Monica Aldama - Full Out: Lessons in Life and Leadership from Americas Favorite Coach

Full Out

Lessons in Life and Leadership from Americas Favorite Coach

Monica Aldama

Gallery Books

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Copyright 2022 by Monica Aldama

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information, address Gallery Books Subsidiary Rights Department, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020.

First Gallery Books hardcover edition January 2022

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Interior design by Jaime Putorti

Jacket design by Kelli McAdams

Jacket photograph Koury Angelo

Author photograph Vincent Urrabazo

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Aldama, Monica, 1970 author.

Title: Full out : lessons in life and leadership from Americas favorite coach / Monica Aldama.

Description: New York : Gallery Books, [2021]

Identifiers: LCCN 2021003030 (print) | LCCN 2021003031 (ebook) | ISBN 9781982165918 (Hardcover) | ISBN 9781982165932 (eBook)

Subjects: LCSH: Aldama, Monica, 1970 | CheerleadingCoaching. | Women coaches (Athletics)United StatesBiography. | Personal coaching. | Conduct of life.

Classification: LCC LB3635 .A38 2021 (print) | LCC LB3635 (ebook) | DDC 791.6/4dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021003030

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021003031

ISBN 978-1-9821-6591-8

ISBN 978-1-9821-6593-2 (ebook)

Dedicated to everyone who stays after practice to clean up

O ne fall afternoon in 2017, my daughters boyfriend was at our house watching a show about junior college football in the living room. I walked by and was instantly sucked in. Once I sat down and started watching, I couldnt look away. It was only a couple of weeks after that that I received an email from someone named Omar Bustos saying that he was one of the producers of that same documentary series (called Last Chance U) and that he was interested in speaking to me about doing a show about cheerleading.

Is this some kind of prank? I thought. A scam email? I actually wondered if he had some way of seeing my Netflix queue and knew that I had been watching Last Chance U. Not to mention, if this was legit, I had mixed feelings about the prospect. Im a very private person. I dont like to be watched. But I had also been frustrated for a long time about cheerleading not being taken seriously. This would be an opportunity to show the world what cheerleaders really do. I was willing to throw my fears out the window if it meant getting more respect for the sport.

I told him, If youre looking for some kind of Dance Moms story, Im afraid you wont find that here. Im not going to do any fake yelling. Im not going to give you some kind of made-up drama. But I do want people to know how serious this sport is.

I went and talked to my athletic director about it. We thought it was worth investigating, which eventually led to a conference call that included Greg Whiteley, who was not only the director but also the creator.

To me, Greg has the good looks of someone you might think was from Los Angeles, but hes not flashy or slickhe has a kind and quiet demeanor. Hes the kind of person who makes you feel like youve been friends forever. And I found I was inspired by the way he talked about filmmaking. He told me he tried to film with a cold eye, but a warm heart. I had a gut instinct about Greg: he was a good guy.

He said he wanted to get an authentic story but would always be mindful of peoples feelings and explained that with a documentary, the crew isnt there to make the story good or bad. Whatever the story is the story is, thats what they have to relay. Any crew could get amazing footage of the tumbling, he said; he took that for granted. But what he thought his crew could do differently was find the very best stories and tell them well. I hung up thinking I wanted to watch the show, whoever he wound up making it about. But when it came to Navarro College, where I coach, I thought, There is no way thiswill pan out. I assumed Greg was talking to a lot of cheer teams, and it seemed unlikely that he would pick one in Corsicana, Texas.

But then he did pick us. He and a small crew came out in February 2018, and they filmed us practicing for a couple of days and put together whats called a proof of concept. Netflix bought it and the rest is history.

When the show got the green light, Greg called me and said they were going to come in and film twelve hours a day for about four months, and that whatever they got was what they got. They were going to tell a true story. I hoped it would show people how hard cheerleading is: the athleticism, the grit, the hours that we put in. I felt like it was worth taking the risk to put our story out there so that everyone could see what we actually do.

It was good that my instincts about Greg were right, because from the time he and his crew started shooting, they were here with us every single day. They werent just at practice; they were also following us around when we left the gym. Soon we were telling them everything about our livesthey became part of our family.

S ince the Netflix documentary Cheer introduced America to the cheer program in my Texas town, Ive heard about people adopting the mantras of cheer liferules like, Always catch your teammates, or, Practice until you cant get it wrong, or, Cheer for your team even if youre not the one on mat. And I saw one story calling me the Bill Belichick of cheerleading, if Bill Belichick had perfect square French Tips. Look, Ill take it.

My life as a successful coach in a small town was as much a surprise to me as it was to everyone else. When I graduated college more than twenty-five years ago, the big city was calling my name. I wanted the excitement and the hustle and bustle of someplace like New York City, even though Id never even been there.

But let me back up. The story of who I am as a coach and how I work with my team really starts way before the job opportunity presented itself. So much of how I work my team is an outgrowth of things I picked up along the way.

I was born in Alabama and moved to Corsicana, Texas, a town of roughly twenty-five thousand, when I was six years old. I started first grade in Corsicana and graduated high school here, then earned a finance degree at the University of Texas at Austin. After graduating, I married my high school sweetheart, Chris. Were both fly by the seat of your pantstype people. In typical fashion, we got an apartment in Dallas before either of us even had a job. As a result, I took the first position I was offeredsales manager at a computer company. Though it paid the bills, it was a grind.

A year in, one of my high school friends called me about a job back in Corsicana at Navarro College. He told me that the cheer coach was leaving and that I should apply because he remembered how much fun Id had cheering for his mother when she was my high school cheer coach. At this point, I still had Wall Street in the back of my mind, but Chris and I didnt have the money to make that move yet. And even though Id spent years dreaming of moving to the big city, I also knew that I wanted to have children soon. Being near family in Corsicana had its appeal. I hadnt gotten a lot of time with my own grandparents; I wanted my children to know theirs.