By: Hannah Ahn

   While most high school students spend their afternoons juggling homework or work shifts after school, senior Aubrie Cunningham is juggling something quite different– her teammates in midair.

   The high school senior recently landed a coveted spot on Team USA’s Senior Women’s Group national team for the 2026 FIG Acrobatic Gymnastics World Cup series. At the competition, she’ll compete internationally against some of the world’s most talented athletes. The accomplishment also marks a major leap from her season last year, where she competed at the junior level. 

   “My experience last year definitely helped me train for this challenge,” Cunningham says. She helped bring home a bronze medal at the Flanders International Acro Cup in Belgium and a gold at the Burgas International Acro Cup in Bulgaria, both in the Junior Women’s Group category.

   This January, her gymnast trio was selected to compete in the Senior Women’s Group category at the FIG Acro World Cup series. The three-stage competition will take them to Maia, Portugal, in March; Puurs, Belgium, in April; and Burgas, Bulgaria, in May. At each stop, athletes will perform their balance and dynamic routines during two days of qualifications. The top competitors then advance to the final day, where they perform combined routines to compete for the title of World Champs. 

   Preparing for this level of competition demands a grueling schedule. Cunningham notes, “Training leading up to these competitions was very hard. We go to the gym six days a week for four hours each day. Everyday at practice we focus on 1 of our 3 routines in rotation. We practice dancing in the mirror to make sure it is synchronized, learn new skills in belt rigs, and do countless drills.” 

   Additionally, balancing such rigorous athletic commitment with academics requires careful planning. Cunningham treats both as equal priorities, making the most of her time in class and the single hour she has at home between school and practice to knock out assignments. When competitions send her halfway across the world, she reaches out to teachers beforehand to get work early or arrange ways to keep up with missed lessons, studies in hotel rooms, and keeps track of different time-zones to make sure assignments aren’t turned in late. It’s a grueling process, but one that has taught her a lot about responsibility and time management. “I think being involved in sports was definitely useful for me,” she says. “I appreciate the way it taught me to balance my workloads. In life, I’m both a student and athlete. To me, they are equally important titles.” 

   Yet her commitment to sports has often meant that her time slots for club and extracurricular involvements have been relatively limited. But this doesn’t stop her. Cunningham is currently a member of MRHS’s Creative Writing Club and Art Honor Society, and finds ways to indulge in her hobbies by hanging out with friends, drawing, and watching her favorite TV shows. “For me, my life right now is about re-adjusting,” she says. “Learning the best way to do things, not just the fastest or easiest. It teaches me integrity. I think that long-term commitments and hard work pay off, and being an athlete has really shown me this.”

   Cunningham’s athletic journey has been marked by trials of re-adjustment. She transitioned to acrobatic gymnastics in 2020 after spending years in artistic gymnastics. The switch opened her eyes to an imbalance in the sport. “I started doing acrobatic gymnastics in 2020 after years of doing artistic gymnastics, which is the kind of gymnastics that you think of with the beam and bars. After doing both, I could easily tell the difference in publicity and attention each gymnastics discipline gets. Disciplines like rhythmic gymnastics and artistic gymnastics get good funding, publicity opportunities, and fame whereas acro usually goes unnoticed and underappreciated. Additionally, artistic and rhythmic gymnasts get the amazing opportunity of going to the Olympics. Despite acro being extremely impressive and widespread, it is not included as an Olympic sport, denying extremely hardworking athletes a chance to represent their country on the biggest sports stage in the world.” 

   Cunningham hopes that by competing at competitions, she can introduce acrobatic gymnastics to new audiences and spread awareness about raising its visibility. In her free time, she helps mentor younger kids in gymnastics to help spread the word amongst new generations of athletes. “It’s been grueling at times to juggle both academics and athletics, but overall, I believe that it has made me into a stronger individual,” she says. Cunningham stays razor-focused on what matters: representing her country and her teammates at the highest level possible.

   From the classroom to the gym to competition floors all across Europe, she continues to try her best in all of her endeavors. It’s a commitment that has taken her from local practices all the way to the world stage, and one that will allow her to keep her momentum as she cartwheels to new heights.