The Moment I Realized That I AM the Cheer PT

Hello!!! Thank you for joining me on this journey. I am Laura Turner. I am a physical therapist, movement explorer and strength coach….and I AM the Cheer PT!

I have been involved in cheerleading since I was 14 years old. Basketball season of my senior year of high school, the coaching staff changed, and new skills were asked of us at tryouts. I didn’t make the team because my jumps were not at the same level as the rest of the team. I went to college with the intent to become a physical therapist. I didn’t know where I would focus my PT interests, but I liked the work. In college, I decided to step out of my comfort zone and try out again. I loved every minute from cheer camp to team bonding to football games. When basketball season came around, I again didn’t make the team because my skills weren’t where they needed to be. And once again, I was determined to be better. I was on the team after that because I worked hard every year to keep my spot. When we started to compete, I was hooked and knew that cheer was in my blood forever.

My grades took a hit in my 3rd year, and I had to repeat a year. At that time, my advisor suggested I may want to switch my major to one of fitness instead. That had never even crossed my mind before but it did plant a seed that would later grow. I went to Northeastern University, which was a 5-year program to start with. 6 years of undergrad was a big financial hit. I had also met my now husband and wanted to spend more time with him than to be at practices. So, my senior year, I chose not to cheer. I missed it so much that I started to coach a few years after college. I coached for 12 years and saw a lot of my team go thru the same struggles that I did when I was cheering. As a physical therapist, I knew that they needed to have a separate fitness routine to improve their jumps, tumbling, stunting and endurance as well as to reduce injuries, but in season it never seemed possible to do a full workout as well as practice. Conditioning in season usually fell by the wayside within the first 2 weeks. When I started coaching at the college level, I was able to coordinate with the strength and conditioning coaches a time for the team to go through training. I did see a change in their skills when this happened, but I left soon after they started.

I was away from coaching for a year when a former cheerleader asked me to come coach with her. I was soon working with the freshman and because I had been a physical therapist for a long time, I could see how the lack of strength, flexibility and conditioning really held us back in competitions, and also contributed to more injuries. I only stayed for 2 years because I felt I couldn’t provide what they needed.

Soon after, I went to grad school and did my comprehensive case analysis on cheerleading injuries. My research showed that taking athletes through a movement screen would not only identify a risk of injury but would also show ways that the athlete could improve their mobility and strength to be able to jump and tumble better. In the middle of grad school, I also started learning more about human movement and how the brain affects mobility. I started to piece together some of the reasons that I myself never increased my flexibility enough to hit that beautiful toe touch and why my team struggled with landing their tumble passes and jumps. I started to wish I was back working with cheerleaders not as a cheer coach, but as a movement coach.

It was as I was finishing my case analysis that I knew I wanted to open a fitness facility designed for cheerleaders. This would be a place that was focused on strength, mobility, and conditioning. They would not focus on cheer skills-that they would get in practice-but instead would improve their body outside of practice to allow them to be their best while in practice. We would incorporate movement screening into their individualized workouts that would be specific for their own needs. And we would program in a way that I knew would build strength on top of good mobility.

I started to get excited about having my own business, which is not something I had ever dreamed of in undergrad. I knew that having my own business would allow me the freedom to work with who I wanted and would build something that would help to support my husband and myself through retirement.

The downside of owning a gym is that it takes a LOT of time and money to start and keep running. Along with that, it is challenging to build a community especially when cheerleaders are so busy at practice. I started to realize this dream of owning a fitness facility for cheerleaders may not come true.

I felt defeated. I had dreams of working with the clients I really enjoyed being with. I was excited because I could incorporate the knowledge and experience I had been building and help cheerleaders continue to improve.. Now it felt like I had to give up on that dream. It felt like all the work I had put into learning about movement, and my vision of helping cheerleaders was all for nothing. I really liked my full-time job, but it felt like I lost a piece of my being because I was giving up on my dream.

Then Covid-19 happened. The company closed for 2 months. I continued to study about human movement and how to maximize a person’s potential. While I missed the interaction with my clients and the athletes I did work with, I found I really enjoyed working from home and having extra time with my husband. When my office re-opened, there were restrictions in the number of people that could be treated, and I still needed to be on furlough. I was sad because I really enjoy helping others to feel and move better.I was frustrated because I felt like I had lost my dream to own a fitness facility and I felt like giving up.

Then something amazing happened. I started to listen to my mentors who were telling me to find something I am passionate about and start to write about that. I consulted with some clients thru virtual visits and they noted we were making a big impact on how they moved. I realized just how much I enjoyed working online and how simple it is to build a fitness program virtually when you listen to how they feel. I started to think my original vision could actually become a reality without the financial risk. I started to realize that I could work with even more cheerleaders by way of fitness, than I could (due to licensing restrictions) via physical therapy.

So I decided to create the Healthy Fit Cheer System that not only will allow me to work with cheerleaders around the world and utilize movement screening to teach them to listen to their body while learning how to move more efficiently.

Creating this system wasn’t the full way out though. I had been away from coaching for 8 years. I didn’t know the best way to go about reaching cheerleaders and coaches. Were they even looking for someone to help with cheer skills by way of conditioning outside of practice? I wasn’t sure if they would actually buy into a new way of looking at flexibility and conditioning.

In the end, after binge watching Cheer on Netflix, I realized that although the cheerleading choreography and skills have grown exponentially, how cheerleaders move has not. Improving how pretty a jump is, or how solid you land a handspring tuck is the same as it was years ago. I realized there are plenty of online cheer communities that I can contribute to and I can also learn from. I also realized that I am able to create a virtual community that provides education on human movement and fitness outside of cheer practice. This meant that my dream of a cheer fitness community is actually possible.

When all was said and done, by creating the Healthy Fit Cheer System, I am able to achieve my own dream of continuing to work with cheerleaders, parents and coaches around the world, by helping them improve their jumps and tumbling as well as helping them stay healthy while achieving their goals. During this period, when we don’t know when we’ll be able to work together in person, the system provides a place to continue to work toward improving skills with a community and online strength coach to encourage along the way. Creating the Healthy Fit Cheer System has also provided me the means to continue to be involved in helping people achieve their movement goals while I am not in the clinic treating. Being able to help cheerleaders meet their goals at the same time as living my dream? #Winning.