History Series / MakeItOrBreakIt

* Payson Keeler: TheDeterminator and former top girl at the gym, who was poised to become the national champion until [[spoiler: a back injury nearly ended her career]]. Later, she reinvents herself as an artistic gymnast and slowly warms up to the idea of mixing gymnastics and romance.
* Kaylie Cruz: the SpoiledSweet GirlyGirl whose wealthy parents are founding members of The Rock. She was in a SecretRelationship ([[NoSexAllowed dating is forbidden at the gym]]) with male gymnast Carter before he cheated on her with Lauren. Kaylie eventually [[spoiler: becomes the national champion]] and develops an eating disorder to cope with the pressure. She gets better and enters a relationship with Olympic gymnast Austin Tucker.

* Emily Kmetko: NewTransferStudent, who was discovered at a Fresno YMCA. Her family lives in PerpetualPoverty, forcing ScholarshipStudent Emily to maintain a job at the local Pizza Shack (also forbidden at The Rock) while still training eight hours a day. She meets a lot of cute boys there. PutOnABus (literally) towards the end of season two [[spoiler: due to becoming pregnant and deciding to end her gymnastics career.]]

* BitchinSheepsClothing: [[spoiler: Wendy]]

** Payson experiences a [[spoiler: near-career ending injury at Nationals and her family goes into severe debt to pay for the experimental procedure that allows her to compete again]], her father is forced to take a job in a different state to pay their bills, she is publicly humiliated when a heavily edited video of her kissing Sasha leaks, and she [[spoiler: injures her ankle during a crucial moment at Worlds, nearly costing the US team gold and losing an endorsement deal.]]
** Kaylie's boyfriend cheats on her with her best friend Lauren, ultimately dumping her. Then her parents separate after her mother's affair with Coach Marty comes to light. Her biggest triumph of [[spoiler: becoming the National champion]] is quickly spoiled by everyone dismissing it as a fluke and she develops anorexia in her attempt to land difficult moves. She goes to rehab and her only friend there [[spoiler: dies of heart failure.]]
** Emily's had a difficult life, with her flighty mother frequently forgetting to pay bills and moving the family around to escape bad boyfriends, causing Emily to assume adult responsibilities at a young age. She finally gets the chance to become an elite gymnast but she is almost bullied out of the Rock by Lauren. After many ups and downs at the Rock, [[spoiler: she loses her scholarship after she's found out for having a job and almost loses her spot on the Nationals team when she is arrested for stealing medication for her sick brother. She finally makes the Worlds team by the skin of her teeth... and then she learns she is pregnant and decides to quit gymnastics entirely.]]
* ButICantBePregnant: [[spoiler: Emily is shocked that she got pregnant after having sex with Damon only one time and having only one period in her life.]]

** Played with in Season 1, when Kelly badmouths Payson for taking cortisone shots (which technically are legal and not cheating), implying that they are basically steroids. [[spoiler: Even after learning Kelly is a hypocrite who takes cortisone herself, Payson forgoes one last shot and breaks her back. Kelly suffers no consequences for talking Payson out of the shot.]]
** In season 3, [[spoiler: Wendy tries to sabotage Kaylie's bid for the Olympics team by giving her drugged smoothies and ''almost'' succeeds before Lauren finds proof that exonerates Kaylie and gets Wendy disqualified.]]

* DarkHorseVictory: [[spoiler: Kaylie somehow manages to defeat Kelly Parker and win Nationals after Payson is out of the competition, something nobody would have expected unless they picked up on the hints the writers were dropping all episode.]]

* ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin: [[spoiler: Especially after Payson "breaks it" (aka breaking her back) at Nationals.]]

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

* HollywoodHealing: [[spoiler: Averted when Payson goes to Los Angeles to meet with a specialist, who tells Payson that her back injury is inoperable. Then played straight when the Keelers meet with a Swiss doctor with an experimental miracle cure.]]
** Similarly in Season 3, [[spoiler: initially averted when Lauren is told her heart condition requires major surgery and she will be unable to recover in time for the Olympic trials. Then Payson finds a doctor with an experimental procedure that allows a quicker recovery.]]

* HonorBeforeReason: The main reason behind Payson's choice to not take the cortisone shot. [[spoiler: As a result, she breaks her back and nearly ends her gymnastics career.]]

* ICouldaBeenAContender: [[spoiler: Payson after breaking her back.]] Ronnie Cruz also acknowledges this, especially when her OneHitWonder comes up in the conversation.

* JustFriends: Emily with Razor, Payson with Nicky, and later Payson with Max. [[spoiler: Payson and Max briefly date but they eventually break up.]]

** Hand waved in "I Won't Dance, Don't Ask Me" in which Summer asks Sasha if he will discipline Lauren for stealing Emily's floor routine and Sasha responds, "No, I think it's pretty clear who won that battle, I think she's learned her lesson." [[spoiler: She didn't.]]
** Finally subverted in Season 2 when Carter not only starts calling her out on these things, but eventually has enough of her horrible behavior and breaks up with her. Additionally, Summer decides [[spoiler: she cannot marry Steve and become Lauren's step-mother after finding out Lauren sent the kissing video.]]

** Arguably Kaylie/Nicky/Payson qualifies, although Nicky [[spoiler: decides to TakeAThirdOption and leave the Rock to avoid romantic drama.]]

* MissingMom: Lauren's mom is a drug addict who abandoned the family years ago [[spoiler: due to Steve threatening legal action to keep her away from Lauren]]. Lauren initially claims she's a humanitarian in Darfur to save face amongst her friends.

* TheMole: In Season 3, the girls suspect [[spoiler: Jordan is sabotaging them but it turns out to be Wendy.]]

* NoBisexuals: [[spoiler: Averted with Max, who openly refers to himself as bisexual. However, his storyline is cut short as Josh Bowman left the show to star in the drama {{Series/Revenge}}.]]

* TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou: Payson to Kelly. [[spoiler: And then Kaylie ends up becoming the one who defeats Kelly.]]

** In Season 2, [[spoiler: Payson injures herself on the vault at Worlds and insists to Sasha that she will stick a one-footed landing.]]
** In Season 3, [[spoiler: Lauren insists on competing in the Olympic trials despite having recently undergone heart surgery.]]
* PutOnABus: Constantly happening to various love interests, particularly those who love Emily. First Razor leaves Boulder to go work as a roadie, then Damon leaves to go tour in Europe and constantly comes and goes as he builds his music career. For Payson, Nicky [[spoiler: decides to train at another gym]] and Max [[spoiler: decides to break up with Payson in order to figure out his true passion.]]
** [[spoiler: Then [[RealLifeWritesThePlot Emily gets pregnant]], much drama ensues, and she ''literally'' takes a bus herself at the end of season 2.]]

* RealLifeWritesThePlot: In Season 2, Chelsea Hobbs [[spoiler: became pregnant with her second child and thus the writers had Emily also become pregnant.]]
* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Payson gives [[spoiler: Darby, their replacement ''coach'',]] one of these after [[spoiler: the girls have their well-shaped rear ends handed to them by formerly unfancied rivals Pinewood and calls out Darby for trying to be their friend instead of their leader]].

* StrawHypocrite: In "All That Glitters", as mentioned above, Kelly Parker denounces cortisone shots as being basically a form of cheating but [[spoiler: is later revealed to be taking cortisone herself.]]

* TeamDad: Sasha cares deeply for his gymnasts: he threatens to ruin Carter's career if he makes a move on one of his girls; he wonders if Lauren has someone to talk to ''the moment he sees her''; when Emily's trust issues are revealed he promises her he's not going to leave; he punches out Marty when Kaylie tells him Marty had an affair with her mother; he works closely with Payson [[spoiler: for her comeback to gymnastics]]; and he tends to go PapaWolf if the girls' merits aren't recognized...

** In Season 2, Kaylie takes over [[spoiler: as part of her trying to take more responsibility as the National champion.]]

* ThrowingOffTheDisability: [[spoiler: Payson makes a full recovery after her back injury in Season 2 and in Season 3, Lauren recovers from heart surgery to compete for a spot on the Olympic team.]]

** Emily is the underdog gymnast at the Rock and she eventually makes [[spoiler: the National team and later, the Wolrds team.]]
** True even when the main cast aren't the underdogs [[spoiler: as seen when the girls lose to Pinewood - the WORST club team in the country]].

* TeamDad: Sasha cares deeply for his gymnasts: he threatens to ruin Carter's career if he [[OverprotectiveDad makes a move on one of his girls]]; he wonders if Lauren has someone to talk to ''the moment he sees her''; when Emily's trust issues are revealed he promises her he's not going to leave; he punches out Marty when Kaylie tells him Marty had an affair with her mother; he works closely with Payson [[spoiler: for her comeback to gymnastics]]; and he tends to go PapaWolf if the girls' merits aren't recognized...

* [[spoiler: ICouldaBeenAContender: Payson after breaking her back.]] Ronnie Cruz also acknowledges this, especially when her OneHitWonder comes up in the conversation.

* [[spoiler:NoBisexuals]]: [[spoiler: Averted with Max, who openly refers to himself as bisexual. However, his storyline is cut short as Josh Bowman left the show to star in the drama {{Series/Revenge}}.]]

** ->Kaylie: "Yes, I did a keg stand, which evidently was way more memorable than the gold I won at Nationals!

* [[spoiler: ThrowingOffTheDisability: Payson makes a full recovery after her back injury in Season 2 and in Season 3, Lauren recovers from heart surgery to compete for a spot on the Olympic team.]]

* ChildhoodFriends: Kaylie and Lauren have known each other since they were six and been on the same team since they were eight. Payson became friends with the two of them when she was twelve and her family moved to Boulder.

* AbsenteeActor: Creator/CassieScerbo in "The Great Wall" - justified in-universe, as her character Lauren is competing in China in that episode.

''Make It Or Break It'' is a series that ran on Creator/ABCFamily from 2009-2012. It follows the lives and fortunes of a FourGirlEnsemble of teenage female gymnasts training at "The Rock" in Boulder, Colorado. The first eleven episodes follow the girls in the two months before [[BigGame Nationals]], and then picks up afterward. The third and final season follows them at the training camp for the Olympics.

* Payson Keeler: TheDeterminator and former top girl at the gym, rival to the former national champion and likely to overtake her... that is, before a back injury at Nationals nearly ends her career.
* Kaylie Cruz: Current National champion and the daughter of the gym's founder and owner. She was in a SecretRelationship ([[NoSexAllowed dating is forbidden at the gym]]) with male gymnast Carter before he cheated on her with Lauren. Now in a relationship with Olympic gymnast Austin Tucker.
* Lauren Tanner: the AlphaBitch, oh, so very very much. DaddysGirl, SpoiledBrat, cheater, does {{Blackmail}}... never stops with the troublemaking, really. Enters a relationship with Kaylie's boyfriend Carter, causing the two of them to break up and destroying her friendship with Kaylie.
* Emily Kmetko: NewTransferStudent, whose previous gym was the Fresno YMCA. Her family lives in PerpetualPoverty, forcing ScholarshipStudent Emily to maintain a job at the local Pizza Shack (also forbidden at The Rock) while still training 8 hours a day. She meets a lot of cute boys there. PutOnABus (literally) towards the end of season two due to becoming pregnant.

* AlphaBitch: Lauren, of course. Ronnie Cruz also shows some shades of this in regards to the condescending way she can treat Emily and Payson's mothers.
* ArchEnemy: Kelly Parker, former national champion.

** Apparently, in this universe, no one had ever performed a triple back dismount off the uneven bars before Jordan Randall. In real life, Svetlana Kozlova of the Soviet Union debuted the skill in ''1990''. Brenda Magana of Mexico performed the dismount at World Championships in 2002 and got it named after her as a result[[note]]in order to have a skill named after you in the Code of Points, it must be performed at World Championships or the Olympic Games[[/note]], and Shantessa Pama of the United States also successfully competed it several times.

** The chances of ''anyone'' being able to teach themselves elite-level skills without an experienced coach is only a hair above zero. Emily would have been ''far'' more likely to put herself in the hospital even trying those skills than to get a scholarship to a gym like The Rock.
* AsHimself: In the season two episode "All or Nothing", Olympic gold medalist Nastia Liukin appears as a commentator at the meet the Rock girls attend in France. Apparently, she doesn't compete anymore.
* BathroomStallOfOverheardInsults

* BreakTheCutie: This depends largely on whether or not you regard Payson as TheCutie (she is, of all of them, the most idealistic of the girls and we later discover a penchant for lost puppies). The writers do seem to have it out for her: breaking up her family, monetary woes, public humiliation. [[spoiler: And then they break her back at Nationals and her ankle at Worlds.]] Seeing a definite trend here.
** At Worlds in her first time competing after signing a sizable endorsement deal which is based on her performance, she does poorly, and had the team failed to qualify for the finals she would, more than likely, have lost her the deal. Then in the finals she sprains her ankle trying to stick a vault landing. She redeems herself in everyone's eyes, especially her sponsors, when she attempts to vault with a bad ankle and sticks a one-footed landing.
* ButICantBePregnant! [[spoiler: Emily]]
* CheatersNeverProsper: Kelly badmouths Payson for taking cortisone shots (which technically are legal and not cheating), implying that they are cheating. [[spoiler: And after listening to her, Payson forgoes one last shot and breaks her back.]] And in the final season [[spoiler: Wendy tries to sabotage Kaylie's bid for the Olympics team by giving her drugged smoothies and ''almost'' succeeds. In the series finale, Wendy is disqualified]].
** In the pilot episode, Lauren changes the height on the vault in an attempt to take Emily out of the running for the National Team. While Emily does get injured at first, she manages to flawlessly execute her routine on her second try, beating out Lauren for the third spot on the team - something Kaylie rubs in Lauren's face.

* {{Delinquents}}: Ike and his friends.
* DisappearedDad: Emily's father, whom she describes as "not the type who sticks around." And Brian's.
* DisporportionateRetribution: Lauren seems to be a huge fan of this.
** She changes the equipment settings on Emily's vault out of feelings of jealousy, not seeming to care that Emily could get paralyzed due to this. Later on, she gets her father to hire a private investigator to try and get Emily kicked out of the gym for the same reason.
** She nearly exposes Kaylie's relationship with Carter and nearly gets the two of them expelled from the gym after Kaylie points out that Emily beat Lauren fair and square on the vault.
** She steals Emily's dress in the fashion show because she was angry at Summer for not letting her wear whatever she wanted to wear.
* DudeWheresMyReward: Very silly version of this: After Sasha implies that whoever got the most applause for their routine at the open house gets something, all anyone gets is extra practice on Sunday "because you've been working on your silly routines all week."
* ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin [[spoiler: especially after Payson "breaks it" at Nationals.]]

* [[SheIsNotMyGirlfriend He Is Not My Boyfriend]]: Kaylie is forced to say this about Carter repeatedly, given their SecretRelationship.

* HollywoodHealing: [[spoiler: Averted when Payson goes to Los Angeles to meet with a specialist, who tells Payson that her back injury is inoperable. Then played straight when Swiss doctor who has a miracle experimental cure]]

* HonorBeforeReason: The main reason behind Payson's choice to not take the cortisone shot. [[spoiler:As a result, she broke her back]].

* JustFriends: Payson and Nicky for now, though they both seem interested. [[spoiler: However, Nicky leaves the gym because of too much drama at the Rock.]]
** And now Max and Payson. [[spoiler: Not to mention Max and Austin.]]
* KarmaHoudini: Lauren always seems to bounce back somehow, no matter how atrocious her behavior is.
** As of Season 2, Lauren has gotten away with changing the equipment settings before Emily's vault and risking her getting paralyzed, breaking up Chloe and her father's relationship, manipulating Summer into breaking up with Steve and Sasha, getting Emily benched in France so that she could compete, stealing Kaylie's boyfriend and lying about it, stealing the necklace Carter gave Kaylie (a gift from his deceased mother), deliberately exposing Kaylie's relationship with Carter to Marty and Kaylie's parents, humiliating Payson and ruining Sasha's career by sending the kissing video to Ellen Beals, ruining Emily's custom leotard, stealing Emily's dress in Season 1, and stealing Emily's floor routine in Season 2, just to list a few. She does something every episode that in RealLife would almost certainly make her friends openly wonder why they keep hanging out with a complete sociopath.
** Hand waved in one episode in which Summer asks Sasha if he will discipline Lauren for stealing Emily's dance routine for worlds. Sasha responds "No, I think it's pretty clear who won that battle, I think she's learned her lesson." [[spoiler: She didn't.]]
** Finally subverted in the middle of Season 2 when Carter not only starts calling her out on these things, but eventually has enough of her horrible behavior and breaks up with her.

* LoveTriangle: Emily/Damon/Razor, Kaylie/Lauren/Carter
** also arguably Kaylie/Nicky/Payson, although maybe not as Nicky [[spoiler: intends to leave the Rock because of all the distractions he sees there.]]
** A slight one with Kaylie/Austin/Emily, though it's pretty clear that Austin's had his eye on Kaylie from the get go.
** And now it seems to be heading towards Emily/Damon/[[spoiler:Kaylie]] and Lauren/Max/Payson.
* ManipulativeBastard: Oh, Lauren. Try drinking every time Lauren plays head games with one of her supposed best friends or her father's romantic partners. You will black out.
** She probably learned it from her father.

** Or Kelly Parker. It's a wonder anyone has time to practice with all the scheming.
* MiracleRally
* MissingMom: Lauren's mom is a drug addict who abandoned the family years ago [[spoiler: due to Steve threatening her with an arrest if she kept trying to see Lauren]]. Lauren claims she's in Darfur.

* TheMole: In season four, [[spoiler: Jordan - or so the girls think, except it turns out to be Wendy.]]

* [[spoiler:NoBisexuals]]: [[spoiler: Averted with Max. Bar Max's assumed absence from Season 3]]
* NoOneGetsLeftBehind: The girls all risk not making it to Nationals in order to get Kaylie on that bus.

** -->Kaylie: Yes, I did a keg stand, which evidently was way more memorable than the gold I won at Nationals!
* TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou: Payson to Kelly. [[spoiler: Or so people think.]]
* OpposingSportsTeam: Denver Elite, the rival top gym (which also stole several Rock members and a coach), which has Kelly Parker. Also China.
* ParentWithNewParamour: Steve Tanner proposes marriage to his assistant Summer. He kept their dating a secret from Lauren, then after promising her he wouldn't propose, immediately proposed to Summer. Later dates Chloe and Lauren continues to make with the drama about it.
* ParentalSubstitute: Summer tries her best to do this for Lauren, who is totally ungrateful 95% of the time... until Summer has news about the whereabouts of Lauren's biological mother. Then she spends most of Season 2 trying to get Summer and her father back together.
* PutMeInCoach: In the pilot Emily has a very scary fall on vault thanks to Lauren moving the positioning of her spring board but then she's magically fine and repeats the vault.
** [[spoiler: Payson after she, like Emily, injures herself on Vault at Worlds.]]
*** [[spoiler: And later, Lauren after her heart surgery.]]
* PutOnABus: Constantly happening to various love interests, particularly those who love Emily. First Razor leaves Boulder to go work as a roadie. Then Damon who leaves to go tour in Europe and also Nicky who leaves to train at another gym. [[spoiler: Then [[RealLifeWritesThePlot Emily gets pregnant]], much drama ensues and she ''literally'' takes a bus herself near the end of season 2.]]

* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Payson gives [[spoiler:Darby - their ''coach'' (replacing Sasha) -]] one of these after [[spoiler: the girls have their well-shaped rear ends handed to them by formerly unfancied rivals Pinewood]].
** Kaylie gives Lauren a very short but scathing one when she finds out about her and Carter having sex at the keggar. It drives her to tears.
** Lauren's grandmother gives Lauren one in Season 2 after she tries humiliating Emily and her mother during the dinner Steve Tanner was hosting. Like with Kaylie's, it drove Lauren to tears.

* SeriousBusiness
* ScrewTheRulesIMakeThem: Ellen Beals, oh SO much. "Oh, btw, I'm gonna fire your coach so I can take over as coach!" is particularly outstanding.
* SheFu: As cited in the trope example, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bz4Ru6J0Quo the gas station scene.]]
* ShoutOut: When Payson [[spoiler:vaults on an injured foot]] in the Season 2 finale, it is an obvious homage to [[spoiler:Kerri Strug's medal-winning vault in the 1996 Olympics]]. Explicitly.

* StageMom: subverted in this show, the parents for the most part are sane and want what's best for their kids, and aren't horrendously pushy.
** While Emily, Payson and Kaylie's mothers are very down to earth and supportive (but even Kaylie's mother has her moments sometimes), both Kaylie and Lauren's fathers are stageparents to the max. Kaylie's father especially wants to relive some of his glory days through his daughter.
** Played utterly straight with Kelly Parker's mother. Kelly mentioned being exploited for her talent by her mother since age 9. [[spoiler: To the extent that Kelly finally cuts her off.]]
* StrawHypocrite: In the extended eleventh episode, Kelly "Say No To Drugs" Parker is shown getting a cortisone shot of her own. "We all lie sometimes."
** Summer Van Horne pretty much all the time. Special mention to "Like Mother, Like Daughter, Like Supermodel" where Summer criticizes Steve for not telling her the truth about Lauren's biological mother, while keeping her own relationship history from him in return.

** And in season three, Jordan Randall is pretty much the new Emily Kmetko.
* TalentDouble: [[ObviousStuntDouble Very obvious]] use of doubling since none of the actors are gymnasts. Not only that, the skills the ''talent doubles'' are doing are usually much simpler than what they're stated to be onscreen, as anyone actually capable of doing those tricks is going to be busy competing on the ''actual'' US National Team, not talent doubling for a TV show. The routines are shot to hide this, but it's obvious to anyone who actually knows gymnastics. But at least they let ballerina Ayla Kell do her own dance routines.
* TakingTheHeat: Carter and Lauren both do this to save Kaylie.
* TeamDad: Sasha cares deeply for his gymnasts: he threatens to ruin Carter's career if he [[OverprotectiveDad makes a move on one of his girls]]; he wonders if Lauren has someone to talk to ''the moment he sees her''; when Emily's trust issues are revealed he promises her he's not going to leave; he punches Marty when Kaylie tells him Marty had an affair with her mother; he works closely with Payson in regards to her back injury, her rejection of her femininity, and her switch to an atristic gymnast; and he tends to go PapaWolf if the girls' merits aren't recognized...
* TeamMom: Payson's mom Kim manages the gym. After Kim goes on leave, Summer does the job.
** Payson starts out as this to the girls in Season 1 before her injury, something that's lampshaded by Kaylie.
** Then once Season 2 starts, Kaylie takes over.
* [[spoiler: ThrowingOffTheDisability: Payson's goal, and in the final season Lauren's.]]
* [[ToBeAMaster To Win An Olympic Medal]]
* TrainingFromHell: While this sort of thing is threatened frequently (everyone has to practice from 5 a.m. on! With no days off!), it doesn't seem to happen. In the real world the gymnasts would be training instead of standing around the gym talking. But then again, Sasha does get very pissy if he catches the girls standing around and talking.
** It winds up happening on the fourth episode of Season 1. As a punishment for going to the keggar, the girls wind up spending all day training and cleaning the mats. And if any of them get caught talking, they have to start all over again.
* TrainingMontage

* TwentyFourHourPartyPeople: the gym is full of extras who never interact or talk to the main characters.

* UnderdogsNeverLose: After several Rock gymnasts are left out of international competition against China, Sasha Belov "goes rogue" and challenges the Chinese team to compete against the Rock.The Chinese team still wins but the Rock team wins more medals then the official United States team, proving Sasha's point. Also Emily is the underdog gymnast at the Rock and she barely makes national team by the skin of her teeth (had Payson not been injured she wouldn't have made it)
** True even when the main cast aren't the underdogs [[spoiler: as seen when the girls lose to Pinewood - the WORST team in the country]].

* WildTeenParty: Two, in fact.

** Floor music is not under any circumstances allowed to have lyrics, particularly not at the World level. This rule is blatantly broken at Nationals and Worlds due to RuleOfCool.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/1200x627_q80_d8e8567d2196cb767855b5611bc7ca6a.jpg]]

* AbsenteeActor: Cassie Scerbo in "The Great Wall" - justified in-universe, as her character Lauren is competing in China in that episode.

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: Hot coach Sasha Belov seems to have more chemistry with his underage athletes and his happily married colleague (Kim Keeler), than with his canon approved partner Summer. [[spoiler: Then Payson kissed him...]]

** Carter's mother passed away due to unknown circumstances when he was still a kid.

** Lauren's grandmother gives Lauren one in Season 2 after she tries humiliating Emily and her mother during the dinner Steve Tanner was hosting. Like with Kaylie's, it drove Lauren to tears, especially when her grandmother ended it by saying that she'd "be doing you a disservice if I didn't tell you how disappointing I am in you."

* WildTeenParty: Two, in fact.
* YourCheatingHeart: When they're both pissed at Kaylie, Carter and Lauren have TheirFirstTime (or at least it's Lauren's). Carter regrets the hell out of it, Lauren, ah... wants to make sure everyone knows about it eventually. Then later regrets it.
** Ronnie Cruz also cheated on her husband with Marty Walsh, the coach at The Rock before Sasha.

* RoadShow: "California Girls" takes place in, of course, UsefulNotes/LosAngeles.

** NeverLiveItDown: In Season 2 episode 6, most of the jokes are about the time Kaylie got absolutely plastered at a party and did a keg stand all the way back at the beginning of Season 1. This winds up being lampshaded by Kaylie herself.

* TeamDad: Sasha cares deeply for his gymnasts: he threatens to ruin Carter's career if he [[OverprotectiveDad makes a move on one of his girls]]; he wonders if Lauren has someone to talk to ''the moment he sees her''; when Emily's trust issues are revealed [[SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments he promises her he's not going to leave]]; he [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome punches Marty]] when Kaylie tells him Marty had an affair with her mother; he works closely with Payson in regards to her back injury, her rejection of her femininity, and her switch to an atristic gymnast; and he tends to go PapaWolf if the girls' merits aren't recognized...

* Payson Keeler: TheDeterminator and former top girl at the gym, rival to the current national champion and likely to overtake her.
* Kaylie Cruz: daughter of the gym's owner. She was in a SecretRelationship ([[NoSexAllowed dating is forbidden at the gym]]) with male gymnast Carter before he cheated on her with Lauren. Now in a relationship with Austin Tucker
* Lauren Tanner: the AlphaBitch, oh, so very very much. DaddysGirl, SpoiledBrat, cheater, does {{Blackmail}}... never stops with the troublemaking, really.
* Emily Kmetko: NewTransferStudent, whose previous gym was the Fresno YMCA. Her family lives in PerpetualPoverty, forcing ScholarshipStudent Emily to maintain a job at the local Pizza Shack (also forbidden at The Rock) while still training 8 hours a day. She meets a lot of cute boys there. PutOnABus (literally) towards the end of season two.

* AlphaBitch: Melissa of course. Faith Abbot as well.
* ArchEnemy: Kelly Parker, current national champion.

* CheatersNeverProsper: Kelly badmouths Payson for taking cortisone shots (which technically are legal and not cheating), implying that they are cheating. [[spoiler: And after listening to her, Payson forgoes one last shot and breaks her back.]] And in the final season [[spoiler: Wendy tries to sabotage Kaylie's bid for the Olympics team by giving her drugged smoothies and ''almost'' succeeds. In the series finale Wendy is disqualified]].

* DatingServiceDisaster: fixes up Chloe Kmetko with Steve Tanner. Their old/fake photos didn't help any. Surprisingly, they actually seem to hit it off.

* DisappearedDad: Emily's father. And Brian's.

* ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin [[spoiler: especially after Payson "breaks it."]]

* [[spoiler: ICouldaBeenAContender: Payson after breaking her back.]]

* KarmaHoudini: Lauren always seems to bounce back somehow even when everyone is mad at her.
** As of Season 2, Lauren has gotten away with changing the equipment settings before Emily's vault and risking her getting paralyzed, breaking up Chloe and her father's relationship, manipulating Summer, getting Emily benched in France so that she could compete, stealing Kaylie's boyfriend, humiliating Payson and Sasha, ruining Emily's custom leotard, just to list a few. She does something every episode that in RealLife would almost certainly make her friends openly wonder why they hang out with a complete sociopath.

* MissingMom: Lauren's mom is a drug addict who abandoned the family years ago. Lauren claims she's in Darfur.

* ParentalSubstitute: Summer tries her best to do this for Lauren, who is totally ungrateful 95% of the time.

** While Emily, Payson and Kaylie's mothers are very down to earth and supportive, both Kaylie and Lauren's fathers are stageparents. Kaylie's father especially wants to relive some of his glory days through his daughter.

** Summer Van Horne pretty much all the time. Special mention to "Like Mother, Like Daughter, Like Supermodel" where Summer criticizes Steve for not telling her the truth about Lauren's mother, while keeping her own relationship history from him in return.

* TeamDad: Sasha cares deeply for his gymnasts: he threatens to ruin Carter's career if he [[OverprotectiveDad makes a move on one of his girls]]; he wonders if Lauren has someone to talk to ''the moment he sees her''; when Emily's trust issues are revealed [[SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments he promises her he's not going to leave]]; he [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome punches Marty]] when Kaylie tells him Marty had an affair with her mother; he tends to go PapaWolf if the girls' merits aren't recognized...

* TrainingFromHell: While this sort of thing is threatened frequently (everyone has to practice from 5 a.m. on! With no days off!), it doesn't seem to happen. In the real world the gymnasts would be training instead of standing around the gym talking.

* WildTeenParty
* YourCheatingHeart: when they're both pissed at Kaylie, Carter and Lauren have TheirFirstTime (or at least it's Lauren's). Carter regrets the hell out of it, Lauren, ah... wants to make sure everyone knows about it eventually. Then later regrets it.
** Ronnie Cruz also cheated on her husband with Coach Marty.

* TeamDad: Sasha cares deeply for his gymnasts: he threatens to ruin Carter's career if he [[OverprotectiveDad makes a move on one of his girls]]; he wonders if Lauren has someone to talk to ''the moment he sees her''; when Emily's trust issues are revealed [[HeartwarmingMoments he promises her he's not going to leave]]; he [[MomentOfAwesome punches Marty]] when Kaylie tells him Marty had an affair with her mother; he tends to go PapaWolf if the girls' merits aren't recognized...

* TalentDouble: Very obvious use of doubling since none of the actors are gymnasts. Not only that, the skills the ''talent doubles'' are doing are usually much simpler than what they're stated to be onscreen, as anyone actually capable of doing those tricks is going to be busy competing on the ''actual'' US National Team, not talent doubling for a TV show. The routines are shot to hide this, but it's obvious to anyone who actually knows gymnastics. But at least they let ballerina Ayla Kell do her own dance routines.

* ArtisticLicense:

* TalentDouble: Very obvious use of doubling since none of the actors are gymnasts. Not only that, the skills the ''talent doubles'' are doing are usually much simpler than what they're stated to be onscreen, as anyone actually capable of doing those tricks is going to be busy competing on the ''actual'' US National Team, not talent doubling for a TV show. The routines are shot to hide this, but it's obvious to anyone who actually knows gymnastics. ''And'' the show exaggerates the difficulty of quite a few tricks. For instance, Kaylie's triple twist from "Worlds Apart" is actually a standard level of difficulty for international competition[[note]]there is no way she would have become national champion without a similarly difficult dismount[[/note]], while Emily's Yurchenko 1.5 is today barely adequate at the elite level -- to compete and win on the international stage, a double-twisting Yurchenko or similar difficulty is the ''minimum''[[note]]Except for the Chinese, who rarely challenge for vault medals but make up for their low difficulty on the event in the all-around with truly astronomical bars and beam scores[[/note]].
** But at least they let ballerina Ayla Kell do her own dance routines.

* ArtisticLicense: Floor music is not under any circumstances allowed to have lyrics, particularly not at the World level. This rule is blatantly broken at Nationals and Worlds due to RuleOfCool. Additionally, for the sake of their own timelines, the writers take a lot of a artistic license when it comes to the gymnastics calendar, such as the lack of 2010 Nationals in Season 2.

* Emily Kmetko: NewTransferStudent, whose previous gym was the Fresno YMCA. Her family lives in PerpetualPoverty, forcing ScholarshipStudent Emily to maintain a job at the local Pizza Shack while still training 8 hours a day. She meets a lot of cute boys there. PutOnABus (literally) towards the end of season two.

* TheObiWan: Sasha Belov.

* PutOnABus: Constantly happening to various love interests, particularly those who love Emily. First Razor leaves Boulder to go work as a roadie. Then Damon who leaves to go tour in Europe and also Nicky who leaves to train at another gym. [[spoiler: Then [[RealLifeWritesThePlot Emily gets pregnant]], much drama ensues and she takes a bus herself near the end of season 2.]]
** In fact, the Male gymnasts at The Rock seem to be on a bus for a good portion of the season, only showing up when needed to cause drama.

* AsHimself: In the season two episode "All or Nothing", Olympic gold medalist Nastia Liukin appears as a commentator at the meet the Rock girls attend in France. Apparently, she doesn't [[StickIt compete]] anymore.