Monica Aldama


Monica Aldama is an American cheerleading coach. She is currently the coach of the elite co-ed cheerleading team at Navarro College in Corsicana, Texas.

Education

A graduate of Corsicana High School, Aldama enrolled at the University of Texas at Austin where she earned a B.B.A. in Finance from the McCombs School of Business. She subsequently attended the University of Texas at Tyler for a Master of Business Administration.

Achievement in coaching

Under Aldama's leadership, the Navarro College Bulldogs have earned a national reputation for excellence in cheerleading. Since the year 2000, Aldama's squads have won 14 NCA National Championships in their division, in addition to 5 "Grand National" designations. Grand National status is bestowed upon the team with the highest overall score in that year's competition. Aldama's team also holds the record for the highest score achieved at NCA College Nationals. Her cheerleading program has been called a "dynasty" and her athletes refer to her as the "Queen." Aldama's success has had her appear on The Ellen DeGeneres Show and Oprah's live tour.

Appearance in ''Cheer''

In 2020, Aldama featured in a Netflix docuseries titled Cheer, whose focus on the 2019 Navarro College coed cheerleading team served to introduce the sport to a wide audience. Cheer was directed by documentarian Greg Whiteley, who until this series was best known for his football-related documentary Last Chance U. Both series empathetically follow college athletes struggling with injuries and challenges in their personal lives. Cheer centers its narrative on Aldama's mentorship, which is generally nurturing even as mounting injuries to her athletes lead her to make pragmatic decisions in support of the team's goal of winning the national championship at Daytona Beach, Florida. Responses to the series' representation of Aldama highlight the resultant tension. Television critic Hank Stuever of the Washington Post describes Aldama's dedication as "fierce." To critic Jia Tolentino of The New Yorker Aldama "rules the program with a fearsomely controlled demeanor interrupted by flickers of maternal warmth." Overall, the series highlights Aldama's perfectionism, encapsulated in her hallmark conviction concerning practice: "You keep going until you get it right, then you keep going until you can't get it wrong."