[deleted]

Why isn’t [American] football called something else, because it has very little to do with actual feet making contact with the ball? Because like cheerleading, the sport has evolved to become more than it used to be historically.

As for academics, I’m only on the 3rd ep, and even I can see that just because the series depicts mostly cheer, and not very much of their academics or career planning, doesn’t mean those things are not important and emphasized. That’s a choice made by the documentary showrunner, not the coach or the college. Ep 3 discusses the importance of academics. We observe cheer athletes receiving certificates of recognition during practice for maintaining a gpa of 3.0 or higher.

I’m not involved in cheer in any capacity nor have I ever been. But I have had three decades of experience working with athletes and athletic teams. My opinions are based on that knowledge.

A number of the cheer athletes admitted in ep 1 that they wouldn’t even be in college if not for cheer. They come from difficult backgrounds and have had very hard-luck lives. The sport provides steucture that they haven’t had before. Their coach holds them accountable for their poor choices, e.g. drug use, cutting classes, etc, Cheer is an opportunity for them to get an education and improve their future prospects. But they’re adults, not high school students; they also have to want it (life after cheer) for themselves. Just like at every post-secondary institution, whether community college, like Navarro, or an elite university, there are students with poor attitudes. (i can already see in ep 3 that La’Darius’s and Lexi’s attitudes are going to lead to trouble. )

Like every single post-secondary athletic program in the entire country, there will be athletes who feel lost, directionless, etc. after their athletic eligibility expires. Basketball, football, baseball, soccer, and so on all produce more athletes experiencing this than cheer does.