Cupar's golden girls: The Nicolson and Neville sisters bring world cheerleading glory home to Fife

The Courier

29-05-2025

When Cupar cheerleader Abbie Nicolson stepped off the mat at the annual International Cheer Union (ICU) World Championships in Orlando, Florida, heart still pounding and face still flushed from the lights, the last thing on her mind was gold.
Like many of her teammates on Team Scotland's adaptive abilities Cheer squad, she had come to soak in the experience. It was her first trip to the United States. She never expected to leave as a world champion.
But as the judges deliberated and finally announced that Scotland had taken gold, everything changed.
'If I could bottle that up and put it in a jar and keep that forever – it was just the best feeling,' she says, her voice still catching weeks later.
'It was amazing when we got called down as being in the top three. But then the minute we got announced as the winners, my sister Emily grabbed me and gave me a big hug. We all hugged.
'I was literally living the dream from being a little girl. That was the goal. In cheerleading, you can't get any better than that. So this was literally the dream coming true.'
For Abbie, 20, and Emily, 23, that golden moment was the culmination of more than a decade of training, sacrifice, and shared ambition.
But they weren't alone in their celebration. Fellow Cupar natives Hannah Neville, 25, and Evan Neville, 27 – sisters, coaches, and lifelong cheerleaders themselves – were right there on the mat too.
Together, the four women made history, contributing to Scotland's first-ever podium finish and gold medal.
For a team of just 30 athletes, having four from the same small Fife town was remarkable. For the Cupar community, it's a point of immense pride.
Both sets of sisters grew up in Cupar, attending Castlehill Primary and Bell Baxter High School. But they also grew up as next-door neighbours.
Emily began cheerleading around eight years old with the local Diamond Allstars Cheer and Dance at Cupar Sports Centre, coached by Bryony-Leigh Murray.
'A few girls from school were doing it, so I thought I'd give it a go,' Emily remembers.
'I tried other activities too, but Cheer just stuck. I loved being part of a team.'
Abbie was about six when she caught the Cheer bug.
'I used to tag along when mum dropped Emily off. At first, Emily was raging – she wanted something of her own,' she laughs.
'But I begged to try a class, and that was it. I was hooked.'
Eventually, they moved from Diamond Allstars to Glow Extreme Cheer and Dance, a club founded and coached by none other than Hannah Neville.
Hannah launched the business in October 2022. Initially a side project while at university, the club has since exploded in popularity, prompting her to go full-time by April 2023.
Working with her sister Evan, she now coaches over 120 girls weekly, with a further 50 on a growing waitlist.
Hannah's journey began at age two with dance, moving into Cheer by seven.
She later joined Fife's gymnastics team from ages nine to 13 before returning to Cheer.
Hannah lives with scoliosis – a twisted spine.
The adaptive category at the ICU Worlds requires at least 25% of the team to have a disability. But this doesn't hold her back.
'I have more pain than average, but staying strong and active really helps,' she says.
Other Cupar girls have gone for cheerleading glory in recent years.
Hannah was there last year when they finished fourth.
But to share this win with her sister and friends means so much.
'My parents, Lesley and James, are over the moon,' she adds. 'My mum has driven me across the country for years. It feels like I've made it all worth it.'
It's a sentiment shared by sister Evan, who studies photography at Fife College.
'Going to the Worlds in America was a dream in itself, but doing it with the three of them made it even more incredible. I couldn't have imagined doing it with anyone else.'
Selection for Team Scotland wasn't easy. Emily auditioned last summer, with training beginning in September.
Abbie, who'd auditioned before Emily, was originally a reserve but stepped in just six weeks before the competition when another athlete suffered a broken knee.
Even after making the team, there was constant work – training every Saturday in Glasgow, perfecting routines, pushing themselves, fundraising.
Both sisters were also juggling university studies in nursing.
Emily has been studying at Dundee University and Abbie at Napier in Edinburgh.
The adaptive abilities category includes athletes with and without disabilities.
Routines combine stunts, jumps, tumbling, and dance.
'It's like gymnastics – you're scored from the moment you step on the mat to the second the music stops,' Abbie explains.
Emily specialises in stunting; Abbie does stunts, jumps, and tumbling.
For both Nicolsons, it was their first time in America.
People at home in Cupar watched the livestream.
After advancing from the semifinals, Team Scotland waited anxiously during the final awards ceremony.
The moment the gold medal was confirmed, the four Cupar girls huddled together – 'screaming, crying and jumping for total joy.'
'There's this clip from the live stream,' Emily says. 'It shows the four of us hugging, just losing it. All the years, the early mornings, the injuries, the drives to Glasgow – it was all for that moment.'
Then came the medals, the national anthem, and something extra special: an ICU gold ring, awarded only to world champions.
Back home in Cupar, the reaction has been euphoric.
'I was at a local dance event the other week,' Abbie says, 'and strangers were coming up to me saying congratulations, asking to see the ring. I've never experienced anything like it.'
'It's a tight-knit town,' Emily adds.
'People from my work, the university, even my nail salon – they all watched the stream. It feels like the whole of Cupar was behind us.'
Cheerleading has been big in Cupar for some time.
But Hannah says it's 'wild' how interest has exploded since they returned.
Cupar councillor John Caffrey offered his 'hearty congratulations', adding: 'Cupar has suffered some knockbacks recently but as always it is the young people who shine through.'
For four ordinary young women from a quiet corner of Fife, is the kind of achievement that reshapes dreams.
It comes as the popularity of cheerleading, now recognised as an Olympic sport, continues to grow in the UK.
The Nicolson and Neville sisters have shown what can happen when passion, perseverance and a powerful sense of community collide.
And somewhere in Cupar, the next generation of young people is watching – and dreaming of gold.