Midlife cheerleaders of Ukraine refuse to be defeated by warfare : NPR

[ad_1] <img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/7008x4672+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F00%2Fe8%2F6df8a7a0430c9252bf5f29dfca84%2Fdsc04449.jpg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/7008x4672+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F00%2Fe8%2F6df8a7a0430c9252bf5f29dfca84%2Fdsc04449.jpg" class="img" alt="The Sunrise cheerleading team from Kharkiv, Ukraine, competes in the Ukraine Cheer Cup competition in the capital, Kyiv, on Dec. 13, 2025." fetchpriority="high"/> The Dawn cheerleading group from Kharkiv, Ukraine, competes within the Ukraine Cheer Cup competitors within the capital, Kyiv, on Dec. 13, 2025. Anton Shtuka for NPR cover caption

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Anton Shtuka for NPR KHARKIV, Ukraine — In a mirrored basement studio on this front-line metropolis, seven ladies are practising leaping splits.

They're of their 50s and 60s — some have grandchildren. They put on matching Ukraine T-shirts and shake silvery pompoms to the beat of "She's A Girl" by Tom Jones.

That is Dawn, a aggressive cheerleading squad. They've embraced this feel-good American sport as a means to deal with excessive stress and anxiousness throughout 4 years of Russia's all-out warfare on Ukraine.

"We practice it doesn't matter what," says Iryna Nesterenko, the squad's captain. "When it is darkish, and we're strolling by the road whereas all the pieces is burning. When there isn't any mild. I inform my women: 'We're the sunshine.'"

Nesterenko, the squad's captain, explains why they selected Dawn as their identify.

"We was once afraid of the dawn," she says. "The warfare started at daybreak. We had been usually bombed at daybreak. However I didn't need us to be afraid. I needed us to discover a approach to rejoice."

<img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/7008x4672+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fdd%2F00%2F89a63c5f4904b81ceea785915fa4%2Fdsc05405.jpg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/7008x4672+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fdd%2F00%2F89a63c5f4904b81ceea785915fa4%2Fdsc05405.jpg" class="img" alt="Sunrise cheerleading team members Iryna Nesterenko, 63, sports trainer (left), and Olena Zolotchenko, 57, beauty worker (right), are applying makeup before a performance in Kyiv during Ukraine Cheer Cup competition on Dec. 13, 2025." loading="lazy"/> Iryna Nesterenko, 63, (left), captain of the Dawn cheerleading squad, and group member Olena Zolotchenko, 57, apply make-up earlier than they compete in Kyiv in the course of the Ukraine Cheer Cup competitors on Dec. 13, 2025. Anton Shtuka for NPR cover caption

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Anton Shtuka for NPR Since Ukraine turned a contemporary impartial state in 1991, after the autumn of the Soviet Union, it has embraced American tradition. Cheerleading started its rise 20 years in the past and has surged in recognition for the reason that full-scale warfare, says Andriy Bolyak, president of the Cheerleading and Cheer Sport Federation of Ukraine.

He says many squads fled the nation after the 2022 Russian invasion.

"As of immediately, although, we're again to prewar numbers. That is as a result of we've got a number of new groups," he says.

Bolyak attributes the rise in cheerleading's recognition to Ukrainians in search of emotional respite from wartime stress and terror. Solely 4% of Ukrainians describe their psychological well being pretty much as good, in keeping with a January survey by Helsi, the biggest medical info system in Ukraine.

Bolyak says that although youngsters make up a lot of the groups, a number of new ones are composed of girls over 50, together with Good Women, a group profiled in a 2024 documentary. Like Dawn, Good Women additionally hail from Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest metropolis, the place Bolyak says a number of the first nationwide cheerleading competitions had been held.

<img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/6521x4347+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F65%2F86%2F27738f264842aff9d578425c0fcd%2Fdsc05494.jpg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/6521x4347+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F65%2F86%2F27738f264842aff9d578425c0fcd%2Fdsc05494.jpg" class="img" alt="Young cheerleaders sit around at Kyiv's Ukraine Cheer Cup competition. Sunrise is the only team in the over-25 age group." loading="lazy"/> The Cheerleading and Cheer Sport Federation of Ukraine says the game has grown standard for the reason that full-scale invasion, as Ukrainians search emotional respite from wartime stress and terror. Most groups are made up of women below 18. Anton Shtuka for NPR cover caption

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Anton Shtuka for NPR Town is simply 20 miles from the Russian border.

"We had been bombed each evening"

Nesterenko has lived in Kharkiv almost all her life. She's 63, a lifelong athlete who was once a aggressive gymnast.

She meets NPR at a Kharkiv tea home, together with two different Dawn cheerleaders and the group choreographer.

"How are you going to distract your self throughout a warfare?" Nesterenko asks. "How about exercising with pompoms?"

She sounds lighthearted however the reality is extra painful. The warfare has traumatized each member of the group.

Nesterenko remembers the terrifying first days of the Russian invasion in February 2022. Her dwelling was bombed.

"We hid within the basement for 5 days," she says. "Then our meals ran out, our cat meals ran out, all the pieces ran out."

She and her husband grabbed their cats and drove west. After they returned in 2023, after Ukrainian troops drove Russian forces out of the Kharkiv area, the town was not below imminent risk of occupation. Russia, nonetheless, was nonetheless always attacking.

Nesterenko's good friend Inna Skryl, a chemistry instructor, instructed her the strikes got here like clockwork.

"We had been bombed each evening on the identical time," Skryl says. "We huddled within the hallways. That pushed me into melancholy."

<img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/7008x4672+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F34%2F56%2F4111631c4e8090095b396e51a1a3%2Fdsc05088.jpg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/7008x4672+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F34%2F56%2F4111631c4e8090095b396e51a1a3%2Fdsc05088.jpg" class="img" alt="Inna Skryl, 56, a chemistry teacher and crew member of Sunrise cheerleading team." loading="lazy"/> Chemistry instructor Inna Skryl, 56, says becoming a member of the Dawn cheerleading squad helped elevate her out of a deep melancholy brought on by the fixed bombing of her hometown, Kharkiv, in Ukraine's northeast. Anton Shtuka for NPR cover caption

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Anton Shtuka for NPR The 2 associates quickly realized everybody of their circle was fighting excessive stress. Nesterenko noticed no finish to it.

"You assume, tomorrow the warfare will likely be over, or in a month, or quickly however no no no, we live with this warfare." she says. "So we determined to cease ready and begin residing."

"We'll heal you"

In 2024, Nesterenko introduced pom-poms to an aerobics class she was instructing to associates. One thing clicked.

"We moved as one, like a united Ukraine, all the pieces synchronized," she says. "And abruptly cheerleading was the one selection."

Cheerleading turned greater than a wartime sport to distract Nesterenko and her associates from the warfare. The group's first identify was Greatest Associates, Nesterenko says, as a result of the ladies lifted one another up, generally actually.

Halyna Plakhuta, a 63-year-old economist, had been a full-time caretaker in the course of the warfare and had grown bodily fragile. She instructed Nesterenko she had a foul arm and shaky knees and would make a awful cheerleader.

"I stated, look, is there something you are able to do about that?" Plakhuta says. "And he or she made a star out of me."

<img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/7008x4672+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F3d%2Fba%2Ffcff10ca45c585b62b8fc5cceebf%2Fdsc05493-enhanced-nr.jpg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/7008x4672+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F3d%2Fba%2Ffcff10ca45c585b62b8fc5cceebf%2Fdsc05493-enhanced-nr.jpg" class="img" alt="Halyna Plakhuta, 63, an accountant and member of the Sunrise cheerleading team." loading="lazy"/> Accountant Halyna Plakhuta, 63, had a foul arm and shaky knees when she joined the Dawn cheerleading squad. She had been a full-time caretaker in the course of the warfare and had grown bodily fragile. "Now I bounce so excessive, my granddaughter is impressed," she says. Anton Shtuka for NPR cover caption

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Anton Shtuka for NPR Plakhuta says she will now bounce excessive sufficient now to impress her younger granddaughter, who made good-luck amulets for the group once they competed within the European championships.

Each Monday, Plakhuta joins the opposite cheerleaders within the basement studio. They embody a physician, an accountant and a beautician who makes the group's costumes.

Natalia Pivovarova is a 59-year-old accountant. She cared for her bedridden mom as Russian assaults blew out their home windows.

Cheerleading, she says, has been the very best remedy.

"My associates overseas name me, saying they're depressed," she says. "And I say, come to Kharkiv. We'll heal you."

"Our greatest life"

Throughout a current rehearsal, the cheerleaders line up behind Nesterenko, who cues a medley for his or her routine. The primary track is by ABBA. The ladies smile and step ahead.

"We live our greatest life," Nesterenko declares. "We might practice underground, we might huddle in shelters from bombs, however it doesn't matter what, that is going to be our greatest life."

A number of weeks later, the Dawn cheerleaders arrive within the capital, Kyiv, for a nationwide competitors.

They put on navy-blue leotards and rub glitter on their faces.

"We at all times compete to win," Nesterenko says. "However actually, we've got already received."

It is a bit of a joke, since Dawn is the one group within the over-25 age group competing immediately. Nesterenko, nonetheless, is speaking a couple of symbolic victory, one which helped a gaggle of associates in one in every of Ukraine's most bombed cities to flex optimism like a muscle.

"Go searching," she says. "Hearken to all that pleasure."

The auditorium is stuffed with cheerleaders who're all many years youthful, some as younger because the Dawn squad's personal grandchildren. The cheerleaders shriek and clap loudly as the ladies of Dawn run to middle stage, able to shine.

<img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/7008x4672+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fee%2F24%2F0ad671da4369a173287b07b7656a%2Fdsc05606.jpg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/7008x4672+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fee%2F24%2F0ad671da4369a173287b07b7656a%2Fdsc05606.jpg" class="img" alt="The Sunrise cheerleading team performs at Kyiv's Ukraine Cheer Cup competition on Dec. 13, 2025." loading="lazy"/> The Dawn cheerleading group performs at Kyiv's Ukraine Cheer Cup competitors on Dec. 13, 2025. Anton Shtuka for NPR cover caption