Hi everyone, this is my final story for my semestre long project. I Hope you enjoy reading it.
Ding, ding, ding. It’s May 2nd, 2025. The day that marks 10 years since Zoya tore her ACL and had to end her cheerleading journey. The second day of the cheerleading worlds has arrived, but that’s not what Zoya is thinking about. The only thing on her mind is getting through the day and continuing her everyday routine.
It’s 7:30 in the morning, and Zoya has just woken up. After scrolling on her phone for a bit and only seeing posts about her former team, she begins to feel things she only felt 10 years ago. Although, in order to not be late, Zoya has to get ready, eat her breakfast, and head to work a 9-5 as an athletic therapist. There she will help former/up-and-coming athletes get over their injuries, but most importantly, help them get over mental blocks and trauma that fill their brains.
After finishing her 9-5, Zoya leaves her office and goes to her weekly therapy session with her therapist that starts at 6 o’clock. Because Zoya lives in Florida, she can see cheerleaders walking the streets of Orlando because the cheerleading world is happening right then and there. When seeing these cheerleaders, she’s filled with many emotions, and one of them is sadness. She thinks about her time as a cheerleader and knows exactly what she’s going to talk to her therapist about.
As soon as she gets to therapy, Zoya sits down for her hour-long session and begins to tell her story. Normally at her therapy, she doesn’t speak much about cheerleading because it is a sensitive subject for her. She talks about her backstory, meaning when she was on her level 7 team flying and going to worlds. She talks about how much potential she had and how it ended so quickly. But what she talks most about is how she has tried time and time again to return to cheerleading, but it was never the same.
She states, “since my injury. I’ve tried my best to stay fit to stay confident and to stay motivated for not only myself, but also the clients I help at work. I try to think of the positives from my cheerleading experience, but mainly I try not to be sad. Even though it’s a really hard subject for me. Since my injury, I’ve worked out, and I’ve gone to an athletic therapist. I’ve gone to physical therapy to heal my body after tearing my ACL, but most importantly, I’ve tried a couple cheerleading-related things, flying occasionally and tumbling level 1 to 4 skills, but nothing like I used to. And that’s where it always gets me.”
After saying this, you can tell by her therapist’s face that she feels remorse and wants to help Zoya tremendously.
Zoya then states, “I don’t know what to do. Cheerleading with my everything, and now I can’t do anything. I’ve done everything I can, but it’s never the same. I really want to go back to my old team, but I’m too scared that I’ll fall again, that I’ll get hurt, and then I’ll never be able to do what I love again. Before my injury, I was a different person. I was a world champion. I was famous. I had a fiancé, and I was about to get married in a few months, and I had the career that I always wanted. It was perfect. After my injury, that all went away, and I closed myself off. Broke off my engagement and couldn’t do anything. To this day I still don’t know what to do. It’s been 10 years, and I can’t do anything.”
Shortly after Zoya left her therapy session, she was walking along the sidewalk and all of a sudden got swarmed by paparazzi. In the beginning, she was extremely confused, but as soon as she heard one of the paparazzi mention her, she knew exactly what it was about. It was about her injury. In previous years, Zoya was swarmed by paparazzi, asking about her injury and if she’ll be continuing her cheerleading journey. She never responded, but today she decided to; they asked her how she felt because it’s been 10 years since her injury. And she gave simple answers. After about 20 minutes, she was free to go and went home. Although she couldn’t stop thinking about what would’ve happened if she continued to push through after her recovery.
Later that night, Zoya got a call. It was from an agent wanting to set her up for an interview, which she was being asked to be a part of. After much consideration, Zoya agreed. The agent told her what she’d have to talk about so she could make points because the interview was just in a few days. He said that the interview would be her sharing her story, her injury, and finally her opinion on cheerleading being a sport. This question has been asked for Zoya to answer many times throughout her life, but she never knew how to answer it. However, after talking to her therapist and living the day she just had, she knew just how to respond.
The next day, I got a call from her agent, and the producer was on the other line. Her agent sent her through to the producer, and they started to speak to one another. When he first came to the phone, he was hesitant when calling about a sport. And Zoya thought when she was younger. When people would always say she wasn’t a sport, that was just a hobby. But she would never debate or argue. She said everyone was entitled to their own opinions, but now she thinks otherwise. Before getting the call from the agent that morning. She was going to give her opinion but also say everybody is entitled to their own. Doing the next few days and for her interview, she wanted to justify and not have everybody think something else. She wanted everybody to know what cheerleading was.
A couple days later, it was the day of the interview. As she entered the building and went on set, the makeup artist started to touch up her makeup, and she was sent off for her interview. They started with an introduction to her, including her name, her age, her sport, etc. But after this, she’s summarized cheerleading as a whole.
She stated when you first think of or mention cheerleading, you might think of pom-poms and a group of girls on a field cheering on a football team or basketball game. Some might say that that’s the only way to cheer, or that it’s only a hobby; nobody considers it a sport. They’re wrong. There are 2 types of cheerleading, all-star and sideline.
She continued with, “People only see the performance and runs we do, but nobody sees the effort and practice it takes to compete in these skills. It begins with long hours of practice, where the athletes train their bodies to be strong, flexible, and perfectly in sync for tumbling and stunts. The first few months of being on your team are some of the most nerve-racking. You feel the constant need to push yourself and prove to your coaches that you have what it takes to be put in the front and be on this team. But it’s not only the beginning of the season where this applies, though. You have to push to do this throughout the season to ensure you keep your place in the routine. During this time, it’s crucial that you don’t skip practices, as you are going to be required to choose cheerleading over everything as the season comes to a full start. As the season starts up, you can’t miss practice at all if you are sick, broken, or even attending a vacation that was planned; if you don’t notify the coaches a few months in advance, you are required to skip it and choose even practice over family events.”
After that, she continued to talk about her life before and how it was perfect, then her injury, then her post-injury, and finally the sport she loved greatly. She talked about her commitment to the sport, the long hours and the sacrifices, the performance, the season, and the feeling of victory. And then the cons of cheerleading. This thought goes back to before, when everything was simple, and her determination. And now after doing the interview, she wants nothing more than to go back to her old roots. She wants to give cheerleading another shot.
At the end of her interview, she finished off by saying, “Almost every time a cheerleader mentions cheer, someone always makes the comment that it’s not a sport and it’s just a hobby or art. But after reading this, what do you think? Is it a sport or just something you do for fun? As you answer both of these, keep in mind that words might be powerful, but try to imagine what practices or even seasons are, because actions speak louder than words do.”
After the show was over, Zoya was determined to become the woman she once was—a dedicated athlete and an amazing cheerleader. She went to the gym every day and started training like she used to. She went back to her old gym, and her old coaches, who were still coaching, welcomed her back with open arms. They pushed her and kept her motivated. Throughout this process, I continued to do social media over the years and had a big following. Much bigger than before. Although instead of just cheerleading and tumbling videos. She continued in her line of work as a physical therapist, and she would post sports-related therapy and exercise exercises and shout out specific cheerleaders and people she helped out in the past.
After months of training and two years later, Zoya accomplishes her dream; she becomes the woman she wants as she continues to fly, and over time her life becomes perfect just like it was before. She won worlds. She became the center flyer. For tumbling was amazing. And outside of cheerleading, her social life was also great. She was in a healthy relationship with her boyfriend, who proposed to her a month prior; they moved in together and adopted a dog. And she got back in contact with her old friends. Her life was perfect.
13 years later the interview she did went viral once again, as it does every year, and inspired many cheerleaders, but not only them, people as well. She continued to shine even after her retirement and inspired people all around the world to push themselves to their limit. Over time because of her hard work and dedication. Cheerleading was accepted as a real sport, and she no longer got the question of whether cheerleading is a real sport or not.
When Zoya was older and could no longer cheer, she decided to write a book about her journey up until the present moment. That not only inspired many people, but she was known as a superstar athlete all around the world. Zoya profited greatly off this book, and once her journey was over, she continued in her line of work as a physical therapist for not only cheerleaders but also athletes in other sports as well.
The story was meant to not only justify cheerleading as a sport. But also to show them that one simple injury could change someone’s whole life, whether it’s a positive or negative outcome. One injury can either make or break someone not only in cheerleading but also in other sports as well. I hope you enjoyed my story about cheerleading, and I thank you for reading it.
Hello Jennah Brar, your blog post has really inspired me mainly on the story you have briefly narrated to us. I agree with you that someone injury may make or break a person. I cannot wait any longer for your next blog post.