She had been dealing with a chronic back injury for a few years and she was also sick the week leading up to competition so her practicing schedule was off. Her depleting confidence led her to miss both of her vaults and fall three times on bars. She felt defeated, especially since she had never fallen that much, even while practicing. 

The judges show their scores: 34.2

Viktoria Nejem only needed a 34.00 to qualify for regionals. Injuries could not stop her.

“I didn’t think I was going to end up getting to regionals at all and I knew I had to hit very good routines for floor and beam which were my last events and beam. I almost fell but I saved it, and then the next few weeks after state leading up to regionals I trained so hard so I wouldn’t repeat what I did from state,” Najem said.

Keeping a positive attitude helped Najem with confidence and her performance on each section during regionals to continue to nationals.

“Then, I got to regionals and competed with only one of my other teammates, and managed to win a few events and all around. So, I was the regional champion and regionals for this area consists of gymnasts from Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana and Kentucky. So, I was competing with girls from all of those states, and I won my age group and then got to move on to nationals to represent region five,” Najem said.

Najem had opportunities to meet and compete with different levels of competition which helped her learn new skills and ways to approach her routines.

“I kept training really hard so that I could do the same performance, if not better as I did at regionals, and it ended up paying off for nationals, I competed with a bunch of girls that I had just met and none of which were my teammates from my club, but overall it was a really great experience and I ended up getting second place,” Najem said.

Ariya Dharni, senior, saw Viktoria through her ups and downs as a student athlete ever since their friendship grew from having AP Bio class together.

“I’ve always seen Viktoria as a dedicated athlete and student. She spends a lot of time practicing for gymnastics. She would practice everyday for long hours and she would film and make changes until she had her routine down,” Dharni said.

Najem records each routine that she does in order to identify what she needs to correct to score high at meets.

“I remember we would sit in class and she would show me the videos of her routines and to me she looked flawless but every time she knew what she wanted to target that night during practice. That was something I liked, her ability to see areas of growth even if she had some failed attempts she would get back up and try again. I see her do this in track as well,” Dharni said. 

Maeve Ruble, sophomore gymnast, started her friendship with Najem through carpooling to and from Perfection Gymnastics while Ruble was in 7th grade and Najem a freshman.

“Overtime I began to look at her as a close friend and mentor. She has always been a strong leader and such an encouragement to me and our other teammates over the last few seasons,” Ruble said.

In gymnastics, physical injuries often contribute to mental struggles.

“Over the last few years Viktoria has had to patiently heal from physical injuries as well as overcome mental blocks. Both are unfortunately common for high level gymnasts. I watched as Viktoria dealt with physical pain and a lot of frustration over training difficult skills,” Ruble said.

Ruble watched Najem persevere with a positive and determined attitude throughout her senior season. She also witnessed her break multiple records during this previous season. Receiving a medal at her meets kept Najem passionate about her sport and not lose interest. In fact, she has been considering quitting the sport ever since fifth grade.

“I was really close to winning for all-around but I got second in all-around and floor and I was super proud of myself for that and it was a great season for me. I t also kept my love for doing the sport intact,” Najem said.