SHERWOOD, Ark. — "You think to yourself 'I really did it'," cheerleader Cassadee Dunlap said. "I really made it on the team that's considered the best of the best."
Arkansas’s very own is just that. The best of the best.
The Emmy-winning breakout sensation Cheer is back for season two on Netflix, this time, featuring the Sherwood native.
"I started in cheerleading before I was born," Dunlap said. "My mother opened up a gym in 1998 and I was born in 2001, so therefore, I was actually born and raised in a cheerleading gym."
An opportunity like Netflix doesn’t come around as often as one would hope, But this was not Cassadee’s first time being in the spot light.
Growing up, Dunlap was featured in TLC's Toddlers and Tiaras, and would later seen on her family's reality show called Cheer Perfection. So when she joined the Navarro cheer team, she found her way in front of the cameras once again.
Though already widely known in the cheer world, the two-year school out of Corsicana, Texas would soon be placed on a bigger map one created by Netflix.
Following a successful season one, the stakes were even higher after the school's newfound stardom.
"When you made the team, you had no idea that Netflix was even a thing," Dunlap said of her rookie season. "In my rookie class, we had no idea that was even a thing until mid of first semester and their like 'The Netflix show is coming out in January [2020]'. Like what!? And then they were like 'Oh yeah we will be back to film February.'"
Dunlap said the experience was mind-blowing and couldn't believe it was real life.
"During the second semester of my first year, it [the show] came out," Dunlap said, "and that's when everything changed."
With a devastating end to their 2020 season due to the global pandemic, Navarro looked to defend its championship crown against a slew of challenges.
So now, the stakes of making mat and taking home the Daytona trophy in season 2 have never been higher.
"Back stage," referring to the championship day in Daytona, Florida, "it hits you. You're just sitting there like 'I'm on the stage, I have two minutes and 15 seconds to show what I've worked two years for. It hits you like a train."
No spoilers here, but to watch Cheer season two, you can go to Netflix and see if Cassadee and Navarro bring home the big trophy.
Dunlap has completed her two year cheer career at Navarro and is finishing her career at the University of Central Arkansas.