Episode 4 My Team: The Cheerleaders

Three teams. They all want to win.

But only the team that can throw highest, flip 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.

Forget pompoms, this is the world of cheerleading.

Competition season has started.

Three of the UK's top cheerleading teams

have been training hard for months.

We are definitely ready to compete.

Now their routines will be judged in regional comps around the country.

The best bit about cheerleading is winning.

This is the teams' first test,

before they all go head-to-head at a national championship

in just two weeks.

Our team is ready for the competition.

But with the pressure on, will our teams crack it, or crack up?

We're going to put on such a show, and it's just going to be amazing.

Coming up...

The Ascension Eagles push coach Angela to breaking point.

Am I the only person that feels the urgency

of us competing in two weeks' time?

The Rising Stars lose it with seconds to go to competition.

I'm trying not to worry, so we just need to hope we can hit it.

And can the Unity Allstars hobble their way to victory?

-SHE GASPS Oh, my...

-No way!

-What happened?

The Ascension Eagles, Rising Stars and Unity Allstars

have been training hard for months,

preparing for the competition season.

It kicks off across the country with the regionals,

where our teams face their local rivals.

Today, Emily and her fellow Rising Stars

are taking part in the Northerns.

Emily's a cheerleading "flyer". She's fearless in the air,

but today, her competition nerves are jangling.

I love competing, but I'll probably look forward to after we've competed,

because I won't be nervous any more.

Today, the Rising Stars will come face to face

with the top teams from the North.

Want to prove that we can really win all of the competitions we do.

I'm really excited for it,

because we get to show everyone what we've been working on.

It's the toughest test the Stars will face

before the national championship.

A winning start is crucial.

Backstage, the teams are preparing to compete

and the tension is rising.

All the training sessions, we've been like,

"Oh, can't wait for the competition,"

but now it's actually here, it's gone really fast, it's like a blur!

It feels like about two weeks ago we started learning the routine,

so it's gone really quick.

I just want to get it done, and just really clean, and hit it all -

so we know we can do it under pressure.

Nothing matches the intensity of competition.

With hundreds of people watching,

the pressure is on for the Stars to shine.

Our teams have spent months devising a two-and-a-half-minute routine

full of tumbles and stunts,

hoping it will win them the top prize.

And deciding who gets the top prize are the judges.

A cheerleading routine should demonstrate good stunting technique -

good stunts that are of a reasonably difficult level,

but that the athletes are able to execute safely and beautifully.

A routine should incorporate some jumps and a section of dance,

all put together in a little two-and-a-half-minute package

that is good to watch.

One part of the routine that the judges are expecting big things of

is the pyramid, where the whole team work together

to create a spectacular stunt.

And the Stars and their coach, Carly, are worried.

The main concerns I've got is the pyramid.

We've had a few issues with that over the past few weeks.

Everyone's really nervous about the pyramid, because it's like...

It doesn't always hit!

We HAVE hit it, but it's not as clean as it could be.

JUDGE: A pyramid can probably make or break a routine,

because it's the last thing that you will probably see,

difficulty-wise as a judge, and if they hit it, then great,

you're left with a good lasting impression -

if it doesn't go so well,

you think to yourself, "They could have done that better."

-And that's the impression you've got.

-Last thing you remember.

Right before you write down your score.

So everything rests on the Rising Stars' pyramid.

As they head to warm up,

all they can do is hope that it all comes together.

If they do it right, and they concentrate,

and they're focused, it goes right.

It's just whether they lose focus and a bit of concentration.

It can go a little bit wrong.

I'm trying not to worry, so we just need to hope we can hit it.

It wasn't clean. I want it sharp!

The pressure is on.

While the Rising Stars are trying out their competition routine

in the North, in East London the Ascension Eagles

are skipping the first comp of the season.

And things aren't going well.

Keep it under control!

The Eagles have the smallest team, made even smaller

when top tumbler Shola broke her leg.

After four weeks out, it's finally on the mend,

so Shola meets with coach Angela to talk about getting back to training.

So...how is your knee?

I've tried to move it, and it's fine.

And I'm starting to put a bit of pressure on it as well.

What exercises have you been given from the hospital?

I'm sticking to what they say a little bit, but not really doing it.

I'm doing a little bit, but not really,

because I don't think it's that important.

It's really important that you do your exercises

if you want to get better and compete.

We really need our great performers to be there,

-so I'm really counting on you to be there. I need you.

-OK.

Yeah. I'll do it.

All right!

It would be a disaster if Shola couldn't compete.

We need her back for this season.

If the Eagles want to win the top prize, they need a full team,

so while her team warm up, Shola needs to do some physio exercises.

Starting immediately.

So, ten of those, please.

-Now?

-No, tomorrow(!)

One...

These small moves will help her build her leg strength back up.

-We need you to be nice and strong for competition.

-Yeah.

If Shola wants to get back on the team,

she needs to work hard today - and keep at it.

Sometimes she doesn't seem to understand the urgency

of the competition looming.

We need to work on getting that flexibility back.

That's a big concern.

With injury holding them up,

will the Eagles be able to pull it out of the bag

in time for competition?

-Pull it, pull it, pull it, pull it.

-Agh!

Good girl.

Last season's champs Unity Allstars

are going to the Southern regional competition,

and it's a big day for Lily, captain of Unity All Stars Pearl team.

Lily's pumped about getting started -

well, she will be, once she's woken up.

I'm really tired!

But I think we're going to do well today,

because everyone's been doing so hard at training.

I'm really excited for everyone.

Nearly there.

It's really nerve-racking when you get out,

because people look at you and they think, "Unity..." It's just like...!

-Yeah...

-Unity are in the house!

Because they're a big team, they're kind of like... "Ooh!"

Last year, Unity had a perfect season,

so the pressure's on to keep it up this year.

Competition day!

When everyone goes to these competitions,

everyone can look up to us and think, "Wow, they're really good."

And if Unity want to keep up their standards,

it means looking like champs...

from the moment they walk in.

Not allowed to wear these. Can't, because I'll get in trouble.

By Tori.

Now she's here, Lily and her team-mates

start their all-important pre-performance preparation.

-Scarlet!

-Hey!

Unity's day is going according to plan...

Tori said to look glam.

That's what we gotta do.

..until...

-SHE GASPS

-Oh, my...

-No way!

-What happened?

What happened?

I landed on my foot on Wednesday.

-I'm still competing.

-Are you really?

-Are you still competing?

Are you tumbling?

Daniela is one of Unity's top flyers.

But those crutches have no place in coach Tori's routine.

Daniela has hurt the ligaments in her ankle falling off a block.

I was tumbling, and I landed on my foot,

and I've done ligament damage to the front of my foot.

Cheerleading is a team sport.

It's one of the very few performance team sports there is,

and every person is so important on that team,

no matter what they do, so being one man down is really difficult.

If Daniela can't compete, Unity's winning run could be over.

That's really worried me. Really. Because she's a flyer.

But hopefully, she can pull through, she's a strong girl. So...

I'm going to try and compete, I'm going to try and tumble,

but I don't know if I'm going to be able to or not.

So just going to see how it goes.

I just hope it doesn't affect the routine too much.

In East London, Shola's stepped up her physio

and is back for the Ascension Eagles.

It's really good that Shola can compete again,

because she's one of our best tumblers,

and she scores loads of points for us.

Her broken leg might be ready for action, but is her attitude?

-One...!

-Come on! Get your hands...

-One!

Oh, my gosh!

One, two, three, four...

She's getting distracted...

Can we go on the...

..and taking her eye off the ball means someone's going to get hurt.

-What...?

-Ooh!

She's talking to Sam!

-Sam...!

-Oh, my back!

There's nothing worse than trying to get somewhere

and they just talk and laugh and it's not serious, and then people fall,

and then stuff doesn't hit the way it's supposed to, and you know,

we're so close to competition now

that we just don't have time to mess around.

One, two, arms up!

The Eagles' concentration levels are dropping by the second

and time is running out to get the routine right.

No talking, I just said! Do not talk!

Again!

Sometimes it's frustrating when other people don't get it.

It's probably because they don't listen

when Angela's telling them what to do.

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

The team aren't focusing...

One, two, three...

..and a disastrous pyramid pushes coach Angela over the edge.

..three, four, five, six... Stop!

Come down. Do you know what?

-Do you know what?

-Sorry, Leila! Sorry.

Get up. Do you know what?

You just dropped her feet because someone kicked you in the head.

Listen, am I the only person that feels the urgency

of us competing in two weeks' time?

Angela...

is kind of strict.

All you're doing is talking through every single thing.

This is dangerous.

When they're shouting at us, you just have to take it in.

They're strict, but you have to take it in, because it's for the best.

The problem with you guys is you think you've won all the time,

and you'll turn up to the competition and it'll be fine.

When you get to the competition

and see what they're doing in their routines,

and you go, "Oh, my gosh," you'll wish you worked harder.

Coaches, they have to scream at you to get your attention,

because sometimes it's just so hard for them.

So I actually quite respect that they shout at you,

because they have to.

The Eagles may have won in the past,

but right now they're far from looking like champs.

Coach Angela has an idea to make sure they don't fall further behind.

She's asked an American cheer expert to come to training

and give the team some home truths about their performance.

There's only two weeks until the Eagles go head-to-head

with the other teams - the clock is ticking.

Guys, can I give you my honest opinion?

Right now, you're going up and you're coming down,

but everything that happens in between is whatever you want to do.

Little details that are really going to make

a difference in a competitive division,

and right now, it's like you're not focusing on them.

You have to care. Am I clear?

Yes.

I'm Lisa, by the way.

We've asked Lisa to come in because she gives us,

like, a judge's point of view.

You have got to stop moving in the air. Trust yourself.

Your minds are not on the task at hand.

Sometimes, as a coach,

you can find yourself saying the same things over and over again,

and the kids just don't seem to take it in.

But you bring in a different voice

and all of a sudden there's a light bulb moment

and they say, "Oh!" Like they've never heard it before.

-..five, six, seven, eight!

-Come on, guys! Push!

..five, six, seven, eight! One, two...

Get down, get down. Stop! Enough, enough!

That HAS to hit, because if that doesn't hit, this all comes down.

Why are you not trying harder?

You're better than this. It's really disappointing.

Pull it together.

The Eagles need some inspiration,

and Lisa thinks she knows where to find it.

Come over here.

So, this is what needs to happen.

-Right now, your team...

-Mm-hm.

-..they're not hitting.

And you know they're not hitting. You need to get everybody fired up.

You need to encourage them, you need to tell them,

"Guys, why are we talking? We need to get stuff done."

-OK.

-You know what I mean?

The team doesn't care. I can tell.

I'm watching them, and they don't care enough to do it better.

-So you need to encourage it. Can you do that for me?

-Yeah.

-Get 'em pumped.

-OK.

-All right.

Lisa's like, I should kind of lead the team on,

and support them and encourage them.

We're actually going through a hard time,

and people are not really hitting the stunts.

I should take on the role and encourage everyone to hit the stunts.

Go on, Zach!

Zach is one of the Ascension Eagles' most experienced cheerleaders,

so who better to lead them into battle?

Come on, everyone, we can do this!

Come on, fight for it. And when you do it, throw it up.

They just need some leadership from the team, from within,

to make it better.

Come on, guys! We can do this!

Zach's leadership boosts the whole team...

Yes!

..and finally the routine comes together.

Beautiful!

They have a habit of rising to the occasion.

It's just kind of hoping they really fulfil their potential,

and hit that routine the way that I know they can.

Guys, remember this - the only run that matters is the run that you do.

If you decide to give it your best

and hit the way we believe you can hit,

you can have some amazing results.

You determine how that two minutes and 30 seconds goes.

Whether you think you can or you can't, you're right.

The Eagles are back on track,

but the countdown to championships has already begun.

It's down to them, really. We can't do any more than we've done.

Back at the Southern Championships in Surrey

it's time for Unity's Pearl team to head to warm up

before their big performance.

Injured flyer Daniela is going to try and compete.

Daniela's doing incredibly well.

Like, you can see she's in pain - it's really, really swollen.

We know she's got ligament damage, she went to the hospital.

She strapped it up and she's good to go.

But backstage, the competition gets a bit close for comfort.

So, we're now sharing a room with the people that we're competing against.

Unity come face to face with their closest competition rivals,

ICE Heat.

I think that's kind of awkward.

The team that they're competing against today,

we haven't competed against before. They're a really good team.

Really impressed with everything I've seen from them today.

Really impressed. So...hopefully they'll be OK.

I'm getting nervous, now.

-One... ALL:

-..two, three...

There's just minutes until Unity perform,

and their nerves are starting to show.

Now, at this point, we can't do anything. We can't stop the music,

we can't make them rework something.

Now they've just got to do it,

and if they feel nervous or pressured there's nothing we can do.

We can't help them, this is on their own.

It's one shot, and that makes me nervous.

I feel a little bit nervous.

Hopefully, it goes all right!

One...three, four, five...seven...

As they feel the pressure, the team start making mistakes.

Again.

Seven, one.

You just did it worse, Olivia, than you have done yet.

Guys, that was awful.

Grab, hit, hot, yeah? Really sharp.

Again.

We don't mind not winning if we do our absolute best

and someone's better than us.

But if they make some mistakes

and if they do something that they could have done better,

then we'll be disappointed with them.

And I hope that doesn't happen today.

It's time.

Unity head to the competition floor

to put their undefeated record on the line.

Back in Blackpool, and the Rising Stars

are minutes away from their first performance of the season.

In warm up, things are going great,

especially for 14-year-old Aimee.

Go on, Aimee. Yeah!

Aimee has struggled with her knees all season

but today her tumbles are on fire and back in the routine.

Good girl, yes!

I mastered my backhand spring a week ago

just before the competition,

so I'm really excited to put it in the routine,

because it's the first time I've competed it.

I hope that all the stunts hit in the routine,

and that no-one falls over.

But you never know what might happen.

Could even fall over just walking onto the floor.

-Yeah, that's what I did!

-Yeah! That was really funny.

Last competition, when we were walking on the floor,

I tripped over the side and I fell face-first onto the floor,

and Jess had to pick me up.

But whilst their tumbles are looking good,

their stunts aren't even close to being battle ready.

Out of time!

The Rising Stars aren't in sync.

The baskets in the tumble section are completely out of time.

Someone's going wrong, OK? They have to be clean, OK?

Clean and tight.

And when they get to the pyramid, things go from bad to shocking.

The pyramid at the end, your arms are all over the place.

Like, I've got high Vs like this - it needs to be sharp and strong, OK?

At the big championship last season the Stars' pyramid was a mess.

The pressure is definitely on for this pyramid to hit.

You've done that pyramid a hundred times better than that before.

The worst thing that could possibly happen is the pyramid falling.

OK, that's it. Done.

Let's go.

They're just stressing out.

I think it's just a case of panicking - they panic.

But it happens to all teams, so...

They just need to not rush it, they're just rushing it,

and it's making it hard to recover when things go wrong.

That's it.

It's time for the Rising Stars to take centre stage

and put months of training to the test.

Come on, guys!

Welcome to the stage Rising Stars!

# What you going to do?

# People ain't ready for the black and the blue... #

It's a strong start for the Rising Stars.

Aimee and her team-mates nail their opening tumbles

and move onto the first stunt section.

This is where the Stars were out of sync in the warm up.

They're perfectly synchronised this time,

and that will be big points from the judges.

# Bright like the sun

# Shine like the stars cos we're number one... #

It's time for the pyramid.

If this goes wrong, the Rising Stars can wave goodbye to first place.

Flyer Sophie slips. It looks like it's all over...

..but somehow the team save the pyramid.

Woo!

The Rising Stars finish with a bang.

The team pulled a show-stopping performance out of the bag

and they're buzzing.

I'm shocked. I'm out of breath, I don't know what to say.

We're all just really happy

and excited that all our hard work's paid off.

Everything hit properly and everyone was cheering and singing.

So it was really good.

There was a little stumble on the pyramid, but they really saved it.

Yeah.

And coach Kat is pretty impressed too.

It was amazing! It was even better than I could have hoped it would be.

Everything hit, they performed - the tumbles were amazing.

What more could I ask? I'm absolutely buzzing for them.

Amazing.

The Rising Stars owned the competition floor,

but will it be enough for first place?

In Surrey, it's time for Unity All Stars Pearl team

to put their undefeated record on the line.

As they wait to go on,

rivals ICE Heat are ripping up the competition floor.

I'm not watching them

because apparently, it's bad luck if we watch them.

They're good. They are a good team, and they've hit so far.

We've got butterflies.

All the other Unity teams have already done so well,

and we want to live up to what they've all just done.

This is it. Unity Pearl are up.

Get ready to put on a show!

-Woo!

-OK?

Good luck. We'll be there, screaming.

Good luck!

We've trained so hard

-to be on that floor for two minutes and 30 seconds.

-Yeah.

-P-E-A-R-L...

-ALL: Unity Pearl!

Let's welcome to the stage Unity Allstars Pearl!

THEY CHANT: U-A! U-A! U-A!

# Unity Allstars

# Let's go

# Pearls on the floor like diamonds in the sky

# Pearl Unity owns this stage worldwide

# Together we are raising the bar... #

Unity's opening tumble run is flawless.

And despite going wrong in warm up, their stunts are spectacular.

They are on fire.

It's time for Daniela's first stunt.

Will her ankle hold up to the pressure?

Up she goes....

and manages to stay in the air.

Now the pyramid.

The true test of cheerleading teamwork.

The Unity Allstars smash it.

It's an incredible performance by the team.

And they've made their captain proud.

The girls done absolutely amazing.

Everything hit, everything went to plan.

They done - I couldn't have asked for better.

It was really good, because in warm up, my stunts weren't hitting,

so I was really proud when we hit it.

Daniela came through for her team and lasted the entire routine.

I'm really proud of Daniela for hitting her stunts.

I forgot it was, like, hurt or anything.

-Basically, when we finished, then it kicked in.

-The pain hits.

Daniela was brilliant. She's a hard-core Unity athlete.

Unity athletes are made of metal. They never give up.

Unity wait nervously for their results.

In the North, Rising Stars are about to find out

if their routine has won them the top spot.

In our junior level three division, first place...

If they can't win this regional comp

they stand no chance at the national championship.

..Rising Stars!

THEY CHEER

It feels really good, because it means all our hard work has paid off.

So we're really happy.

We all pulled it out the bag, and we did really well, so...

I think this competition's spurred us on

to get even better at the routine

and hit all our stunts even better than we did today.

They've proved themselves today on the floor.

They can bring it and they can win it.

Rising Stars started with a win.

Can Unity match them and take the top prize?

Taking home the first in our junior level three division...

Drum roll, please.

AIR HORN SOUNDS

Unity Allstars!

THEY SCREAM AND CHEER

I'm so proud of everyone.

I really wasn't expecting this to happen.

The winning doesn't stop there.

Unity scored top points across the board,

making them grand champions.

We won first place and we got grand champs,

so we got the highest score out of every team

that came for the junior divisions.

It's just so amazing.

That is the best thing that you could get in any of this.

To win first and grand champs. I'm so excited!

Now back to the gym and get even better.

With one win under their belt,

the coaches have already got their eye on the next, national, prize.

The hard work has only just begun, because this means, now,

we compete for national champions.

You guys need to step it up at training. Don't be slacking off.

Come in on Wednesday ready to work. Am I right?

-ALL:

-Yes.

-Oh, yeah!

Although we've won this comp, there's no stopping there.

We have to push through, and get even better at all our moves.

Next competition, we've got to be careful,

because we're against Ascension and Rising Stars,

and they're really good teams to compete against.

So I think it's going to be a close one.

Next time...

Our three teams go head-to-head in battle.

And only one can emerge victorious.