International Business student helps Scotland win gold on international stage
A GCU student has marked her place in Scottish sporting history after winning the country’s first-ever gold medal at the Cheerleading World Championships in Florida.
Fourth-year International Business student Stephanie Holland teamed up with 17 other performers in April to claim the top spot in the Adaptive Abilities division - which brings together disabled and non-disabled athletes.
It’s been a long journey for Stephanie, who first got involved in cheerleading at the age of four. She said: “My mum was trying to get me to start some sort of activity and my sister did cheerleading, so it was the natural choice. It just stuck from there and I’ve been doing it ever since.
"I’m from Cumbernauld and I became involved with a team in Kilsyth. I then got the chance to compete with Team Scotland for the first time in sixth year at high school after they held auditions for cheerleading teams across the country.”
Despite the insecurities and societal pressures high school can bring, Stephanie stuck with her passion for cheerleading and reaped the rewards.
“Cheerleading was actually quite well thought of in my school because a few of the girls in my year did it. I think more people have also realised in recent times that there’s much more to it than the stereotypes of pom-poms; we do a lot of tumbles and stunts that require a huge amount of strength and cardio.
"There were points where I thought about giving it up because it was a lot alongside exams and also meant I missed out on things like parties due to training – but it was definitely all worth it to represent your country.”
The pandemic presented new challenges to Stephanie, however, while the rest of us were binging our latest boxset, Stephanie was working up a sweat via Zoom fitness classes. Her dedication was recognised by Team Scotland, who have now picked her on four different occasions to represent them at Worlds.
She said: “You have to audition each year to compete at national level and I’ve always just gone for it. This time around, I was emailed a certificate saying that I was successful and it just felt surreal after everything that’s happened over the last couple of years.”
With her bags packed and final year coursework completed two weeks early, Stephanie joined 120 other Scottish athletes on the journey across the Atlantic.
She said: “We were in Florida for 11 days in total and most of the time was actually spent practising and acclimatising to the heat. On the day of the competition, we moved to the Allstar resort, which is basically a big hotel where all the cheerleaders stay. ESPN was also broadcasting the competition, so it all felt like a big deal!”
The big moment then finally arrived, with Stephanie’s team competing in the Senior Adaptive Abilities competition – which saw them perform two routines over two days.
She explained: “It was quite strange because day one accounted for 25% of your overall mark and day two made up the remaining 75%.
"It was a lot of fun and I was thinking at the time that we would happily take third place. I couldn’t believe it when they announced us as the winners; to get Scotland’s first-ever gold medal was just incredible!”
Despite her stateside success, Stephanie has been forced to quickly land back on her feet in Scotland, with graduation just around the corner.
She explained: “I’m now getting to the point where I’ll need to make a decision on whether I continue cheerleading or not; I’m going to have to get a job at some point!
"I’d love to keep doing it but I’m also starting to get to that age where it’s beginning to take a toll on my body. I’ve just won a gold medal, so it might be nice to go out on a high but we’ll just have to wait and see.”
By Ross Clark
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