Still recovering from a devastating injury, Trevor speaks about his battle back onto his feet and into the pool.

It was a warm fall night, with the sun just about to set. Junior Trevor Henderson was warming up for his cheer practice, just like any other night, when he came down hard on his leg, ending his season and leaving him unable to walk for months.

“I got to the hospital and I went right into surgery,” Henderson said. “It really hurt when they said I was done for the season.”

The injury not only hurt Trevor, mentally and physically, but it also hurt his coach and teammates. The impact he made on the team the previous year would be missing all season.

“Trevor’s injury was obviously upsetting; he had so much potential for the upcoming season,” Malvern diving coach Zach Burns said. “However, he maintained a presence on the pool deck that made the team, including myself, very happy to see.”

Henderson, the second youngest of five, grew up in Norristown before moving to Chesterbrook only a few months ago.

Having a big family comes when you have four other siblings. Henderson is not only a brother but is also an uncle to his two young nephews.

“I have two nephews. One is one and the other is four,” Henderson said. “I’m going to teach them how to do flips when they get old enough.”

Trevor learned how to do flips himself at 11 years old when his cousin introduced him to the cheer program that she ran, Skky Allstars.

“With cheerleading, I picked it up pretty quick and started to enjoy it,” Trevor said. “I started to do more and more and just excelled at it.”

Trevor’s enthusiasm about doing flips and eagerness to improve helped guide his decision to join the diving team upon his arrival to Malvern two years ago.

“I gave it a try because I’m used to doing flips and stuff,” he said. “What’s just doing a flip into the water?”

By watching Trevor dive off the board you can tell that doing a flip into the water is not much different than on the ground for him. Coach Burns said that he can see that as well.

“Cheerleading at his level takes a high level of strength, balance, and stability, all of which are essential skills for divers,” Burns said. “This allowed Trevor to excel at diving at a faster pace than most athletes typically would.”

It made not only the diving team happy to see him but the swimmers as well. Even without competing, Trevor brought spirit and energy to the team.

“I was injured all season as well, so we went through that together,” said teammate Connor Cary. “It was great for the two of us to just be out there with the team.”

Cary tore his ACL during football season and had the same struggle as Trevor to get back as fast as possible.

[perfectpullquote align=”right” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]“Trevor’s injury was obviously upsetting; he had so much potential for the upcoming season. However, he maintained a presence on the pool deck that made the team, including myself, very happy to see.”

-Coach Zach Burns 

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“Recovery has been going pretty well,” Henderson said. “Right now my leg is at 50% strength and once it gets to 75% I can start doing flips again, which should be in May.”

Doing flips off of a diving board takes a lot of leg strength, making recovery more difficult than in other sports.

“I’m a swimmer so my recovery was a little different,” Cary said. “I’m sure it takes more leg strength to jump off a board than to kick while you swim, so I can only imagine how hard that is.”

Cary and Henderson both are well on their way to a full recovery but they’re not there just yet. The next few months are crucial to come back better than ever.

“Coach Zach said he wants to get us in the pool at least once a week over the summer,” Henderson said. “It’ll be nice getting back on the board and into the water. I’ll enjoy that.”