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The Turners bleed Granger blue. Brandi Turner (℅ of 1999) and Grace Turner (℅ of 2026) have one final season to share the Friday Night lights and cheer mats together. Brandi has been the head coach of the competition cheer team for five years and serves as an assistant coach with the spirit/game day cheer team, while Grace is going into her senior year with the cheer team. 

“It’s so amazing to see how far cheer has come here,” Brandi said. “My senior year here was the first time that we had a competition cheer team. Now, two of my former students and cheerleaders are assistant coaches here.”

Brandi’s senior season was a memorable one on the mat with the inaugural competitive cheer team at LaGrange High School. Now, the mother-daughter pairing is looking to make Grace’s senior year one to remember.

“It’s still sinking in that I’m about to be a senior,” Grace said. “It feels like I just started cheering here (at LaGrange High).”

It was not so very long ago that Brandi was the one suiting up in the blue and white on Friday nights in the fall. In fact, when Brandi looks over on a Friday night in the fall and sees her daughter belting out a cheer, it reminds her of herself.

“It doesn’t even feel like that long ago that I was cheering on the sidelines, and now I have a senior with me,” Brandi said, laughing. 

While seeing Grace in a cheer uniform may spark memories of Brandi’s youth, the two are completely different on the sidelines and the mats. 

“She and I are very different,” Brandi said. “I’m very vocal and matter of fact and tell it like it is, while she is a people pleaser and sweeter and more reserved.” 

While the differences in personality are apparent, it rarely leads to conflict on the mats, though Grace sees it a little bit differently than her mother.

“I don’t think we butt heads at all, ” Brandi said as Grace’s face transitioned into an inquisitive look.

“You just don’t hear it, but I make comments under my breath, especially when you do something cringe,” Grace interjected. 

“I do love to embarrass her,” Brandi added. 

Grace has spent practically her entire life on the sidelines or mats, even if she was not a part of the cheer team. Brandi has been coaching cheer since before Grace’s birth, so once she came around, the mats were home for her.

“I think some of her first words were 5,6,7,8, just because she would hear me and all the girls keep saying that at practice,” Brandi said. “She started tumbling in elementary school, but then she broke my heart when she decided to play volleyball in middle school.”

Both the high school volleyball and competition cheer seasons are in the fall, leaving Grace with a choice to make. In middle school and her first two years in high school, Grace was committed to volleyball. This changed heading into her junior year. 

Grace started to feel burnt out on the sport of volleyball after the conclusion of her sophomore year. Brandi worked her magic and convinced Grace to come out for the competitive cheer team.

“All my back spots graduated, so I kept telling her that we needed her, and eventually she came out and she loved it,” Brandi said. “She’s been around it her whole life, so she already knew what to do.”

When Grace joined the competition cheer team, there was no taking it easy on her. Brandi knows what her daughter is capable of and consistently pushes her to be the best cheerleader she can be.

“She’s definitely harder on me than the other girls,” Grace said. “Even sometimes at home, I’ll be showing her what I’m supposed to do, and she will be like ‘that doesn’t even look right.’”

Grace’s time as a Granger cheerleader was nearly cut short. The younger Turner nearly gave up cheer as a sophomore. 

“I was really focused on volleyball at that time and wanted to quit cheer before my 10th grade year, but I stuck with it and now I love it,” Grace said.

A shocked look overcomes Brandi’s face. “I didn’t know you wanted to quit cheerleading,” she said.

“She quit volleyball and was bored and decided to come hang out at tryouts, and she did a quick stunt and nailed it perfectly, and I was like ‘yep, you’re doing this,’” Brandi added.

The 2025 cheer season is almost here, and the Turners are not focused on this being the last season together as Grangers, as to not get too emotional, but the duo is excited to make it one last run together on the mats.

“It’s been a roller coaster at times, and I don’t think people realize how difficult competitive cheer is and how much athleticism it takes,” Brandi said. 

“I have bruises and bumps all over me from stunting, but I wouldn’t want it any other way,” Grace added.