After retiring from gymnastics, freshman Emma Roth decided to use her skills in gymnastics to help her on the poms team. Since she was 2 years old, Emma had done gymnastics and was on competitive teams at Gym Quarters and All American Gymnastics.

“I competed almost every other weekend in the winter, so I never really had any free time,” Emma said.

After spending 20 hours a week in the gym, Emma began having elbow problems.

“My bones rubbed together and wore a hole in my elbow. They had to take bone and cartilage from my knee and put it in my elbow,” Emma said.

After trying to return to gymnastics, Emma’s elbows began to hurt again. After two more surgeries, she decided to end her gymnastics career.

“When Emma quit gymnastics, I felt sad for her. Gymnastics was the only sport she had participated in prior to her injury, and she had been a gymnast for 10 years. I wish that she could have made the decision to retire on her own and not the injury making the decision for her,” Emma’s mother Joy Roth said.

Now that the sport that once occupied all of her time was no longer in her life, Emma looked to find a new activity to occupy her time.

“She has always enjoyed putting on shows and dancing at home so she decided to give dance a try. I encouraged her to get involved in high school. I told her she wouldn’t know if she would make the team unless she tried, so she tried out [for Poms] and made it,” Joy said.

The skills Emma has learned from gymnastics had proved to be a great addition to the poms team.

“Emma’s gymnastics is a great skill to have because I like to incorporate gymnastics within our routines for basketball games and competitions. I know if I need any sort of tumbling I can go to her with no questions asked,” Emma’s coach, Danah McCreary, said.

During the homecoming pep rally and homecoming football game halftime show, Emma did a back handspring, something she used to do daily.

“Gymnastics helped me become more flexible. I also used leaps and jumps a lot which are similar in gymnastics and poms. I learned my back handspring in gymnastics and they wanted me to do it in the homecoming dance,” Emma said.

Taking part in poms has helped Emma create a special bond with the people she performs with.

“Emma is so personable and I always see her talking and laughing with her teammates. When it comes to fitting in I think Emma gets along with all of her teammates. She is very friendly and is always willing to help others if they have a question,” Danah McCreary said.