- May 28, 2013
- 125
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It was literally the break heard all around Worlds.
Competing with her teammates on Top Notch Cheer’s Queens in the Small Sr. 5 Division at the USASF Worlds Cheer Championship on April 25, 2015, Alayna Stewart (then 15) broke both her fibula and tibia bones in half, as she and two other teammates attempted a round-off/back-handspring/full tumble pass.
It would take 17 months, to the day, for Alayna to fully recover: last week on September 25, Alayna did her round-off/back-handspring/full for the first time since the accident.
But first she had to relearn all her skills, back to level one: even pushing out of a somersault was difficult. T
o watch the full progression and exclusive videos of Alayna's recovery, go to the CheerWeekAmerica Channel on YouTube.https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnajqfHQG-rxi6d6TKBP_UQ
Alayna, in her own words, “face planted the mat” and everyone in the arena and who watched the video that went viral soon after,
(SEE AT THE VERY END OF THIS BLOG BUT WARNING IT IS UPSETTING FOR MANY )
was horrified as she stood up and fell down again, her lower left leg bent at an angle and direction that a leg should never bend.
As the international social media site UPROXX's headline said: "This Cheerleader Suffered One Of The Most Horrific Leg Injuries You’ll Ever See"
“My very first thought was ‘Alayna, why did you just fall at Worlds?’ And then when I fell again, I thought ‘Alayna, why did you just fall again at Worlds?’" she recalls. "It was my instinct to look down and my leg was at a 90 degree angle and was just flopping."
As the music stopped and her teammates circled around her, to protect her from the onlookers, USASF spotters and stage crew sprinted over to Alayna. After emergency personnel stabilized the leg, she gave the crowd a “thumbs up” as she was removed from the arena on a stretcher.
“I remember someone kept pushing my head down, because I kept trying to look at my leg. I wanted to see,” Alayna continued. “I didn’t feel anything, I didn’t have any pain until about an hour later when I was at the hospital.”PHOTO BELOW.
In the age of social media, videos of the accident were posted throughout the cheer world(and at the end of this blog)and the accident called one of the most gut-wrenching athlete traumas ever, the likes of football player Joe Theismann’s 2013 career-ending injury, in which he also fractured his fibula and tibia bones.
“I was in so much shock, but I remember it very clearly, and of course there was the video that everyone was watching. I saw it too,” Alayna said.
She's had a year and a half to try to figure out what happened.
“I think, I was so pumped to be at Worlds, the adrenalin was pumping, and I was twisting out of the back-handspring early and didn’t get very high,” she recalled. “When I landed, I just took a dive. But I knew right away that I wanted to tumble again."
Alayna's mom, Anessa, was not present at the competion. She learned about the injury in phone calls and through the videos sent to her by friends who were in the arena. She flew from their home in Ohio to be with Alayna and was with her by the time her surgery was over.
But what happened after the injury impressed Anessa the most.
“I always knew Alayna was dedicated to cheer, but I didn’t know she had that true dedication; how devoted she was to it, until the accident” her mom told me.
“Even when she was in a wheelchair, she was at the gym every practice, she did not miss a single practice.”
Throughout her recovery, Alayna underwent another surgery. Six-months after Worlds when it was clear the bones were not healing and she was still not walking, despite the bone stimulators and supplements she was taking, Alayna had a bone graft (taken from her femur)and her orthopedic surgeon set a steel rod down the center of her tibia. It was very painful, Alayna says, but three months later, in January of this year, Alayna took her first steps (but wouldn’t walk, in her words, “properly” until a full year after the accident).
After returning to the gym in January she admits there were times when she took a few days off, maybe even stop for a week, but she said she never thought of giving up.
“I’d get down but I pushed through the pain,” she said. “I’d tell anyone coming back from an injury to ‘keep trying, you can do it, if you put your mind to it.’"
IN PHOTOS BELOW:Alayna, watches her team perform on Day 2 at Worlds: despite her injury, Top Notch Cheer's Queens were allowed to perform from the point of the accident and moved on to the semi-finals. The team did not progress to the finals and attended Worlds as spectators together.
In recognition of her courage, determination and extraordinary comeback, Alayna has been selected to be aCheerWeekAmerica LEADER. Her progression from the day of the accident has been documented on theCheerWeekAmerica YouTube Channel,including clips of her first somersault and round-off, along with her personal videos recording her thoughts and memories of the last 18 months. She will post videos regularly on the CheerWeekAmerica YouTube Channel throughout the season, and (hopefully) when her team the Top Notch Cheer Queens attend the 2017 Worlds.
CheerWeekAmerica LEADERSinclude athletes from high school, college and Allstars and will be featured here and inCheer! Magazinethroughout the season.
"This is a great group of athletes from some of the best cheer programs in the country, including Top Gun, World Cup, ProAthletics, Cali Allstars and Brandon" the CheerWeekAmerica team tells us.
"Like Alayna, these athletes are devoted to their teams and their sport and have received Worlds and Summit rings, Majors’ medals, NCA and CHEERSPORT jackets as well as many more Nationals and Grand Champs awards."
The CheerWeekAmerica team is bringing the same passion and enthusiasm to cheer that all athletes bring to it every day.
"CheerWeekAmerica is the online community unlike any other," they tell us. "The place where cheerleaders can post videos about what’s important to them; after all, no one can understand your work, determination, sacrifices and reward like another cheerleader. Videos of tumble passes, your bloopers that become your triumphs, interviews with your best teammate about what you love about your sport, tutorials about cheer hair and make-up...the CheerWeekAmerica channel is only limited by these kids' imaginations."
CheerWeekAmerica Channel link:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnajqfHQG-rxi6d6TKBP_UQ
You don't have to be a CheerWeekAmeric LEADER to post your videos on the CheerWeekAmerica YouTube Channel. Register to become a member atwww.CheerWeekAmerica.com. For $25 you will receive discounts from national sponsors worth three times that amount and be seen by college coaches and recruiters.
THE VIDEO THAT WENT VIRAL IS BELOW A VERSION THAT WAS TAKEN BY A TEAMMATE'S MOTHER IS POSTED ON THE CheerWeekAmerica You Tube Channel. WARNING IT IS GRUESOME, DO NOT CLICK UNLESS YOU ARE SURE YOU WANT TO WATCH, BECAUSE YOU CAN'T "UN-SEE" IT.
ALAYNA's BREAK HEARD AT WORLDS
It was literally the break heard all around Worlds.
Competing with her teammates on Top Notch Cheer’s Queens in the Small Sr. 5 Division at the USASF Worlds Cheer Championship on April 25, 2015, Alayna Stewart (then 15) broke both her fibula and tibia bones in half, as she and two other teammates attempted a round-off/back-handspring/full tumble pass.
It would take 17 months, to the day, for Alayna to fully recover: last week on September 25, Alayna did her round-off/back-handspring/full for the first time since the accident.
But first she had to relearn all her skills, back to level one: even pushing out of a somersault was difficult. T
o watch the full progression and exclusive videos of Alayna's recovery, go to the CheerWeekAmerica Channel on YouTube.https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnajqfHQG-rxi6d6TKBP_UQ
Alayna, in her own words, “face planted the mat” and everyone in the arena and who watched the video that went viral soon after,
(SEE AT THE VERY END OF THIS BLOG BUT WARNING IT IS UPSETTING FOR MANY )
was horrified as she stood up and fell down again, her lower left leg bent at an angle and direction that a leg should never bend.
As the international social media site UPROXX's headline said: "This Cheerleader Suffered One Of The Most Horrific Leg Injuries You’ll Ever See"
“My very first thought was ‘Alayna, why did you just fall at Worlds?’ And then when I fell again, I thought ‘Alayna, why did you just fall again at Worlds?’" she recalls. "It was my instinct to look down and my leg was at a 90 degree angle and was just flopping."
As the music stopped and her teammates circled around her, to protect her from the onlookers, USASF spotters and stage crew sprinted over to Alayna. After emergency personnel stabilized the leg, she gave the crowd a “thumbs up” as she was removed from the arena on a stretcher.
“I remember someone kept pushing my head down, because I kept trying to look at my leg. I wanted to see,” Alayna continued. “I didn’t feel anything, I didn’t have any pain until about an hour later when I was at the hospital.”PHOTO BELOW.
In the age of social media, videos of the accident were posted throughout the cheer world(and at the end of this blog)and the accident called one of the most gut-wrenching athlete traumas ever, the likes of football player Joe Theismann’s 2013 career-ending injury, in which he also fractured his fibula and tibia bones.
“I was in so much shock, but I remember it very clearly, and of course there was the video that everyone was watching. I saw it too,” Alayna said.
She's had a year and a half to try to figure out what happened.
“I think, I was so pumped to be at Worlds, the adrenalin was pumping, and I was twisting out of the back-handspring early and didn’t get very high,” she recalled. “When I landed, I just took a dive. But I knew right away that I wanted to tumble again."
Alayna's mom, Anessa, was not present at the competion. She learned about the injury in phone calls and through the videos sent to her by friends who were in the arena. She flew from their home in Ohio to be with Alayna and was with her by the time her surgery was over.
But what happened after the injury impressed Anessa the most.
“I always knew Alayna was dedicated to cheer, but I didn’t know she had that true dedication; how devoted she was to it, until the accident” her mom told me.
“Even when she was in a wheelchair, she was at the gym every practice, she did not miss a single practice.”
Throughout her recovery, Alayna underwent another surgery. Six-months after Worlds when it was clear the bones were not healing and she was still not walking, despite the bone stimulators and supplements she was taking, Alayna had a bone graft (taken from her femur)and her orthopedic surgeon set a steel rod down the center of her tibia. It was very painful, Alayna says, but three months later, in January of this year, Alayna took her first steps (but wouldn’t walk, in her words, “properly” until a full year after the accident).
After returning to the gym in January she admits there were times when she took a few days off, maybe even stop for a week, but she said she never thought of giving up.
“I’d get down but I pushed through the pain,” she said. “I’d tell anyone coming back from an injury to ‘keep trying, you can do it, if you put your mind to it.’"
IN PHOTOS BELOW:Alayna, watches her team perform on Day 2 at Worlds: despite her injury, Top Notch Cheer's Queens were allowed to perform from the point of the accident and moved on to the semi-finals. The team did not progress to the finals and attended Worlds as spectators together.
In recognition of her courage, determination and extraordinary comeback, Alayna has been selected to be aCheerWeekAmerica LEADER. Her progression from the day of the accident has been documented on theCheerWeekAmerica YouTube Channel,including clips of her first somersault and round-off, along with her personal videos recording her thoughts and memories of the last 18 months. She will post videos regularly on the CheerWeekAmerica YouTube Channel throughout the season, and (hopefully) when her team the Top Notch Cheer Queens attend the 2017 Worlds.
CheerWeekAmerica LEADERSinclude athletes from high school, college and Allstars and will be featured here and inCheer! Magazinethroughout the season.
"This is a great group of athletes from some of the best cheer programs in the country, including Top Gun, World Cup, ProAthletics, Cali Allstars and Brandon" the CheerWeekAmerica team tells us.
"Like Alayna, these athletes are devoted to their teams and their sport and have received Worlds and Summit rings, Majors’ medals, NCA and CHEERSPORT jackets as well as many more Nationals and Grand Champs awards."
The CheerWeekAmerica team is bringing the same passion and enthusiasm to cheer that all athletes bring to it every day.
"CheerWeekAmerica is the online community unlike any other," they tell us. "The place where cheerleaders can post videos about what’s important to them; after all, no one can understand your work, determination, sacrifices and reward like another cheerleader. Videos of tumble passes, your bloopers that become your triumphs, interviews with your best teammate about what you love about your sport, tutorials about cheer hair and make-up...the CheerWeekAmerica channel is only limited by these kids' imaginations."
CheerWeekAmerica Channel link:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnajqfHQG-rxi6d6TKBP_UQ
You don't have to be a CheerWeekAmeric LEADER to post your videos on the CheerWeekAmerica YouTube Channel. Register to become a member atwww.CheerWeekAmerica.com. For $25 you will receive discounts from national sponsors worth three times that amount and be seen by college coaches and recruiters.
THE VIDEO THAT WENT VIRAL IS BELOW A VERSION THAT WAS TAKEN BY A TEAMMATE'S MOTHER IS POSTED ON THE CheerWeekAmerica You Tube Channel. WARNING IT IS GRUESOME, DO NOT CLICK UNLESS YOU ARE SURE YOU WANT TO WATCH, BECAUSE YOU CAN'T "UN-SEE" IT.
ALAYNA's BREAK HEARD AT WORLDS
