They throw hair-raising tumbling runs that would do a competitive gymnast proud. They lift each other high into the air for aerial displays like the basket toss and the switch liberty and the heel stretch. When the girls fall, they fall hard. The new recruits aren't quite up to standard. Injuries plague the team.
Performances are inconsistent.
There's a pregnancy, family problems, one girl struggling with her standing back. Most vexing of all, they don't have spirit. They're no longer a team, they're a collection of girls, beginning to wobble, sway and crumple like an off-kilter stunt. There are points, however, when he might have let some of them speak less. McElroy's chapter-long digressions into extended interviews with these adults distract from the book's narrative momentum.