EIGHTH-GRADE CHEERLEADER COMPETED ENTIRELY ALONE AND WON

Fourteen-year-old Jorgia Walls watched her entire eighth-grade cheerleading squad drop out one by one until she was the only one left. Instead of quitting, the Georgia teen decided to perform their two-minute routine solo at a regional competition and took home first place.

Jorgia had been cheerleading in the Peachtree Ridge school district since kindergarten. She started her eighth-grade year on a squad with seven other girls. But as the season went on, family and other circumstances caused her teammates to leave the team. Down to one person, her coaches gave her a choice: cheer with the seventh graders, or walk away with no hard feelings.

According to PEOPLE, the league’s cheer and football programs end in eighth grade, meaning this was Jorgia’s last opportunity to participate in the annual cheer off. She had been preparing for the event since July. As her squad dwindled, she sometimes even cheered on the sidelines alone during game days.

“(Walls) told me, ‘No, I’m going to do this by myself,'” coach Kenya Barbour told the Gwinnett Daily Post, according to Yahoo Sports. “I said, ‘Okay, we’re going to have to put the work in.’ And she put the work in.”

On October 25, 2026, Jorgia took the mat at the Buford Arena for the Gwinnett Football League Kim Massengill Cheer Off. She entered the eighth-grade small-team division, competing completely by herself against squads of seven or eight members.

The crowd of more than 1,500 people erupted as Jorgia nailed her routine to The Jackson 5’s “I Want You Back.” The teen performed without showing a single sign of nerves.

“I am a crybaby,” Barbour said. “It was very emotional. Very overwhelming. But very rewarding at the end of the day.”

By the end of the night, Jorgia was hoisting the first-place trophy for her division. The solo routine quickly gained attention online after a woman shared a video, captioning it “Bravest performance at Cheer Off.”

For Jorgia, whose parents originally enrolled her in the sport to help build her confidence and public-speaking skills, the experience was a complete success. “Follow your confidence; don’t get nervous,” she told CBS News. “Go out there and do it.”