? living in that nursing home next.
And could March Madness fade away over fears of the coronavirus? That's, like, the genetic makeup of the coronavirus, and then breaking it down in a video game.
That's kinda dope.
It's already canceling Worlds They're not canceling Worlds, they're keeping an eye on it.
- I'm going to Worlds.
- I'm flying.
I don't care.
My tickets are booked.
I'm going.
They're not gonna cancel Worlds over it.
The number of people that have been diagnosed with coronavirus here is extremely minimal.
They've all been put in quarantine, so the chances of it spreading further is not I don't think it's Something's happening that we don't know, and this is our distraction.
Okay.
We're not gonna get into conspiracy theories.
- This is our distraction.
- No.
If they cancel it, we build our own bandshell and Daytona's here.
I'm not worried.
I'm literally not worried.
I'm literally chilling.
Hi! Yes, Swooshcats.
- I love Swooshcats.
- How are you? - I'm tired.
- Sleepy? Everyone seems kind of tired today.
So we took four counts out of the stunt.
Where'd you get four? Girl, I don't know.
We did.
We got four counts out of stunt.
And then we got And then we we tightened up the opening and the music.
It's so good.
- That scream in the beginning.
- So good.
Like, I'm waiting for something bad to happen.
Right.
Every year when I'm like, "Oh.
Things are going good," the next day it's tragedy or something.
- Right.
You cursed it.
- Redoing the whole routine.
So I'm like My Daytona is these next couple days.
I wanna win.
I think we're all very competitive.
And so I think Trinity Valley will push us all to be better.
We gotta get this transition in the pyramid right because you know our friends down the road will have a decent routine composition.
Brad! Let's go! What's up, man? How you wanna start it off? Um, let's go to that pyramid for a second.
Hey, remember one thing in this pyramid, please.
Actually, two things.
Remember to count and take your time.
That's three things, actually.
And remember, we are stronger than the coronavirus.
It's not gonna get us down.
All right? Let's go, y'all.
Seven, one.
Three, four, five, six, seven.
You're good.
Give him a latte.
Choreography is one of the most important things in a routine.
Navarro's kinda mastered that performance quality.
I think Trinity Valley has now getting that.
Good, Maggie.
A routine should be like a boiling pot when performing.
And it should just be like When you get to that dance, the pot should just boil over because it's on fire.
And if you don't practice that, it's never gonna look as good as another team that's doing that.
You've gotta be on fire.
Seven, eight, one, two, three, four, go, five, seven, dip, one It's completely different, for the best, I think.
Way, way faster than it has been in our past years.
They want something different, so we'll give them different.
Three, five, move it, seven, go, one, up It's different to be going against each other.
Our styles are kind of the same.
We're gonna push the entertainment value of the routine a little more this year, which is easy to do because the kids are so talented this year.
Last year, their 2019 routine was way faster than 2018's routine.
- And then this one's twice as fast.
- This one just pops so much.
It's not as, like, cutesy-pootsy as, like, Brad would have made it.
No.
It's, like, angry.
It's like an angry - It is angry.
- It's like a rabid dog.
I think that there can be too much.
And I think there has to be that fine line between being theatrical and being over the top.
And if you're over the top, it does distract from the skills.
And four, five, and six, shake it drop.
Get down like a dog, girl.
I don't wanna say it's offensive.
It's just kind of a put-off.
You don't only wanna watch that because then you're watching that person, you're not watching all the other things going on.
It's so good.
Y'all do it so good.
I love it.
Both schools push each other to be the best that they can be, which, in my eyes, is all that you can ask for out of a cheerleading competition.
Let's go.
Go up! Come on! It's hard.
It's, like, I'm telling you.
Literally, they're wet.
I don't think you're gonna get the results you want.
So what do y'all need? Like, five minutes? I wipe off before every section, I still slide all over them.
No.
I'm saying, like, so what do we need? Five minutes? Ten? I don't know.
Monica, that floor's hot.
Yeah.
Wait till you get to Daytona.
I don't think the AC is on at all.
I'm gonna be completely honest.
It's literally Satan's asshole in there.
I'm prepared to slip through my baskets.
I'm ready to hit the ground.
To be honest, I want a car just to run straight right here and hit me.
- One minute.
- I guarantee I can't do it again.
You did great.
Cool off.
There's no way we're doing something else.
We got lots to work on.
- So is this your hideout? - Yes.
I'm quitting.
- You ready to do more pyramids? - I'm gonna snap.
It just keeps coming.
I didn't even know I could sweat this much.
I'll be honest.
I'm done.
I'm down for the count.
It's over for me.
La'Darius, can you spread some positive energy? We got this.
I literally just Ugh.
Amazing grace How sweet the sound - What y'all want me to sing? - Nothing! Somebody give me an instrumental or something.
What do you want? No.
Give me some rap.
Give me a rap instrumental.
If you're gonna really do it, you gotta do it right.
Uh-oh.
Here it comes.
Hey.
I'm coming back again This time I'm gonna win First two then a third one for the win These girls are mad at me 'Cause you know I'm the queen I'm 'bout to show that, y'all I'm headed for 15 Don't be playing, girl, I am in the world You better watch out I'm about to hit a twirl All these mans want it And your girls get it You better watch out 'Cause you know that I am still with it Yes, ma'am, right here Everybody know I'm the baddest queer Everybody wanna be a queen But none of these girls Can add up the breeze Hey.
- All right.
Let's go! Pyramid! - One more song! - No! - One more! One more! One more song! One more song! - Hey.
- One more song! One more song! Hey! One more song! Hey! One more song! Hey! No music! - No music! - Hey, hey! No music! No music! Hey, hey.
Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Girl, bye, don't talk about me Every time you watching me Girl, I am the queen All right.
Hey.
Um Hey.
Let's focus and do this right, for real.
Everyone has a little voice in their head that tells them, "You can't.
" But tell that voice, "Eff you, I can.
" It's Hell Week, y'all.
This is the week that we put all of our effort into.
God brought you this far for a reason.
Don't give up on yourself.
I want you guys to keep pushing and keep working hard.
This is not the end.
This is just the beginning.
- This is my moment.
- This is my moment.
- I own this floor.
- I own this floor.
- I will hit.
- I will hit.
- I am a champion.
- I am a champion.
Hell Week is so hard, but the routine is so good.
It's absolutely insane.
Now is where we just start Watch your ground, Jerry.
making it perfect.
My goal is to go full-out twice every day.
Better push as hard as you can.
What's the goal this year for full-outs? Fifty-one.
We're going for 15 National Championships, and we're gonna go for 51.
So put your best face on everybody Pretend you know this song Everybody come hang Let's go out with a bang Bang, bang, bang We have practice twice a day for a full week.
Literally pushing our physical limits past what they are.
There is a difference between being in great shape and being in routine shape.
If you're not in routine shape, it's not the right shape.
Honestly, this is probably the best and hardest routine we've ever had.
It's more flashy.
We started going full-out, and I was like, "Whoa.
" I think this is very unhealthy for my body.
Bang, bang, bang Been a hell of a ride But I'm thinking it's time to go Six, seven! I get up, I get down Damn it! When you start going full-out, you start seeing the flaws where something is not looking as good as you thought it would.
Y'all are a little off.
You're sticking your butt out when she tries to pop you off.
Just because you keep a girl in the air does not mean it looks good.
Right? Seven, eight, one! Get that chest up! They want everything to be so perfect all the time.
I'm way too young To lie here forever I'm way too old to try So whatever, come hang Let's go out with a bang Bang, bang, bang - Let's get on the pyramid.
- Oh my You honestly don't have a second to catch your breath.
That's why we put all of these reps in, to train our endurance.
Get it together.
I'm just saying, like, tap in or tap out.
So put your best face on everybody It's definitely a pressure cooker.
Let's go out with You didn't feel a crack.
Did you? - No.
- No? No.
- Okay, I'm good.
- Oh.
- Bang, bang, bang - Here we go So put your best face Yes! Pretend you know this song Everybody, come hang Let's go out with a bang Bang, bang, bang I'm way too young Every coach is gonna be nervous.
This is the final stretch.
But we teach them not to be afraid of anybody.
And if you're not afraid of anything or anybody, you can go out and be the best version of yourself.
Bang, bang, bang Here we go, bang, bang Five, six, seven, eight, one.
Whoo! What was that? Where we're at now, I don't think we could ask for better, because we just hit back-to-back zeros at practice, and we're starting to really get that energy of coming together as one.
Three, two, one, go! Everybody breathe deep.
Last year at this time, we didn't have a solid pyramid going, certain things Monica still didn't like, but this year, I just feel like we're really, really prepared.
If they had to hit a zero, I feel like they could do it.
I would say, out of my years that I've been on Navarro, this is this is the year.
We have so much talent this year.
I know that we'll come to Daytona and just shock everyone, all of the amazing things that we've been working on.
Our routine is sickening, like, so good I could literally cry about it.
I'm not going to, but I could.
- Come on! - No dogs.
For me, the feeling, like, to win Daytona, like, I can't even describe, like, it's gonna be good.
Like, I'm so excited.
Hi there Franklin underwater Because it is so many of our last years, it's gonna be special because it's gonna be the last time that we get to take the mat together.
Franklin underwater As long as they stay focused they will win.
There's nothing that can stop them.
Tonight, more than 1,300 people sickened in the US.
At least 39 have died in this country.
A ban on crowds of 500 or more, Broadway dark, concert halls and museums set to close - Vontae? - Yes, ma'am.
Hey.
It's Monica and Andy.
I have you on speakerphone.
Hi, Vontae.
So, um how are things going over there for y'all? Honestly, we don't know what the NCA is gonna do yet, so We're still practicing just just in case.
I've heard rumors that they'll let everybody know soon.
The uncertainty is kinda crazy.
It's not a good feeling.
They need to take care of this ASAP, but I'm afraid they're gonna quarantine us.
I'm not trying to be quarantined.
I'm always an optimist with anything.
We can be losing the football game by 60 points and I still think there's a way to come back.
If something happens to me, that's never the end.
That happened, so what are we gonna do next to either fix it or to move forward, or go to Plan B or whatever.
I just can't imagine everything's just done, and that there's not something we can do.
Something.
Now with more on how the coronavirus is impacting the sports world.
The NCAA canceling the men's and women's college basketball tournaments And more than 10,000 school closures nationwide.
Colleges and universities also canceling classes.
All remaining winter and spring championships, everything canceled, as the sports world continues to react to the news of coronavirus It feels so unfinished.
It's the only time we compete, so If we don't have it, then it was all for nothing.
It was definitely heartbreaking.
There was nothing we could do to be able to get them the opportunity to compete.
Everybody is getting along.
Everything is working the way it's supposed to be, and it's like, "Well, we're just gonna shut it down on you guys.
I'm sorry.
" Like, what? I was so ready and it was something that we worked so hard for.
We just got it ripped right out of our hands.
It was just like, "Well, hell, am I ever supposed to win?" Like "Is it ever a chance for me to win with Trinity Valley?" Really all my hopes and dreams really of just coming to this program in the first place, it was gone.
We will never forget all of our friendships, all of the full-outs, everything since the beginning of the year, and no virus or anything can ever take that away from us.
We cried for the whole entire night.
I didn't really even sleep at all.
And then went to practice, turned in my uniforms, and that was it.
That was the end of my cheerleading career.
I feel like nothing ever in this world is safe.
Anything can be gone in the blink of an eye because you literally never know what could happen.
And I'm like falling water Set me free You were like falling water Coming down on me I never loved you fully In the way I could I fought the current Running just the way you would And now I'm In the creek I never gave you everything I wish I could I should've seen it coming From where you stood But now I'm In the creek In the creek And it's getting harder And now I'm standing in the creek You were like falling water
Well, I'm excited for you to see the routine.
It's really good.
Girl, I cannot wait.
I've heard about it.
I'm actually not even entirely sure who's on mat.
I'm not a flyer.
I heard about that.
When I was at CA, someone's like, "Yeah, like, it's not good.
" - Well, it's good, it just - No.
it wasn't good.
- I was not doing good.
I did struggle.
- You struggled? I was really heartbroken at first because that's what I came here that's what I wanted to do.
I set, like, such a high standard for myself when they made that routine because I was literally center for the whole thing.
- So, you moved since then.
- Yeah.
Yeah.
I'm I was center for, like I'm still center for the toe full, but I was center for - Toe full? - Yeah.
Finally they put a female toe full in.
They put me, Kassidy, and Lexi's in.
You were always the person that, like, got on us about, like, the little things.
- I know.
- And now we don't have that.
What I thought originally when I left, I was gonna be able to help from afar, be like a satellite, "Yeah, no, fix this, fix this" But ever since I left, I felt like either me, myself or a lot of other people detach themselves so much.
And that's why I'm, like, moving away from it.
I left the program because I messed up in the first semester.
There was a homecoming party which involved drinking with a lot of alumni over.
However, there were athletes that were currently on the team that were at the house.
I should've done better to, like, keep them away, but at the end of the day, they were at my house with alcohol, and I didn't control the situation the way I should have.
And now I'm paying the consequences.
I try to, like, watch from afar.
Like, that's why I don't even talk to anybody anymore.
Like, when I see y'all in the gym, I say hi and I'm like, "Hey!" And it's, like, try to, like, walk away from y'all, or try to, like, not linger around y'all too much, because then I start feeling sad again that I can't be there for y'all.
I feel like I've been so lost lately since I've left the program.
Monica mentored me while I was here, so I don't have that, like, stability anymore.
It's hard when something in your life fills such a huge gap in your heart, and it fills you up, it makes you feel whole.
And when you leave that thing, it's hard to feel whole.
And, honestly, I've been having a hard time feeling grounded.
Kapena is one of my favorite people.
But if you want to have a coaching role, whether it be volunteer or whatever, you do have to set higher standards for yourself.
It's tough.
I mean, sometimes you get really attached to these kids.
But as much as I want to give them a second chance, if you don't uphold the rules, then there why have the rules? You're around these individuals so much they become your brothers, Monica becomes your mother.
People with complications or have grown up missing something with their parental figure or their mother figure, and when you come to Navarro, Monica fills that that void.
When you leave, that void is still there.
And that's what keeps bringing everyone back.
And although it was like hell, it was so hard on our bodies, on our minds, you know, I would go and do it all over again.
The athletes that are here don't wanna leave, and they come back so much because of that family atmosphere we have.
In cheer, you have to depend on everybody around you.
Everybody must do their job to make the routine perfect.
For me it's gonna come hard on you if you're not doing your job.
You spend two years of your life here trying to get out.
Trying to get out of Corsicana, get out of the program and move on.
Then you spend the rest of your life wishing you could have those two years back.
Who's eating pancakes? How many pancakes am I making? I'll have one if there's one to give.
There's plenty.
I'm just wondering how many I should make.
I'm determined to finish my pancake.
I'm slowing down.
I watched that video you did.
Y'all looked good.
- You feel good about it? - Yeah.
We've been going full-out, so we can tweak it, and fix it, and fix formations When do you get new uniforms? - Oh my God.
You haven't seen them? - No.
Let me see.
Made me nervous because it's going back to white.
I don't know when it Shush! No, no, no.
It is a black uniform with a little bit of white right here.
No, I like it.
It is white.
But I like it.
Why are you offended by the white? Because the last time we wore all white, white pants, white uniform, we lost.
- All white.
- The both times.
She said, "A little bit of white.
" I was not Yeah, I was like, "Okay.
" - "A little bit of white.
" - I like those a lot.
- I don't understand.
- Those will look good on the mat.
There's a bit of gray on your sweatshirt.
Y'all are funny.
Yay.
Make sure my hands are clean.
I want the girls to try these on and we need to probably tumble in them.
More than a bad sign Been down The last time we wore white, we lost, so we don't do that anymore.
Apparently, every year there's white, they lose.
So every single person is complaining.
Good! If you don't want to be on mat, you don't have to wear it.
You know I won't have no luck at all White is not our type of uniform that we like to wear.
It has not brought us a lot of success in the past.
I remember when Monica told me that she wanted to wear white, and I was like "Ooh.
" I was like, "Are you sure?" And she's like, "Oh, yeah.
I feel confident.
" "You sure you want to wear white in finals?" She's like, "Oh, yeah.
We can do it.
" - Stop.
It's not my fault.
- I was like No, and I'm not saying I'm not I'm not blaming you.
We don't practice all year to for a white uniform to make us mess up.
- But maybe that's - But now look at what happened! It's a black uniform with a little bit of white.
Black and red sleeve, black top here a little bit of white.
It's fine.
All right.
I was like, "I'll I'll have your back on it no matter what.
" Because that I'll always have her back.
But now you know it's not a white uniform.
It it just has white on it.
So, it's not a white uniform.
We don't say it is, and we don't consider it as one.
One for real, baby I won't have no luck Take off my arms first.
I like the black one.
It fits way better.
It's easier to, like, do stuff in.
Like, this one's too hard.
Like, you can't even move it.
But I don't think a uniform is gonna change if we win or not, honestly.
If we just hit, then we'll win.
You need to fight whoever made those uniforms.
- 'Cause why? 'Cause why? - Huh? Wait, what? - What did you say? - Nothing.
'Cause you you're moving too quick.
You're leaning in I'm in one of those moods.
Not enough sleep.
- Look at you.
Look how beautiful you - What did you say? I said you need to fight somebody who made that uniform.
- Oh.
Okay.
- No, no.
Not like that.
Oh.
You made that uniform? Okay.
Let's talk.
Let's let's do something.
You gotta put some white in there, because it look like two different uniforms.
We had we did.
That was in the proto.
When we got it, everybody said red looked better.
They lied.
That's right.
I forgot.
You got all the answers.
- No.
Well, I got the right one.
- I got you.
This one just one time.
Everybody always is like, "Monica" But instead of telling you the truth, that it the white would've looked Why why would it matter if we Girl, I'll wear red, green, orange, yellow, and pink.
I don't care.
I'll never be scared of no uniform.
A uniform ain't gonna stop you from whatever you need to go do.
Everybody be doing all these superstitions.
Girl, no.
Whoever made this uniform needs to go back to the drawing board, 'cause it doesn't look good.
You wanna bounce around pyramid ideas? What did we decide? The back handspring full ups, with the hand in the middle.
The merry-go-round to inversion, pop through, but not spin over.
Yes.
And then ending with the the traveling cartwheels.
Mm-hmm.
And then a rewind in the center or something in the center, or are we going to try to do the four people? Last couple years, I came up with the pyramid.
This year, it's a little different because Franklin's back.
And he likes to do different types of pyramids that nobody's ever seen.
Right.
Cat and Caylee will do the traveling cartwheel.
And then we will rotate them, put Cat on the outside.
We'll have Cat This year with the pyramid, if we do the skills that we have now, it should score pretty high.
- And so when we turn it right.
- This way.
But if it's not hitting, we're switching it up.
If we do the four-person structure at the end, or the the two shoulder bases, the one-one-two's The last couple years, I've just been that bold guy that's just like, "Oh.
They'll get it.
" Not this year, you know.
This year, they're gonna be 100% confident even if we were to make a change.
You know, it's a lot of pressure when you're not 100% confident in your skills.
Your brain now is probably screaming, telling you you can't do this.
Every part of it.
Push it out.
Prove yourself wrong right now.
Prove me wrong right now.
Prove to everybody in the world that you can do this the first try, and every time afterwards.
Show yourself, show this team, show the ones around you all you need is the people out here.
- All right? Talk about it.
- Yes, sir.
Okay.
I definitely wanna say that we've already done this routine.
Okay? And just because the word "full-out" is in front of it or is with it, it's not it's not it's not a full-out.
Okay? It's a routine with all skills.
Think of it that way.
And just be cool, calm, collected, and take one section at a time.
Everyone do your job, worry about your own job, and let everyone else do their own job, and the whole picture of it all will come together.
Oh, man.
This is our our tape ball.
We used to bring that out right before full-outs and we take it everywhere with us.
It started back back in when they first won the first championship back in 1989.
When we win, we retire it, and we start a new one the next year.
If you don't win, you continue with the one that you had the previous year and continue to tape.
When I first cheered at Trinity Valley, the tape ball became a tradition.
You know, if you wanna get into symbolism, there's all the blood, sweat, and tears that we put into those routines.
W-when you look at the size of the current tape ball, do you feel pressure? No.
No, because I've seen it bigger.
I've had to carry it when it was bigger.
No, I It's only been two years.
But let's keep it only at two years.
Let's retire it this year.
In second place, let's hear it for Trinity Valley Community College! In second place, Trinity Valley Community College! When I started at Trinity Valley, we weren't just trying to beat the team Navarro.
We were trying to beat the idea of Navarro.
And our national champions with a 97.
45 from Corsicana, Texas, Navarro College! Monica is so good at what she does.
It's hard to compete against her because of the the machine that she has built.
And it took several years of trying this and that before we even got to be up on the same level as them.
In second place with a 97.
15, Trinity Valley Community College! The pressure I put on myself to be competitive had become such a huge part of my life that it changed the person that I was.
Our national champions with a 98.
60, Navarro College! I became a person that would get very agitated very fast, and so those same impatient things were happening in my day-to-day life, and I did not like that, so I left.
It's Vontae's program now.
Monica already has everything down to a science at this point.
She has the full buy-in of all of her athletes because they know the tradition that she's built.
Is there pressure on Vontae being the coach at TVCC? Oh, hell yes.
No question about it.
Vontae knew what he was getting into, and he's one of those people that just lives for that stuff.
He's just gotta get that first monkey off his back and win that first championship, and then the pressure will go away.
From Athens, Texas Trinity Valley Community College! We're a family! Do it for each other! Do it for the people standing next to you! Let's go, yo! Go, go, go.
Hey, let's go! Come on! Hold, change, hold, change! - What is this? - Let's go.
Oh, shit! Sorry.
It's first full-out.
Doesn't matter that much.
We're not on bandshell.
What, what, what's going on? When do we just get to stop? We don't! That's a choice to be lazy, not finish.
That's a waste of being on this mat! When you take a break, it makes me want to put you off the mat.
That's what it makes me wanna do, because that shows me you ain't got no fight.
And I ain't putting nobody on the mat that don't have a fight.
Y'all know me, I'm I'm straightforward.
I'm not gonna lie.
I'mma tell you how I feel.
Today wasn't your best.
And it wasn't your best because you didn't work together.
If I yell at you, understand that I love you.
Understand our goals.
Understand we're trying to help you guys.
Most of you guys, y'all tend to forget that I went through everything that you guys are going through, but I didn't win.
I didn't win.
Maybe I should have wanted him to be a bit harder on us.
Maybe I should have asked him to push us a little bit more.
Because I wasn't dying as I left Trinity Valley.
I was dying to come back, wishing that I could push a little bit more for the people that I had to leave behind.
You don't wanna get on the bus and wonder why you lost.
When I was at Trinity Valley, I didn't get the chance to win.
My last year at Trinity Valley, I'm one of the best stunters on the team at the time.
And I was the alpha and I was center stunt.
Then we get to Daytona, and I dropped that stunt.
That stunt came down and we didn't win that year.
You know, I was so prideful.
I yelled at the girl and didn't do my job as a teammate.
And it Obviously, that was a big lesson for me to learn, but I'm gonna always think about that.
You know? So, don't be upset.
Y'all know how I am.
I say what I have to say, I let it go.
You gotta let it go too.
If you start holding on to things for too long, it festers up and then becomes some weight on your shoulder you need to take off, and it's hard to take off because you put so many pounds on it.
You gotta clear your mind from it.
Make it better or let it go.
Let's break it out.
As a coach, I'm gonna always tell you the truth even if you don't wanna hear it.
Because I don't want them to leave Trinity Valley without having a ring on their finger or saying that they're National Champion.
One, two, three.
National champs.
Finish the fight on three.
One, two, three, hearts! CA! You're exhausted, I know, but I expect you to trust me.
I know when you shouldn't be doing another routine.
I've sat you out when I know you shouldn't.
When you got here and I saw you crying, I look at your legs, I look at how your head's moving.
I'm watching to make sure you don't get tunnel vision.
You didn't have those.
You had tired, you had dread, you had wanting to just be done in your eyes.
I needed you to push through that.
That's the worst thing you can have.
I'm not mad at you, Jeron.
You know that.
I yelled at you because you needed to be yelled at.
You needed you needed that.
You needed to understand that.
As much as you might think that you can't do it, I trust that you can do it.
I know you.
I know you can be frustrated.
It's okay.
Everybody blows up.
We've all had moments.
But I don't know.
As much as you might not wanna be that person, you are that person.
But when you can't be it, don't be the opposite of it.
Jada feeds off you, without a doubt.
I think she looks up to you the most out of everybody on this team.
All right? So, I'm not mad.
You know how I am.
I say what I have to say, I let it go, but you got the message.
- Yes, sir.
- All right.
My head hurts so bad.
- From what? - She has a concussion.
- There's no way she doesn't.
- Yeah.
Little bitch, you just got your spot on mat, so don't say That's why it's on the DL.
Her head was hurting so bad she sat in the car and just cried.
- Was your first full-out hard? - No.
I almost forgot your name when I was cheering for you.
- Thanks.
- So, I was like, "Come on, Gill!" That makes me feel so special.
I pretty much cried through the entire thing, so But, yes, every time I hit my hips, I'm like, mouth open.
Did you perform in the routine? Yes, because I wasn't in the stunt.
It all just hit me so hard, getting taken out of the air, feeling like I wasn't good enough to be a flyer.
And I've never felt like I was in the position that I wasn't good enough for something.
I'm sorry, Maddy, but I'm glad I don't have to lift you up in that pyramid anymore.
Gill, I'm so glad too.
In the end of the day, if I'm not the best in the stunt, I'm not the best in the stunt.
I'm not gonna sit here and make a pity party for myself.
I want what's best for the team.
And at first, I did make a pity party for myself, but I needed to, like, let it out for a sec, and then I was fine the next day.
Or maybe not the next day, maybe the day after that, but now I've accepted it, and this routine's starting to come together, so I'm not gonna like, I trust their judgement.
I get what they're saying.
It was more like, "Why couldn't you do your job?" I was not trying to hit my head off your kneecaps.
I was not trying to hit my head on your head.
Okay, y'all.
Listen! Y'all, look at me and be quiet.
Eyes up here.
I don't wanna practice till ten o'clock.
Right now, if you're not in the pyramid and you can't stop yourself from talking to the person next to you, spread out.
Like, literally, there's no reason for us to discuss something, and y'all are having 5,000 side conversations.
If it's not about the pyramid, just don't talk.
Because at this rate, we'll be here till midnight, and then I'm gonna be really pissy tomorrow at practice.
'Cause I'm gonna stay here as long as I need to to get these reps done.
So if that's one hour, I'm going home.
If it's five hours, we're still here.
So, talk all you want if that's how long you wanna be here.
I was so good this time last year.
You also didn't have a first semester this year.
- Yeah.
- To, like, get the tumbling reps in.
It took some getting used to.
This is where it gets awkward.
It'll all be easier after Hell Week.
Hopefully.
Get up in the air.
Ready? And just stay there.
Like, quit moving around the floor.
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight! One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight! One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight! One, two - Let's go! - Five! One, two, three, four, five One, two, three! Who throws who throws Morgan over, you and who? - Dillon.
- Dillon.
Okay.
I've said this multiple times now We talked about how good our throw was and I wasn't throwing hard.
It wasn't good.
So what I'm saying is, I've said it multiple times, like, it's always lower than theirs.
Like, can y'all, like, fix it? - Are you throwing? - Monica, I always throw.
That's all you got? Okay, Monica.
Let's just get set and let's do it again, then.
Are you having an attitude? Like, it's always, "La'Darius, are you doing this?" - "La'Darius, are you doing that?" - Oh.
I'm sorry.
You don't say anything to anybody else, then everybody blames me.
- It's Morgan's fault.
- I didn't say It's your fault, Morgan, 'cause you didn't jump far enough.
Do it again.
Ready.
I don't know who to blame, the people involved in it.
But you always got my name, always.
Okay.
Come Come.
Do that again.
No.
'Cause you That's so disrespectful, and I'm over it.
You know what's disrespectful? The way you're talking to me now.
So disrespectful.
I'm not the only person in that pyramid.
Then I'll put someone else in that spot.
No.
It's not that.
He just needs to be better.
Then the whole team needs to be better according to La'Darius.
Listen.
Let me tell you something.
Last year, it was always Sherb's fault.
Then it was Ally's fault you got switched.
- I never blamed Sherb.
- Now it's Maddy's fault.
I'm not doing his spot for him.
If he's not strong enough to do it, then that's his problem.
Every time we're in practice, all you do is say nobody's good enough.
Nobody can match your energy.
Nobody can match your talent.
It's not about my energy.
It's effort.
The fact that I'm blamed for something I didn't do You're involved in the stunt.
You want me to blame just Dillon? Did y'all not come straight to La'Darius? If you don't wanna be on the team 'cause I'm not the right coach, then you don't have to be here.
I don't know what else to do.
In the past, everybody has seen that I've had an attitude problem, which I currently am still working on.
It's always something you're involved in, the other person's not giving 100%, which is not true.
And that there that's a pattern, and that should tell you something.
When I'm irritated and I'm mad, I go for your jugular.
That's how I've always been.
And I've been learning how to change that.
People are scared to talk to you because you come across as like, it's Well, it's You don't have any leeway for error.
- Mm-hmm.
- La'Darius was very young.
He was only 18 when he came to Navarro, and this was one of the few places he's ever felt like he had structure in his life.
He had consequences, he had expectations, he had people that believed in him.
That is good for him, and he thrives on this environment of structure, being with people that are gonna have your back, that are gonna love you no matter what.
But if you've always been in survival mode, it's just you against the world.
That can be scary for someone that's trying to work with you.
Me and Monica are like mom and son.
Like, I love her.
But with Monica, when she loves you, she's going to single you out and call you out because she expects more out of you.
I try to bend over backwards to give you everything in the world, and then you think that I'm always accusing you of being the one at fault.
I have seen La'Darius grow so much since his first semester at Navarro.
But sometimes the La'Darius that I got to know when he first got here comes back.
All the criticism, I take that so much deeper.
I don't feel like I criticize you often.
Why do you think I don't have your back? Because I freaking love you and I'm trying so hard.
I'm giving everything.
It's like I'm just not good enough.
I just can't do everything for everybody.
- And you shouldn't.
- But that's the thing.
I've been doing it for so long it's expected.
- No.
- And I'm just It's hard.
- Come here.
- It's hard.
I worry about La'Darius all the time.
He definitely has highs and lows, and when he's at one of his highs, he's, you know, really happy and in a really good place, but, you know, it can go quite the opposite pretty quickly.
When you feel lost and you feel lonely in the world, you wanna go to where you feel, you know, a part of something.
I'm changing, and I am working on it.
- You know what I'm gonna do next time? - What? I'm gonna walk outside, drink some coconut water, I'm gonna walk back in, and then I'm gonna go full-out again.
Okay? You're gonna see a new me.
Bet on it.
I'm telling you.
Just wait.
Just you wait.
I got it.
Pyramid! Never mind! So this is where I-I grew up.
Right here.
This was before everything changed.
I lived with my mom and we lived in this house at the very end, and this is where I literally went through the worst part of my life, honestly.
Um, I was nine.
And one day I remember sitting on the couch, and I was just chilling with my siblings.
We were all watching TV.
We heard a knock on the door.
My mom got up and I seen her put on some shorts.
You know how girls always put on their boyfriend's shorts and stuff.
That's what she always do.
Get up, put 'em on, walk around the house.
And all I know is, when she went out the door, she never came back in.
We come out, and there's cops all right here.
She had drugs.
Like, she had drugs in her pocket.
That's what she went to jail for.
For the drugs that he had.
I didn't even know what the cops were, didn't know what they was doing.
All I see was red and blue and they were putting her away.
At that moment, that's when I learned what that was.
And we were getting evicted at the same time.
So it was really stressful because they were moving things out.
Honestly, I was mad.
I was mad because I just At first, I thought she was leaving us.
It was dark, I'm sitting there like, "When will somebody come get us?" "Where are the people that are supposed to be watching us?" So, what I've been through, my skin is a little bit tougher on the outside.
Like, I have to go make my own life.
God.
- Can you see it? - Fore! It went right? I think it's gone.
I think I'm across the street.
Because I pulled right in the back and I hit a tree.
Franklin's the most caring person I know.
He was my coach.
He was the person I looked up to.
That's not it.
He was one of the first cheer coaches that kinda got to me.
Oh, man.
Hit your ball on the fairway.
You don't have to walk in a swamp.
An excellent golfing partner.
He's still like my coach.
He's gonna hype me up.
He's gonna make me feel like, you know, I'm doing good even though I'm doing terrible.
- It sounded great.
- It did, but I don't know where it went.
If I make it on the green, he's like, "Vontae, that was such a good shot.
" That was a good putt.
I'll have a good drive every now and then and he'll make me feel good about it.
But at a certain point, I'm like, He's just He's not telling me how bad I really am.
When I started at Trinity Valley, Vontae was the best.
He was the best guy to have on the team.
In the two years that I coached him, he had one bad day.
One bad day at practice.
I had to pull him out and say, "Hey, man.
" "You can go home.
You've never had a bad day, but you're having one.
" "We can't have it.
You're too big of a leader.
" He goes, "No.
I'll fix it.
" I said, "Okay.
" He went back to practice, and everything was fine.
I did cheer for a little bit before I came here.
But to be an actual cheerleader where you had to go on the sidelines and cheer for guys, you know, that wasn't something I was used to at all.
I'd never done it before.
I'd just done the competitive side and All Star.
And I know I'm good enough to play football here, and to be around those guys, you know, like, and cheering for them it was kind of different.
You don't see yourself on the sidelines cheering for people at games when you've been on the other side, so it was it was a struggle for me.
I was very closed off.
But the team had started to come together with some of the sophomores.
I saw the love that they had between each other.
I saw the connection that they built and of course I wanted that.
So, that started to show me that I can trust what they were doing.
I can trust the process that was happening here.
It was different, but that group of people made it easy.
Franklin showed that he cared, that he was gonna always be there.
So, for me, you know, that meant a lot because that means I could I could trust him and he's gonna always have your back.
I think that's why I'm still here.
You try to make sure that the individuals that are on the team are functioning well as people, and friends, and a family, and then also as an athlete, but usually not athlete first.
All right, uh, listen up.
Lightning's gonna do his performance that he was gonna do at the talent show.
So, he wanted to be able to show it to somebody.
There's just there's too much that goes into to being on a program like this to only focus on the athleticism side of it.
I think those traditions come with the trust and building trust with the people around the mat with you.
I was shook, but I liked that.
Good job.
Why am I so funny? living in that nursing home next.
And could March Madness fade away over fears of the coronavirus? That's, like, the genetic makeup of the coronavirus, and then breaking it down in a video game.
That's kinda dope.
It's already canceling Worlds They're not canceling Worlds, they're keeping an eye on it.
- I'm going to Worlds.
- I'm flying.
I don't care.
My tickets are booked.
I'm going.
They're not gonna cancel Worlds over it.
The number of people that have been diagnosed with coronavirus here is extremely minimal.
They've all been put in quarantine, so the chances of it spreading further is not I don't think it's Something's happening that we don't know, and this is our distraction.
Okay.
We're not gonna get into conspiracy theories.
- This is our distraction.
- No.
If they cancel it, we build our own bandshell and Daytona's here.
I'm not worried.
I'm literally not worried.
I'm literally chilling.
Hi! Yes, Swooshcats.
- I love Swooshcats.
- How are you? - I'm tired.
- Sleepy? Everyone seems kind of tired today.
So we took four counts out of the stunt.
Where'd you get four? Girl, I don't know.
We did.
We got four counts out of stunt.
And then we got And then we we tightened up the opening and the music.
It's so good.
- That scream in the beginning.
- So good.
Like, I'm waiting for something bad to happen.
Right.
Every year when I'm like, "Oh.
Things are going good," the next day it's tragedy or something.
- Right.
You cursed it.
- Redoing the whole routine.
So I'm like My Daytona is these next couple days.
I wanna win.
I think we're all very competitive.
And so I think Trinity Valley will push us all to be better.
We gotta get this transition in the pyramid right because you know our friends down the road will have a decent routine composition.
Brad! Let's go! What's up, man? How you wanna start it off? Um, let's go to that pyramid for a second.
Hey, remember one thing in this pyramid, please.
Actually, two things.
Remember to count and take your time.
That's three things, actually.
And remember, we are stronger than the coronavirus.
It's not gonna get us down.
All right? Let's go, y'all.
Seven, one.
Three, four, five, six, seven.
You're good.
Give him a latte.
Choreography is one of the most important things in a routine.
Navarro's kinda mastered that performance quality.
I think Trinity Valley has now getting that.
Good, Maggie.
A routine should be like a boiling pot when performing.
And it should just be like When you get to that dance, the pot should just boil over because it's on fire.
And if you don't practice that, it's never gonna look as good as another team that's doing that.
You've gotta be on fire.
Seven, eight, one, two, three, four, go, five, seven, dip, one It's completely different, for the best, I think.
Way, way faster than it has been in our past years.
They want something different, so we'll give them different.
Three, five, move it, seven, go, one, up It's different to be going against each other.
Our styles are kind of the same.
We're gonna push the entertainment value of the routine a little more this year, which is easy to do because the kids are so talented this year.
Last year, their 2019 routine was way faster than 2018's routine.
- And then this one's twice as fast.
- This one just pops so much.
It's not as, like, cutesy-pootsy as, like, Brad would have made it.
No.
It's, like, angry.
It's like an angry - It is angry.
- It's like a rabid dog.
I think that there can be too much.
And I think there has to be that fine line between being theatrical and being over the top.
And if you're over the top, it does distract from the skills.
And four, five, and six, shake it drop.
Get down like a dog, girl.
I don't wanna say it's offensive.
It's just kind of a put-off.
You don't only wanna watch that because then you're watching that person, you're not watching all the other things going on.
It's so good.
Y'all do it so good.
I love it.
Both schools push each other to be the best that they can be, which, in my eyes, is all that you can ask for out of a cheerleading competition.
Let's go.
Go up! Come on! It's hard.
It's, like, I'm telling you.
Literally, they're wet.
I don't think you're gonna get the results you want.
So what do y'all need? Like, five minutes? I wipe off before every section, I still slide all over them.
No.
I'm saying, like, so what do we need? Five minutes? Ten? I don't know.
Monica, that floor's hot.
Yeah.
Wait till you get to Daytona.
I don't think the AC is on at all.
I'm gonna be completely honest.
It's literally Satan's asshole in there.
I'm prepared to slip through my baskets.
I'm ready to hit the ground.
To be honest, I want a car just to run straight right here and hit me.
- One minute.
- I guarantee I can't do it again.
You did great.
Cool off.
There's no way we're doing something else.
We got lots to work on.
- So is this your hideout? - Yes.
I'm quitting.
- You ready to do more pyramids? - I'm gonna snap.
It just keeps coming.
I didn't even know I could sweat this much.
I'll be honest.
I'm done.
I'm down for the count.
It's over for me.
La'Darius, can you spread some positive energy? We got this.
I literally just Ugh.
Amazing grace How sweet the sound - What y'all want me to sing? - Nothing! Somebody give me an instrumental or something.
What do you want? No.
Give me some rap.
Give me a rap instrumental.
If you're gonna really do it, you gotta do it right.
Uh-oh.
Here it comes.
Hey.
I'm coming back again This time I'm gonna win First two then a third one for the win These girls are mad at me 'Cause you know I'm the queen I'm 'bout to show that, y'all I'm headed for 15 Don't be playing, girl, I am in the world You better watch out I'm about to hit a twirl All these mans want it And your girls get it You better watch out 'Cause you know that I am still with it Yes, ma'am, right here Everybody know I'm the baddest queer Everybody wanna be a queen But none of these girls Can add up the breeze Hey.
- All right.
Let's go! Pyramid! - One more song! - No! - One more! One more! One more song! One more song! - Hey.
- One more song! One more song! Hey! One more song! Hey! One more song! Hey! No music! - No music! - Hey, hey! No music! No music! Hey, hey.
Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Girl, bye, don't talk about me Every time you watching me Girl, I am the queen All right.
Hey.
Um Hey.
Let's focus and do this right, for real.
Everyone has a little voice in their head that tells them, "You can't.
" But tell that voice, "Eff you, I can.
" It's Hell Week, y'all.
This is the week that we put all of our effort into.
God brought you this far for a reason.
Don't give up on yourself.
I want you guys to keep pushing and keep working hard.
This is not the end.
This is just the beginning.
- This is my moment.
- This is my moment.
- I own this floor.
- I own this floor.
- I will hit.
- I will hit.
- I am a champion.
- I am a champion.
Hell Week is so hard, but the routine is so good.
It's absolutely insane.
Now is where we just start Watch your ground, Jerry.
making it perfect.
My goal is to go full-out twice every day.
Better push as hard as you can.
What's the goal this year for full-outs? Fifty-one.
We're going for 15 National Championships, and we're gonna go for 51.
So put your best face on everybody Pretend you know this song Everybody come hang Let's go out with a bang Bang, bang, bang We have practice twice a day for a full week.
Literally pushing our physical limits past what they are.
There is a difference between being in great shape and being in routine shape.
If you're not in routine shape, it's not the right shape.
Honestly, this is probably the best and hardest routine we've ever had.
It's more flashy.
We started going full-out, and I was like, "Whoa.
" I think this is very unhealthy for my body.
Bang, bang, bang Been a hell of a ride But I'm thinking it's time to go Six, seven! I get up, I get down Damn it! When you start going full-out, you start seeing the flaws where something is not looking as good as you thought it would.
Y'all are a little off.
You're sticking your butt out when she tries to pop you off.
Just because you keep a girl in the air does not mean it looks good.
Right? Seven, eight, one! Get that chest up! They want everything to be so perfect all the time.
I'm way too young To lie here forever I'm way too old to try So whatever, come hang Let's go out with a bang Bang, bang, bang - Let's get on the pyramid.
- Oh my You honestly don't have a second to catch your breath.
That's why we put all of these reps in, to train our endurance.
Get it together.
I'm just saying, like, tap in or tap out.
So put your best face on everybody It's definitely a pressure cooker.
Let's go out with You didn't feel a crack.
Did you? - No.
- No? No.
- Okay, I'm good.
- Oh.
- Bang, bang, bang - Here we go So put your best face Yes! Pretend you know this song Everybody, come hang Let's go out with a bang Bang, bang, bang I'm way too young Every coach is gonna be nervous.
This is the final stretch.
But we teach them not to be afraid of anybody.
And if you're not afraid of anything or anybody, you can go out and be the best version of yourself.
Bang, bang, bang Here we go, bang, bang Five, six, seven, eight, one.
Whoo! What was that? Where we're at now, I don't think we could ask for better, because we just hit back-to-back zeros at practice, and we're starting to really get that energy of coming together as one.
Three, two, one, go! Everybody breathe deep.
Last year at this time, we didn't have a solid pyramid going, certain things Monica still didn't like, but this year, I just feel like we're really, really prepared.
If they had to hit a zero, I feel like they could do it.
I would say, out of my years that I've been on Navarro, this is this is the year.
We have so much talent this year.
I know that we'll come to Daytona and just shock everyone, all of the amazing things that we've been working on.
Our routine is sickening, like, so good I could literally cry about it.
I'm not going to, but I could.
- Come on! - No dogs.
For me, the feeling, like, to win Daytona, like, I can't even describe, like, it's gonna be good.
Like, I'm so excited.
Hi there Franklin underwater Because it is so many of our last years, it's gonna be special because it's gonna be the last time that we get to take the mat together.
Franklin underwater As long as they stay focused they will win.
There's nothing that can stop them.
Tonight, more than 1,300 people sickened in the US.
At least 39 have died in this country.
A ban on crowds of 500 or more, Broadway dark, concert halls and museums set to close - Vontae? - Yes, ma'am.
Hey.
It's Monica and Andy.
I have you on speakerphone.
Hi, Vontae.
So, um how are things going over there for y'all? Honestly, we don't know what the NCA is gonna do yet, so We're still practicing just just in case.
I've heard rumors that they'll let everybody know soon.
The uncertainty is kinda crazy.
It's not a good feeling.
They need to take care of this ASAP, but I'm afraid they're gonna quarantine us.
I'm not trying to be quarantined.
I'm always an optimist with anything.
We can be losing the football game by 60 points and I still think there's a way to come back.
If something happens to me, that's never the end.
That happened, so what are we gonna do next to either fix it or to move forward, or go to Plan B or whatever.
I just can't imagine everything's just done, and that there's not something we can do.
Something.
Now with more on how the coronavirus is impacting the sports world.
The NCAA canceling the men's and women's college basketball tournaments And more than 10,000 school closures nationwide.
Colleges and universities also canceling classes.
All remaining winter and spring championships, everything canceled, as the sports world continues to react to the news of coronavirus It feels so unfinished.
It's the only time we compete, so If we don't have it, then it was all for nothing.
It was definitely heartbreaking.
There was nothing we could do to be able to get them the opportunity to compete.
Everybody is getting along.
Everything is working the way it's supposed to be, and it's like, "Well, we're just gonna shut it down on you guys.
I'm sorry.
" Like, what? I was so ready and it was something that we worked so hard for.
We just got it ripped right out of our hands.
It was just like, "Well, hell, am I ever supposed to win?" Like "Is it ever a chance for me to win with Trinity Valley?" Really all my hopes and dreams really of just coming to this program in the first place, it was gone.
We will never forget all of our friendships, all of the full-outs, everything since the beginning of the year, and no virus or anything can ever take that away from us.
We cried for the whole entire night.
I didn't really even sleep at all.
And then went to practice, turned in my uniforms, and that was it.
That was the end of my cheerleading career.
I feel like nothing ever in this world is safe.
Anything can be gone in the blink of an eye because you literally never know what could happen.
And I'm like falling water Set me free You were like falling water Coming down on me I never loved you fully In the way I could I fought the current Running just the way you would And now I'm In the creek I never gave you everything I wish I could I should've seen it coming From where you stood But now I'm In the creek In the creek And it's getting harder And now I'm standing in the creek You were like falling water