“I will debate you up one side and down the other if you talk about my boys. “Yes, I’m religious, and I would say I’m more conservative and I might be a little bit old school with values and stuff like that, but I get angry,” Aldama says in the show.
But Cheer first shook me not because of the intensity with which Navarro’s cheerleaders practice, but because of the tensely conservative environment these athletes-many who are openly gay-find themselves in when they make it onto #NavarroCheer. From the very first scene in Cheer, the athletes show and tell us how taxing the sport can be on their bodies as they fearlessly get tossed high into the air and tumble upside down, hoping not to get hurt. I watched each episode with baited breath.
Just last week, Aldama’s Navarro squad flawlessly performed another dangerous yet snazzy routine (am I the only one still singing, “It’s a dog eat dog world!” because of it?) on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, earning a dreamy $20,000 check from the host to go towards their next season. The new show follows cheerleaders at Navarro College in Corsicana, Texas as they gear up to defend their reign as NCA Junior College Division National Champions under the guidance of their relentless coach, Monica Aldama.įans of the show now recognize the star student athletes on a first-name basis- Jerry Harris, Morgan Simianer, La’Darius Marshall, Lexi Brumback, and Gabi Butler are among the most talked about-and their antics on and off “the mat” have opened up a meme factory. Netflix’s infectious six-part docu-series Cheer has transformed its subjects into certified celebrities within a month of its release. “I want everyone to know that they are loved just how they are and that they should love themselves for who they are,” she tells exclusively.
But even with her surprisingly soft demeanor, she shines as a fierce advocate of LGBTQ+ folks in Corsicana, Texas. In Netflix's Cheer, Aldama is portrayed as the take-no-prisoners coach who will do anything to perfect her team’s routine.A 14-time National Cheerleaders Association Collegiate National Champion, Monica Aldama is the reason Navarro College is known as the best in the cheerleading business.