Skip to main content

Netflix released the reality docuseries Cheer in January 2020. Amid a global pandemic, the feel-good show about the competitive cheer team at Navarro Junior College quickly became hit.

For head coach Monica Aldama, coaching at Navarro was not her planned trajectory for life. However, the 50-year-old has become the most decorated cheer coach during her tenure. Aldama hasn’t vacated her job yet, and she gives a few reasons why.

Monica Aldama has coached competitive cheerleading for over 25 years

'Cheer' stars Morgan Simianer, Monica Aldama, and La'Darius Marshall sit together on the set of The Daily Pop
(L-R) Cheer‘s Morgan Simianer, Monica Aldama, and La’Darius Marshall | Aaron Poole/E! Entertainment/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images

According to Hollywood Life, Aldama has been at Navarro College since 1995. During her time in Corsicana, Texas, she’s brought home 14 National Cheer Association (NCA) Junior College Division National Championships and five Grand National Titles in competition at Daytona Beach, Florida. Navarro College also holds the record for the highest score in history at the NCA College Nationals. In 2019, Aldama was inducted into the Navarro College Athletics Hall of Fame. 

Aldama told CNN Sport, however, that after all these wins, she is not necessarily concerned about more success from a championship standpoint. “I’ve won plenty of titles,” she explained. “I don’t have to prove myself there. It’s the relationship with the kids and the feeling of watching them succeed.” 


Aldama didn’t plan to coach cheerleading for a living

Aldama did not plan to be a cheer coach at all. After high school, she went to Tyler Junior College, where she was on the cheerleading team. Then, Aldama attended the University of Texas at Austin and got her B.B.A. in Finance. She went on to get her Masters of Business Administration at the University of Texas at Tyler. In fact, Aldama says she had every intention of becoming a big-time CEO in New York City. It was on a whim that she applied to coach at Navarro. 

Aldama told the Armchair Expert podcast, “I thought I was gonna be here temporarily. Like I never had a plan of coaching ever. I was definitely going to go into the business world. I had a finance degree. I loved numbers. I pictured myself like Wall Street, doing the whole thing in the finance industry.” 

The 50-year-old explains that a friend worked at Navarro at the same time she was doing a job she “hated.” The junior college’s cheer coach left, and her friend asked her to apply. “I was like, ‘Ehhhh. OK. I guess.’ So, I did, and here I am 27 years later,” Aldama explained.

Aldama thanks her background in business for her success as a competitive cheer coach, saying she’ll “always be a business person in my soul.” Her education helps her look at the sport from an analytical place, as the coach explained:

“That’s why I’m successful because I looked at it as a business and I looked at the score sheet. I looked at the numbers. I really worked backward. Let’s start with, ‘We wanna win. How do we do that? We need the most points. How do we get the most points? We have a score sheet. Let me analyze this thing.’ So I really looked at it from that perspective.”

Four-year universities have approached Aldama about coaching 

Related

‘Cheer’ Coach, Monica Aldama Says Her Heart Is Shattered After Jerry Harris’ Arrest

Aldama has been so successful as a cheer coach at the junior college level that she’s received interest from four-year universities. One would think this would be the next logical step for Aldama — to work for a bigger school and coach a larger team. However, Aldama has no intention of leaving Navarro. 

“I have had somebody reach out to me in the past,” the coach explained. “But the thing is I don’t think the cheerleading department is priority No. 1 for a lot of universities.” As Aldama explains, many large universities categorize cheer squads under spirit programs or student activities. But at Navarro College, the cheer team is categorized as part of athletics.

Aldama elaborated on her future, telling Shepard, “I don’t have any plans of coaching beyond this school. I’ve said before when I decide to retire from coaching I see myself going into the business world.”

When asked how long she plans to continue coaching at Navarro specifically, she said, “Cheerleading. It’ll get ya.” It’s her relationship with the kids she coaches that keeps her coming back after all these years. 

Best in Entertainment