Episode 1 My Team: The Cheerleaders

Three teams. They all want to win.

But only the team that can throw highest, flip the fastest

and pull off jaw-dropping stunts will take home the prize.

First place goes to...

They'll have to be totally fearless

because the journey ahead could make...

..or break them. Welcome to the world of cheerleading.

People think cheerleading is boring.

-Cheesy, American.

-It's just pom-poms.

-Pom-poms.

-Pom-poms.

-Girly.

-Not a sport.

Well, you're wrong.

Cheerleading is one of the fastest-growing sports in the UK

and one of the toughest.

We are following the ups and downs of three top teams

as they battle it out to be the best.

The cheerleaders will be tested to

their limits and we are with them every step of the way.

In it together are reigning Grand Slam champs Unity Allstars.

-The other teams better watch out.

-Unity are going to smash it.

Smash it.

Hoping to explode onto the cheer scene are Rising Stars.

-Rising Stars are in it to win it.

-Rising Stars are coming for you.

And with their eye on the prize are Ascension Eagles.

Eagles are going to smash it and take the winning trophy home.

-We are fierce and we are ready.

-The other teams better watch their back.

Yeah!

Coming up -

Rising Stars' shoddy stunts bring out coach Kat's tough side...

You don't try, you've got to pay for it.

..gravity gets the better of Lily's Eagles...

Stop, stop, stop. I'm afraid for all of your safety.

..and it's a disaster for Unity Allstars' Becky.

Ow, ow, ow!

ALL: We are Unity Allstars!

Hoping to take on the trophy again this year are current

champions Unity Allstars.

Their teams have dominated the cheer world for years.

Everyone wants to win that big trophy.

Everyone wants to become champions. It's just a really nice feeling.

No-one understands. When you've been with the team for so long

and you win, it's just the best feeling.

I like to pretend that I don't love winning, but I do love winning.

OK, guys, you ready?

Unity's junior division, Pearl, are coached by Tori and Dave.

And last year, the 28-strong team won...

Well, we'll let coach Tori tell you.

They won ICC Southern, grand champions,

Future Cheer Heart Of England, grand champions,

IEC Nationals, grand champions

and Future Cheer National, grand champions. They won everything.

To 15-year-old team captain Lily,

nothing is sweeter than her Unity team-mates.

Cheer is basically like chocolate to me. I love chocolate.

If you ask my friends, I'm always eating chocolate.

I chose cheerleading

because it's a sport where you can connect with people.

Good job, Lily.

We are all like sisters and brothers.

We're just there to cheer and get on and work as a team.

So, guys, listen.

LAUGHTER

Cheerleading definitely makes me feel special.

When you're actually, like, performing and stuff,

you feel, like, as if you're, like, a celebrity or something

cos everyone is watching you.

It's like a big thrill,

like, performing in front of millions of people.

Team Unity is made up of cheerleaders

from all corners of Surrey.

It's where Lily found her best friend Scarlett,

and cheerleading is their life.

Me and Scarlett are best friends at cheer.

We basically go everywhere together.

Lily is a great captain and friend.

She's a massive part of our team. She really pulls us together.

Like, if we didn't have her

on our team, I don't know what we'd do without her.

We just want to be, like, good role models within the cheer world.

Being a cheer captain is a 24/7 job.

Especially when your eight-year-old sister Holly

hopes to follow in your footsteps.

I want to be an amazing cheerleader like Lily.

-Can I show you my stretch?

-Yeah. Sure. Let me help you first.

-OK.

Yay!

This season means more to Lily than ever as she leads Team Unity

for the very first time.

I was really happy that I was picked as captain.

I'm the oldest in the team so I felt like it was my time

to be a leading role.

You really, really want to listen to what she's saying

cos it's just so motivating.

THEY CHANT

I'm basically like another mum to them.

I think Lily will lead us to victory this season.

So, the pressure is on this season for Lily

and the rest of Unity's junior team, Pearl, to continue their success.

OK, guys, listen. You need to be in it.

You need to know this routine inside out.

And right now people are still doing silly things.

Pearl have always been fierce on the floor. Always.

Shall we go again? Let's do it.

They've got just four months to come up with

a two and a half minute competition routine

packed with jumps, stunts and dance.

Becky's group, take this line.

Head coach Tori wants Unity off to a flying start

so she's starting with the stunts.

OK, let's give this a go. Ready?

One, three, five, seven, eight, one.

Bring your arms back down as you clean.

You kind of cleaned like a monkey.

Stunts are the showpiece of any cheer routine

and can mean tonnes of points.

A group of bases on the ground throw or lift

the flyer into the air, allowing them to perform different shapes.

To pull off a great stunt, teamwork is key.

It just feels like you're actually flying.

You're in the air and sometimes you don't feel like you're ever

going to come down.

The stunting is the thing that sets you apart,

really, from the other teams. You know, winning or losing

will often come down to your stunt section.

I'd probably say that stunts were the hardest parts in the routines

cos you have to make sure it looks perfect

so you've got to make sure your flyer feels comfortable with you,

and if they fall, we're, like, most likely not to win.

Five, seven, eight, one.

As you come down, I want you to try these. As you snap, hips...

Hands here. Tight. Hips up and your toes down. Arch. Ready?

The stunts are as tricky and as dangerous as they look,

so don't try them at home.

Unless, of course, you've got a specialist coach to hand.

-I've had an elbow to the face.

-Kneed in the mouth.

-I know I guy who lost some of his teeth.

-Kicked in the head.

-Punched.

You WILL hurt yourself and you WILL fall.

You basically just learn to take it.

Let's start doing some trophy drills, OK? Flyers, focus.

Five, seven, one, three, five, seven, eight, one.

But this year's stunts are harder than ever

and Becky's group just can't keep up.

Becky, darling, you're not even looking up.

Don't look at the floor. Look up.

To be a good flyer, you have to be able to perform so you have to be,

like, quite confident and things, so, like,

you look like you're having fun, I guess, in the air.

I know you want to fly, so prove it by trying and looking up

and having some confidence.

I am worried about the difficulty of our stunts, so I'm unsure if

we're going to get the difficult skills out in time for competition.

Halfway through training, the stunts prove too much for Becky...

Seven, eight, one.

..and it ends in disaster.

She lands badly on her ankle.

What happened? Say it again to me, my love.

Ow, ow, ow!

Just relax it.

It looked really painful, cos she was in tears and I've never seen

Becky in tears before, cos she is quite a strong person.

I just remember coming down and going over on my ankle.

She just slipped and then she rolled her ankle inwards.

It's quite swollen. She was in quite a bit of pain.

Her mum's going to take her to A&E to get checked out, just to

be on the safe side.

OK. OK, we'll wait till you get here then.

Hopefully it's just going to be a sprain.

You'll be OK, won't you, Becks?

When somebody has an accident within the gym,

it basically has an effect on everybody.

Like, especially if they, like, properly hurt themselves.

It kind of gives everyone that sense of fear of some of the dangers

that are in cheerleading.

For the routine that we're creating at the moment,

every athlete is needed, so, unsure at this moment what we're going

to do if Becky's too injured to go on.

It could put the team in jeopardy.

A broken bone for Becky could open the door to Unity's rivals

and leave their championship hopes shattered.

Unity's biggest rivals are plotting their attack on this year's

championships from the heart of East London.

ALL: We are the Ascension Eagles!

Ascension Eagles have always been a winning machine.

I want to win the competition a lot.

The Ascension Eagles are going to smash it this year.

Their teams have represented England in the World Championships

and smashed their competition in the UK and America.

This year, the junior team have a lot of work to do

and only four months to do it.

I want to represent who I am as an Eagle

and I want to represent London and also make my mother really proud.

The Ascension Eagles are coached by Angela and Gareth

and they have only one thing on their minds.

We really want to win everything we enter this year.

It's that prestige that shows that you're better than everybody else.

Why enter if you're not going out to win?

The Eagles are gearing up for the competition ahead

and, like Unity, they're working hard on their stunts.

Flyers can only look great if they have a strong base

and Zach is one of the best in the cheer world.

Hi, my name is Zach and I'm 13 years old and I've been cheerleading

since I was six.

For all of these people that are thinking that cheerleading is

only just for girls, well, you're wrong.

Zach's a really fun character.

He's a good friend. He's always there for you. He is a leader.

He's really encouraging and he always helps people.

Potentially, Zach could be one of the greatest

cheerleaders in the country.

If Zach is back spotting you, I can tell you now,

your stunt won't come down.

He will do whatever he can to keep a stunt in the air.

Cheerleading has changed Zach's life

and no-one's noticed that more than his mum.

That was good. That was good.

'Zach is a show starter.'

He comes alive when he's on stage.

'The first time I saw him perform, I was like, "Whoa."'

Wow.

How does he do it? He makes it look easy.

When you see Zach competing, he's got a smile on his face.

He's loving it. And what more do you want in life...

Yes. Yes.

..than a child doing something that they love?

Ascension Eagles is just like a family to me

so I talk to them about anything. Being an Eagle is something special.

With the support of my team around me, I can be who I want to be.

When we are together, we are strong.

We lift each other up and we can achieve anything.

Zach met best mates Shola and Amanda at Ascension Eagles

and they love to hang out away from training.

ALL: Welcome to East London!

The Ascension Eagles have come

together from all over the East End of London.

THEY HUM THE EASTENDERS THEME TUNE

And you see the Thames.

LAUGHTER

If it wasn't for Ascension Eagles, me, Zach and Amanda

wouldn't be friends.

Guys, look.

Within East London, the areas the children live

are very separated, so, generally, you're not

supposed to cross areas, cos it can cause conflict with other groups.

But it's a nice area. If you don't mix with the wrong people, then...

Somewhere like Ascension Eagles gets rid of that culture

and children from different schools in different areas come together.

I love East London, to be honest.

It's just, like, sometimes they kind of annoy me,

-but, yeah, it's my home town, so I love it.

-Yeah.

I wouldn't want to move anywhere else.

Maybe they wouldn't have hung out outside of practice,

but now, during practice, they're the best of friends.

All right. Spread out and stretch.

This season, the Eagles are competing at a higher level,

against Unity's Pearl team, for the first time,

so they really need to up their game.

So, what I would like is I would like you guys to

get into your stunt groups.

Today, we're going to start with just basic loading,

but also we need to use our technique.

To beat champions Unity,

the Eagles need to give their routine a real wow factor.

Ready, and... Sh!

Stand in your places, please.

But the team isn't listening.

Stop talking. Sh!

So, as we start this season, our biggest issues seem to

be that the kids aren't as focused as we would like them.

Sh! Sh! Sh!

I'm not going to name names, but some people just, like,

-they don't listen at all.

-They, like, talk.

They talk and talk and talk and talk.

They spend most of their session chatting or just

whispering to each other and we have to spend

most of our session telling them to be quiet,

so we can actually teach them all the skills that they need to

learn to get ready for the competitions coming up.

No talking, please.

This week, Angela decides enough is enough

and calls in her secret weapon.

Talking time is done.

Kenny is a top American cheerleading coach and he's not feeling cheerful.

I don't believe in punishing you for talking,

I believe in making you better athletes for talking.

Today we have a... American instructor

called Kenny and he's here to help us with our stunts,

help us make our routine much more better.

I'm sure the kids do think that I'm not nice to them sometimes,

and I am tough on them.

When you hit on three, what don't you do after that?

But, in comparison to someone like Kenny...

Stop. Some of you just need to act like you care more.

..you know, I'm like Mary Poppins.

Five, six, seven, jump, one and three. Stop.

Can you guys sit down for a second?

I don't know what pace you're used to working at, but for me to get

stuff done I need you to snap out of whatever la-la land you're in, OK?

I'm not really here for you to love me

and want me to come back and coach you every day.

I'm here so we can get stuff done.

I think it's a good thing, because if you're too, like, nice

on cheerleaders, then they don't really get anything done.

One, hit on three. No, you don't get to move. You get to smile. Hold it.

Put your thumb under the foot.

It's really hard when they're screaming at us all the time.

Get that hand off her ankle.

They'll just be like, "Amanda, can you please do the correct grip?

"You're not gripping her properly!"

What are you doing, giving massages to the top of the foot?

Get your thumb under the shoe.

Kenny's no-nonsense approach quickly knocks the Eagles into shape.

Stop and come down. That's good. You're smart. Very good.

But not every group is flying high.

Don't move your feet so much.

Seven, dip, one, up, three. Hold.

No. Get off your heel. That's you.

When you get dropped in the stunt room, it's really hard,

because, like, it DOES hurt.

Lily's group can't keep her in the air,

so Kenny uses Zach's group to show them how it's done.

This is all a learning lesson. Don't mess up.

Don't make me look bad, dude.

One, hit, three, four, five, six, seven.

Clean. One, two, three. One. Keep her foot flat.

Honey, you pull them tight.

But, for Lily, things go from bad to worse...

You are challenging me tonight.

Dip, one, up, three.

..and it all ends in tears.

OK, stop, stop, stop, stop.

Lily falls, giving Paulina a foot in the face on the way down.

At some point, as a coach, I have to realise you're just dangerous.

At this point, you're dangerous. You just aren't going to participate

because I'm afraid for all of your safety.

You just get up and do it again. Cos it is...

It is a dangerous sport, but it's fine.

With Lily's group banished to the sidelines and other Eagles dropping

like flies, the training session looks set to end in disaster.

But, just as spirits are falling, there is

a glimmer of hope for the Eagles.

You're the only one in the air! You're awesome!

Come on down.

Zach's group finally gives Kenny a reason to be cheerful.

And the stunts start improving.

One, up, three. Yes. Again.

Five, six, seven, dip. One, spin, three.

Hey.

Hey, hey, hey!

Come on down. Good job, guys. All right, come in here.

I think, a slow start, but after a few repetitions,

they started to pick it back up.

In the end, we did get a lot done.

If you can please promise me that you'll take that and you can

work it to perfection, then I don't care how long it took to get there.

-Promise?

-Mm-hm.

-Thank you so much for having me.

-ALL: Thank you.

Oh, you're welcome. High-fives, everybody. One, two, three. Noom!

Despite some success,

Kenny's not convinced the team are on winning form...yet.

You know what? If the championships were next week,

I'd be a little worried because

at this point, this practice, they got left in the dust.

Cos we have to work for it and we have to improve, like,

on our grips. We have to improve a lot of things to make it work.

And that's what I'm really worried about.

We have to up our game or it's not going to work.

200 miles away in Manchester

are Unity and Ascension Eagles' Northern rivals.

ALL: We are Rising Stars!

I definitely want to win a lot this year.

Every competition, I want to go to and give it my all.

The Rising Stars senior teams have qualified

for the World Championships for the last five years.

Now the junior team is hot on their heels for their own big prize.

This season, I'd like to be able to, like, win all the competitions

so we could say, like, we've been undefeated all season.

Leading the team is coach Carly, who has high hopes for this season.

We are going to win, cos Northerners are the best.

We've got loads of ideas for your routine for this year.

It's really important we step up our game. Are we ready for it, guys?

-ALL: Yeah!

-Going to work hard?

-ALL: Yeah!

-All right.

-Let's get going then.

-Yeah.

One cheerleader who is ready for anything this season

is fearless flyer Emily.

My name is Emily.

I'm 15 years old and I've been cheerleading since I was nine.

As a flyer, my job is to basically stay tight and be

confident as they, like, throw me through the air and, like, make

sure I pull all my shapes and, like, do all the twists I'm supposed to do.

I like being a flyer because, like, you get to show off a little bit.

Rising Stars is like my second family.

We all get along and, like, we all help each other.

Emily and Jess are Rising Stars team-mates.

They're so cheer crazy they travel over 300 miles

a week from their homes in Blackpool to training in Manchester.

Cheer is, like, basically a main part of our friendship, isn't it?

Because we're both, like, so into it and, like, so involved in cheer.

One, two.

We always just spend time making up routines or even,

like, daft little things like... Yeah.

-And make up our own little stunts.

-Our life is basically cheer.

-Yeah.

-Life equals cheer.

-Yeah.

Like most cheerleaders, they're thrill seekers.

We're going up there.

To, like, be a cheerleader, you need to have lots of confidence,

-don't you?

-Yeah.

-And you can't really have any fears

because otherwise you won't be able to do much.

-Yeah.

-You'll just be scared of everything.

Come down towards me now.

-I think we're definitely both adrenaline junkies.

-Yeah.

She's a bigger one than me.

One, two, three.

THEY SCREAM

THEY SCREAM

That was amazing. I want to do it again.

For Emily, cheerleading isn't just a big thrill.

Doing a sport like cheerleading is really good for me

because I have chronic disease called cystic fibrosis.

It affects my lungs.

My lungs get filled with sticky mucus

and it makes it hard for me to breathe.

Sometimes it gets me upset and down but then I think of cheerleading

and it instantly puts me in a happy mood.

Cheer helps me clear my chest and I can breathe much easier.

Cheer makes me feel positive about everything and really motivated.

It makes me feel like I can do anything.

I take about 60 or 70 tablets a day.

It can be hard but obviously I'm used to it now.

It's just part of everyday life.

I've got an airways clearance vest and basically it's like a life jacket

and it can vibrate up to 20 times per second, which helps

break down all the mucus so it's not sitting in my chest.

VIBRATING: And then it makes me sound like a sheep.

Baaa!

I definitely don't want CF to stop me doing anything.

Like, I'm quite active. I definitely don't want it to stop me doing cheer.

Cheer is, like, in every day of my life, so if CF stopped me doing

a competition, or even a training session,

I'd get, like, upset about it.

She's an inspiration to me, really.

When I'm feeling a bit down, I can just look at Emily

and just think, "Look what she's going through."

I've never missed a competition tour yet, so fingers crossed I never will.

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.

In four months' time Emily and the other 25 Rising Stars will be

competing against not just the North, but the rest of the country.

So they need to step it up

if they're to master the toughest skills needed to win the top prize.

So, guys, listen up.

And, like their rivals, they're starting with the stunts.

We've got to look at each stunt individually and see

if we need to simplify it today.

OK? Lydia's side first and then we'll do this side.

Right, let's go then, teams.

But the Rising Stars' season is off to a shaky start with

the high-level stunts proving a big challenge.

When it isn't going right, to a flyer,

you kind of panic for a minute

because you don't know what you're going to do cos you don't know

if you'll hurt yourself or just fall.

Why are we not using our legs?

Why are we trying to lift your flyer up in the air with not

using our legs? It isn't going to work. Go again.

Five, six, seven, eight.

One, two, three, four, dip, five, six, seven, eight. No. Go again.

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.

-Why are we bending our legs?

-I don't know.

When a stunt goes wrong, it knocks your confidence a lot

because then you feel like it's never going to work again.

Don't fly with bent legs, please. One, two, three, four.

Straight legs. Straight legs. Right.

Having a bit of an off-day today.

I don't think it's the case that they can't do the skills.

It's that they've not really come in with the right attitude.

OK, so we can't even do a straight up lift.

-It's not working.

-Yeah, it's not really working.

One, two, dip, three, four, five.

Cheer can be, like, quite hard.

Your flyers are tiny. You should be able to do this with one hand.

The stunts might not be, like, consistent and they might fall.

Dip, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. One, to...

When stunts fall, team-mates like Amy get hurt.

Hallie kneed Amy in the face and her teeth went in her gum.

I bit myself, I think. I felt really dizzy.

It just started bleeding.

One, two, three, four, stand, five, six... Stand up.

It's not a stunning start to the season...

Go again.

..and coach Carly is not impressed.

I think you've just got yourselves some conditioning at the end

there, guys. We're not happy with what you've done today at all.

OK, we've gone really far down.

If you thought American coach Kenny was tough, meet Rising Stars'

assistant coach Kat, who hands out their punishment.

I like being good cop and she's the bad cop.

If you don't try, you've got to pay for it. Press-ups.

Down, chests to the floor and up.

When you get, like, conditioning, it's definitely like getting

a detention at school, but in cheerleading terms.

One minute.

I know how hard it is, but it does feel good to see them suffer,

because I know in the end it will help them.

I definitely think, like, the conditioning will push us

-all to work harder.

-I think next week you don't want to drop any stunts.

You're just going to fight for them to stay up.

-Come round. Was that hard?

-Yes.

Yeah. So, next week, are we going to hit our stunts? Yes.

-Big pinky promise.

-ALL: Pinky promise.

All three teams have got work to do if they want to be crowned champions

when they go head-to-head in the National Championships.

Do they think they can do it?

-Yeah.

-It was a bad day. We've done better.

-We can do better.

-We can.

-We can.

-Yes.

Next time, Eagles' Amanda takes a tumble...

You just went like this and panicked.

..a new mascot gives Rising Stars a boost...

He's going to be a little, like, cheer puppy.

..and Unity Allstars face their worst fears.

The worst thing I'd say is I wouldn't be able to

recover in time for competition.