Ava Kim has been a varsity cheerleader for Pascack Valley since she was a freshman, but the team has been no stranger to her absence. 

Her varsity career, like the rest of her 11-year cheerleading career, has been plagued with unfortunate injuries. As a result, she has never even formally tried out for the cheer team.  

“Freshman year I dislocated my right knee, so I missed tryouts,” Kim said. “I had to tryout through videos of [myself from] sixth grade. Sophomore year was an odd year [because of COVID and] tryouts were different than anything else. Junior year I got eye surgery, so I also missed tryouts.”

Kim will have to miss out on tryouts for her senior year too, as she recovers from a dislocated left knee she suffered at the end of this past cheer season, an injury which she suffered five years earlier as well. 

“Timeline wise it was inconvenient for me because I dislocated it on the last competition of the year,” Kim said. “The recovery time is going to be four to six months, so I’ll be recovered for the beginning of the season next year, but I’m not going to be 100%.”

The recovery process always poses challenges for Kim, both mentally and physically. Not only do her injuries prevent her from doing stunts to her full capabilities, but she also has to overcome “mental blocks,” when she fears that doing a certain skill could result in reinjury. But above all else, Kim struggles most when she isn’t cheerleading at all. 

“I’m not a very patient person,” Kim said. “I hate the waiting time of the recovery; four to six months for me is really difficult because I love being active. Having to sit and wait without doing anything, with being in a brace for that long, is going to be difficult.”

Kim’s injuries have been so frequent that “each time sort of gets easier for [her], as sad as that sounds.” With so many setbacks, one would be forgiven for entertaining the idea of quitting the sport altogether. When this question was posed, however, Kim responded with no hesitation. 

“I’ve never had a thought of quitting cheer,” Kim said.

In fact, many of her friends and family have been the ones to propose this idea to her, out of concern for her physical health. 

“My mom especially is always afraid of me injuring my knee again, so she is always very worried when I perform,” Kim said.

Despite their legitimate concerns over her injuries, Kim’s friends and family have always been really supportive throughout her recovery. In particular, varsity cheer coach Kacey Terzini has been very considerate towards Kim’s situation.

“My coach has been very lenient and flexible with my injury,” Kim said. “If we need to correct or fix anything in the routine to [accommodate for] my injury she does that without a second thought.”

Both Terzini and her team had to quickly adapt when Kim got injured during the first round of the Big North Championship. 

“[Kim] is our center flier, so it was very hard to recover from her injury as a team,” Terzini said. “The team was definitely rattled after [Kim] got hurt, but they went back out there and performed again. This made me super proud as a coach [because] they were able to continue working hard despite losing a vital team member.”

While it’s hard to view frequent injuries in a positive light, Kim has taken away some wisdom to share from her experiences.

“My one piece of advice is to just take your time; it’s not as bad as it seems in the moment,” Kim said.