Story

Going for Gold begins with 17-year-old Emma (Kelli Berglund) moving to Adelaide from California with her father, who’s in the air force. Emma and her father are welcomed into their home by fellow air force officer Susan (Jo Stone) and her daughter Hannah (Emily Morris), who live next door. Hannah and Emily soon become friends, and Hannah persuades Emily to join her gymnastics group. The group has grown smaller recently because several girls have followed Abi (Elysia Markou) and Charlotte (Daisy Anderson) into cheerleading.

Emma has not done gymnastics before, but she was in a cheerleading squad in California. She manages to convince Hannah’s group to become cheerleaders too. They go on to compete in the National Competitions against Abi’s group.

Themes

Cheerleading; sport; competition

Violence

There’s no physical violence in Going for Gold, but there’s a lot of verbal hostility and nastiness between the competing cheerleading groups.

Sexual references

Going for Gold has some sexual references, including when two teenage couples kiss briefly.

Alcohol, drugs and other substances

Nothing of concern

Nudity and sexual activity

Going for Gold shows girls wearing brief costumes and heavy make-up for cheerleading.

Product placement

The following products are displayed or used in Going for Gold: Gorge Wildlife Park.

Coarse language

Going for Gold has some name-calling.

Ideas to discuss with your children

Going for Gold is a sports drama about cheerleading. It’s filmed in South Australia with a few nice shots of Adelaide and its environment. But the movie is badly let down by its poor acting, script and lack of storyline.

It lacks interest for children under five years, but children in primary school and young teenagers might enjoy the gymnastic and dance sequences.

The main messages from this movie are about the importance of working together as a group and thinking about how your actions affect others.

Values in this movie that you could reinforce with your children include teamwork.

This movie could also give you the chance to talk with your children about real-life questions like the following:

  • Why are Abi and Charlotte such nasty girls? Do girls always have to be jealous and competitive? Does Abi get what she deserves?
  • Should young girls have to wear heavy make-up and sexualised costumes to be involved in competitive sport?

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Raising Children Network is supported by the Australian Government. Member organisations are the Parenting Research Centre and the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute with The Royal Children’s Hospital Centre for Community Child Health.

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