Thousands of dancers and cheerleaders descended upon Orlando, Florida to compete in “worlds,” but only a few walk away with a ring, banner, and the title of “World Champion”. One of those champions happen to walking the halls of the high school and her name is Hannah Weeks.
“I was still in shock when I won worlds because of my injury and I was in a lot of pain so I was a complete emotional wreck,” Weeks said. “I couldn’t believe it and I was holding onto my teammate and was crying so hard.”
During the worlds routine, Hannah hurt herself but kept performing.
Weeks performed in Orlando, Florida with her team, Powerhouse of Dance in Frisco and Dallas.
“I’ve never gotten hurt before so getting hurt onstage was very strange,” Hannah said. “I had so much adrenaline while performing so I didn’t feel much pain. I just felt it snap out of place and snap back into place and I saw it. I powered through when I looked up and saw my coach jumping up and down and smiling and screaming for us. I remembered him always telling us that ‘Pain is temporary’ and I knew that I had a job to do and that was to finish my routine. So I turned around, did my back tuck and let muscle memory take over and help me finish my routine.”
Hannah’s injury happened very fast.
“What happened exactly was that I was doing a lift and my base didn’t let go of my foot so I had to land on one leg,” Hannah said. “When I landed, my leg was straight and my knee popped out of place and snapped back into place.”
With all of the hard work that she has put in, her family thinks highly of her accomplishments.
“I think that her being a world champion is very deserving,” brother Garron Weeks said. “She works really hard for it and practices a lot. All her hard work really shows. She has great work ethic. Hannah can accomplish anything. She is a great dancer and I love her.”
She has great work ethic. Hannah can accomplish anything.
— Garron Weeks
Her family has been with her through everything and is proud of in many different ways.
“I am so proud of her for being professional at all times,” mom Sephanie Weeks said. “She takes practices, competitions, and performances very seriously. Hannah is extremely dedicated and passionate about dance.”
It’s something even her friends notice.
“I wasn’t really surprised that they won because I went to their showoff and they were super good,” freshman Kara Davis said. “I know that Hannah is at the studio almost every day and they work really hard.”
Hannah’s championship team, Street, practices a lot at the studio.
Hannah Weeks poses with her first place world championship trophy. She is wearing a brace after hurting her knee during the performance.
“My team has trained this season for five days a week for anywhere from 3-9 hours a day,” Hannah said. “We have been conditioning, practicing, and constantly learning more styles and elements to help our routine.”
Having reached a pinnacle of the competitive cheer world, Hannah knows what it takes to get to the top.
“For kids that are striving to be dancers, I want to remind them that they can do anything they want to do if they have a good work ethic and they take their work seriously,” Hannah said. “Nothing is impossible, but it will be impossible if you have a lazy work ethic and a bad attitude.”
Todd Weeks • May 6, 2015 at 5:22 pm
As Hannah’s dad, I just want to say that she has been a real trooper through this whole ordeal. Her dedication to her team and the sport of dance is obvious when she powers through a major injury in the middle of a routine. I also tore my ACL when I was younger so I know what she’s going through and can only say that if she approaches rehab with the same intensity as dance, she’ll come back stronger than ever!
Lastly, my hats off to The Red Ledger! You guys truly provide excellent journalism and are dialed into the pulse of our community. You should be very proud indeed.