Annabelle Daigle is a co-captain of the high school varsity cheer team at Imagine Prep, and even after experiencing a traumatic injury during a kick off performance, she is still filled with spirit.

Daigle started cheering in the eighth grade and has been on the IPHS cheer competition and sideline cheer team since her freshman year.

The cheer team is “like her family” Daigle said, and she is close to many of her teammates including her co-captain Julia Kupis, Samantha Marker and David Keesey.

Her father is very involved in her cheerleading and is known as the cheer dad on Imagine Prep’s team.

“My dad has gone to almost every game,” Daigle said.

At the first away game of the football season, Daigle tore her ACL while performing cheer kicks.

On her seventh kick, her knee rotated and popped out of place. Though she had been hurt, Daigle continued to cheer until the pain in her leg became unbearable. She told two of her teammates, Josh Morgan and Kupis, that she was struggling and they urged her to inform Coach Hunt and Coach Robinson. The next Monday after the game, Daigle went to see a doctor.

She was informed by the doctor that it was a hyperextension, which usually “heals with rest in 2-4 weeks” but Daigle and her father requested an MRI which showed that she had torn her ACL and would need surgery. When she received this information, she went to her cheer team and explained the situation.

Many of her fellow cheerleaders were devastated, but her co-captain Julia was “very upset”, Kupis said.  “Because Annabelle and I are very good basing partners and her health and safety is very important to me,” Kupis said.

Daigle’s surgeon, Dr. Brown, has told her that she will be receiving a minimally invasive microscopic surgery where they do a small cut reconstruction of her ACL. After the surgery, she will be on crutches for four weeks and in a knee brace for six weeks, and will not be allowed to do any major physical activity for six months. When asked if she planned to return to the cheer team for her senior year, she told me that she only planned to do sideline cheer because she does not want to hurt her knee again.

Daigle had surgery on Jan. 16, and she is currently in the rehabilitation process.

“I’m not scared of the actual surgery, but the physical therapy afterward is pretty nerve-racking”, Daigle said.

She spent her time on bed rest “catching up on her favorite shows”

 Daigle is the perfect example of bravery, strength, and commitment to her team, her coaches, and fellow cheerleaders look forward to her return as a senior next year.