Caroline Cofoid, a sophomore at Nazareth Academy, has been Irish dancing since she was five years old. Recently, she participated in the All Ireland Championship located in Ireland. This competition consisted of over 3000 participants total. Caroline competed against 102 competitors in the Under 15 age division. Of the 102 competitors, Caroline placed eighth overall. Caroline practiced between one to four hours every day in order to prepare for this competition. Aside from practicing her dance, Caroline also did Pilates, used a personal trainer, and did stretching exercises. This vigorous practice routine caused Caroline to fracture both of her shins.

Caroline said “Despite the pain, I knew I had to push through it. I went to physical therapy and iced them after every practice.” Pushing through the pain seemed to be an excellent route for Caroline to take. She has competed at the All Ireland Championship three times, and of those, this year she achieved her personal best score of eighth place for this competition.

As of this week, Caroline has competed twenty-seven times in seven different competitions. She has won the State Qualifier four times, the most recent time being last month, and she has won Nationals once of the six times she has competed. Caroline plans to continue competing in competitions all over the world, and hopefully she will go on to win in her next competition, the World Championships in London.