This feature has been supplied by Sally Maybury, who rose from the darkness after discovering cheerleading. She said: “I’m a nearly 40 year old single parent to two children. Rugby has been home my whole life. I’m about to embark on a new challenge in my professional life, proving that it’s never too old to start again. I’m a keen musician, and can often be found singing a song or two at the local karaoke.”

When I was younger one of my favourite films was ‘Bring it On’ a film full of cheerleading and I remember as a young teen watching these girls flip, dance and lift each other in the air thinking wow that’s something I would absolutely love to try.

But it wasn’t a thing in the UK back in the early 2000’s, it was just a dream I could ponder the hours away watching on TV.

Fast forward 20 years and cheerleading is now a hugely growing sport in the UK, with over 900 teams just in England.

Sally with daughter Robyn when their team won last year for the first time. Photos of the cheerleading 'family'.

placeholder image — Sally with daughter Robyn when their team won last year for the first time. Photos of the cheerleading 'family'.

I’m a single parent to two young children and always want to encourage them to try new things outside of school, so was pleased when my daughter took an interest in a local cheer school, and at the age of six she began doing a recreational cheer class with Roar! Cheer and Dance in Rugby.

If I couldn’t fulfil the dream I had all those years ago, I was excited that my daughter could and I would 100 per cent be her biggest cheerleader.

She’s spent years practicing her craft and is part of an amazing community of athletes and coaches, and I fast became friends with some of the other cheer mums from sitting on the sidelines, waiting outside classes each week.

In 2024 I was experiencing some of the hardest times of my personal life, I was mentally in a bad place and I was looking for something that I could make my own to help myself.

I went along to the annual showcase for Roar! Cheer and Dance to watch my daughter and see some of the other amazing teams strut their stuff and I was pleasantly surprised when some of the cheer mums took to the mat.

It was right there in that moment that I knew I had found the very thing that was going to help pull me out of the downward spiral I was in.

I spoke with some of the mums and the coaches after and said how much fun it looked and that I’d love to try it out, that’s where it all started.

September 2024 I started doing adult cheer classes, weekly classes of fun cheerleading; teenage Sally was bouncing up and down with excitement every week I went to practice.

As the year progressed we as a group got closer, and we started talking about the possibility of whether we could go to a competition.

A few questions later and a few minor details to sort with coaches and we were lined up to compete later in the year at our first competition.

Imagine my absolute delight rocking up to that competition in June 2025; I’d done it, I had become a competing cheerleader, just like the ones I’d watched in ‘Bring it On’ all those years ago.

Stepping onto that mat with my team for the first time was a scary experience, I’d never done anything like this before but as we heard the music and started the routine we looked at each other and within seconds we were performing just like the youngsters.

As the awards were announced at the end of the competition we sat close and listened in anticipation as we were given 1st place, our first competition, our first time competing, the first time Roar! Cheer and Dance had ever taken a Masters team to compete and we’d just taken away the top spot.

I sat and I thought of what a dark place I’d been in just a year before and I couldn’t believe how much one team of women and one decision had changed my life so much.

That was last year and this month we have just come back from our first competition of this season and yet again bagged first place. We are a force to be reckoned with and a team with big sights in eyes.

Twenty years ago I could only watch in amazement on the TV, but now I get to be a competitive adult cheerleader, not only is it a dream turned into reality, but it really is a testament that if you want something hard enough you have to reach out and grab the opportunity when it’s there.

Being a Coyote (our team name) means so much more than just the trophies though, it’s a family, it’s a group of empowering women lifting each other up day by day, standing next to each other on and off the mat being each others biggest cheerleaders.

To find out more about Roar! Cheer and Dance, visit https://www.roarcheer.co.uk/