My Story Timeline by Shaelyn Auer

Sports

23auers — 2024-01-16 17:54:46 UTC

All throughout my childhood my parents told me to try as many sports as I could, there was one rule though. I had to finish the whole season once I started it. I played soccer, figure skated, volleyball, hockey, ran track, and Irish Danced all in the first years that I was able to in order to see which ones that I fell in love with. I continued soccer, figure skating, and Irish dancing for the longest

Bergenfield School of Irish Dance

23auers — 2024-01-16 17:56:57 UTC

My mom put me into the Bergenfield School of Irish Dance when I was 3 years old. My aunt and my mom both danced at this school when they were kids and since I was the only girl they wanted me to try it out. I was originally put in because my whole family is Irish and they wanted to have a cool party trick and expected me to only do it for a few years.

Broesler School of Irish Dance

23auers — 2024-01-17 20:12:13 UTC

At the age of 9, I decided that I wanted to go to a school that was harder and competed. I changed to the Broesler School of Irish Dance. I realized once I got there that I knew very little about the sport itself and just how hard it could be.

First Oireachtas

23auers — 2024-01-17 20:17:06 UTC

So at the age of 10 I competed in my first ever Oireachtas which was in 2014. So I competed as a Traditional Set Soloist. It was very intimidating especially because I was against about 100 other dancers. For the next two years I continued to dance a traditional set at the Oireachtas and the highest I had ever placed was 13th.

Injury

23auers — 2024-01-17 20:27:00 UTC

When I had just turned 13, I had an unfortunate mishap. I happened to dislocate my knee cap which caused other issues internally for me knee. The first question that I asked when I found this out what happened was when I would be able to dance again. The doctor was unsure if that would be possible because of the damage. I went through with the surgery and as soon as I could I went to PT.

First Oireachtas Back

23auers — 2024-01-17 20:32:37 UTC

I continued to do work to help get motion in my knee and practice as much as I could. I had decided to do team dancing as well as solos at that Oireachtas in 2018. We competed and ended up getting 10th out of around 75 teams that we competed against. I did not do as well as I had hoped in my solos but I knew that it just meant that I had to do more work to improve for the next year.

World Championships

23auers — 2024-01-17 20:58:23 UTC

The team was able to qualify for the World Championships that were happening that following March. This competition happened less almost a year after my surgery. There were 150 teams that competed at this competition and we placed 25th out of the whole competition so all of us were really proud of ourselves. I was really happy and I was really proud of all of us for all the hard work that we had put in.

2022 Oireachtas

23auers — 2024-01-17 21:09:00 UTC

I continued to put as much hard work and dedication into this sport as I could all throughout my high school years and continued to raise through the ranks. The 2022 Oireachtas, which was the weekend of Thanksgiving. When the time came for me to compete I did the best that I could possibly could. When it came to awards I ended up winning and had also qualified for the national competition that would be happening in Nashville, Tennessee in July of 2023.

O'Riain Academy of Irish Dance

23auers — 2024-01-17 21:16:50 UTC

My original teacher had retired so his son took over the studio, he decided that he wanted to change the name and changed it to the O'Riain Academy of Irish dancing, this happened in 2019

Denogla Academy of Irish Dance

23auers — 2024-01-17 21:20:11 UTC

My teacher and his wife decided that it would be best for them to combine schools with her family's school. Her families school was called the Denogla Academy of Irish Dance and we became that because it had been around for a lot longer