SuburbanOneSports.com recognizes a male and female featured athlete each week. The awards, sponsored by Univest, are given to seniors of good character who are students in good standing that have made significant contributions to their teams. Selections are based on nominations received from coaches, athletic directors and administrators.
Univest’s SuburbanOneSports.com Featured Female Athlete (Week of Feb. 2, 2026)
Seven words.
Seven words are all you need to know in order to understand how Nonku Waters approaches her passions. They are the key to her having quickly found her place in a sport she had never participated in before her senior year, and how she manages to keep her wits about her in situations where many others might panic.
“If I don’t do it, who will?”
•••
Despite having a packed slate between school, family responsibilities, and volunteer work, Waters decided she wanted to get involved in some sort of athletics in her senior year at Upper Moreland High School. Though she had participated in sports
such as flag football, volleyball, and softball as a child, she ended up deciding on something she had never tried before. “I did ballet when I was younger, but I had never done cheer,” she said. “But I really wanted to try it. And it turned out to be something I really love. It’s brought a lot of love and light and joy into my life.”
That doesn’t mean it was easy. Waters needed to find her place on the team and quickly learn and master the skills needed to be a contributor on the Golden Bears’ cheer squad. Safe to say, she did so. “You would never know she has never cheered in her life,” said Upper Moreland cheer coach Brooke Schasteen-Smith. “She has, from Day 1, been one of our most reliable, dependable cheerleaders. And this is one of those sports you can’t just jump in and master it right away. But for her to come in at this level, having never cheered before, it’s incredible to see how she jumped right in and how quickly she learned. And her attitude has been incredible. She never complains, she has a really positive attitude, she always wants to learn more and wants to master every stunt.”
The first order of business, however, was finding her spot on the team. Waters tried base, and even flyer, before finding her perfect spot at backspot. Often referred to as the “guardian angel” in cheerleading, the backspot is the last line of defense, so to speak. Positioned directly behind the stunt, the backspot must be vigilant and attentive, and must react quickly if a lift or throw goes wrong in order to provide support – and a hand or two – to catch or stabilize the flyer. “Nonku is so reliable,” Schasteen-Smith said. “Cheer is one of those sports where students can fall and it can be scary. Every time her flyer would fall from a stunt, she caught them. She’s the safest backspot we had.”
In addition to her studies at Upper Moreland, Waters attends Eastern Center for Arts and Technology five days a week. She started her junior year in the protective services track, borne out of a desire to serve her community. “We were in a firefighting unit, putting out fires at Abington training ground, breaking open houses and climbing ladders,” Waters said of some of the experiences she’s had. “I admire first-line people. I originally went to learn to be a police officer. We started working on a medical unit, and I realized I loved helping people. We started our EMT unit, and I started to explore the roles of EMTs as first responders. I started riding with the Second Alarmers to get more experience. I followed a physician’s assistant, and I realized it’s something I really wanted to do.” And riding with the Second Alarmers doesn’t simply mean riding and observing. Waters is hands-on in helping the EMTs. Once again, it all comes back to seven words. “It’s the same things as cheer,” Waters said. “If I don’t do it, who will? Someone’s body is on the line in cheer. As an EMT, it’s someone’s life, someone’s family, you really have to put your fear aside, someone is depending on you to do it. If I don’t, who’s going to?”
As one of eight siblings, being there for her younger siblings has also played a part in Waters’ desire to help others in the community. Her family also led Waters to become an author and budding entrepreneur. Last year, Waters designed and created an activity book on Kwanzaa to help community youth learn about the holiday. Waters is sure to broaden her horizons in the fall, when she heads to Springfield, Mass., to attend Western New England University. She was accepted into an accelerated program and received a scholarship as she looks to continue her path toward becoming a physician assistant while also continuing to participate in cheer.
To read Waters’ complete profile, please click on the following link: https://suburbanonesports.com/featured-athletes/female/nonkululeko-nonku-waters-00122816
Univest’s SuburbanOneSports.com Featured Male Athlete (Week of Feb. 2, 2026)
Declan Doyle won’t find his way into the headlines. In fact, the Abington senior doesn’t even see action in every game, but coach Dan Marsh cannot overstate Doyle’s value to a basketball team that is near the top of the District 1 6A rankings. “He’s always there for everybody,” the Ghosts’ coach said. “We were playing at Upper Dublin, and the game was almost over, and he looks at me and was like, ‘Yo, you’ve got to get the birthday boy in.’ He was talking about Daulton – it was his birthday. He’s just a great teammate.”
A ‘great teammate’ might sound cliché – in Doyle’s case, it’s anything but. Turns out Marsh sent out a group text asking his players to name the person they consider the best teammate. Doyle was close to a unanimous choice. “I think Declan might have been the only one who voted for somebody else,” Marsh said. That appreciation extends well beyond the team. “I put him in the game the other day, and the whole
student section just went bonkers,” Marsh said. “He’s just one of those dudes that everybody likes.” And how does it feel to receive such a rousing ovation? “It feels like I would imagine it makes my teammates feel when I try to lift them up,” Doyle said. “So, when I hear my friends and people I know cheering for me when I go in, it brings me up, and it makes me feel more positive, and then I can pass that energy on to my teammates.”
When called upon, Doyle contributes on the court, but it’s so much more than that. “He communicates with me, which is what I really want them to do the most,” Marsh said. “We had a player who wasn’t happy, but that player didn’t tell me. How am I supposed to know you’re unhappy unless you tell me? Declan is someone who will come to me and say, ‘You know, this kid’s unhappy – or whatever – maybe you should talk to him.’” Like every athlete, Doyle would love to see more playing time, but he put his situation in perspective long before he became a senior. “I definitely did have times where I was like – why even play?” he said. “I barely play even as a senior. The thing that kept me on the team the longest – and I’m obviously still on the team – I always made a statement to be grateful for even being on the team because every year at tryouts I’d look around, and there is like a hundred kids there, and after every tryout, I am one of the 20-30 people that gets to be on the team. Even if I don’t play, I’m just so grateful to be on the team and able to hang out with my guys in the locker room and at practice and stuff.”
Doyle played for the ninth grade team and then mainly JV until this year when he contributes in a reserve role. But it’s his contributions from the bench that set Doyle apart. “Our team has this big tendency to hang our heads and get down on themselves when we face adversity, and (Marsh) always talks about that,” he said. “Even if I don’t play good or don’t play at all, every time someone subs out of the game, I yell, ‘Stand up’ for everyone to high five them or be the first person to pick someone up if they hit the ground. I think when our team has good energy going, we play the best by far when we’re all positive. I just try to bring positivity to help my team play better.”
Doyle is one of nine seniors on this year’s squad. “He’s just a good dude who works hard,” Marsh said. “He’s 6-2, 6-3, and he’s one of those kids where I tell him – if he wasn’t at Abington, he’d probably be a starter or contributor at most schools. He can shoot, he can defend, but we’re guard strong. He handles it really well. He never complains. He never missed an offseason workout unless he has work, and even then, he communicates. He always asks me - what’s the schedule.”
Off the court, Doyle is a strong student. “Obviously, everyone says ‘student-athlete,’ and student comes first,” he said. “I actually do think it’s important – it’s not just something coaches say. I’m not playing college basketball, and there are a lot of people on my team who won’t. Being smart will take you farther than basketball ever can. I just made sure to keep that a high focus because I know it’s going to take me far in life if I keep working at it.” Doyle, who is involved in Abington’s Mini-THON and Link Crew, plans to major in business management.
To read Doyle’s complete profile, please click on the following link: https://suburbanonesports.com/featured-athletes/male/declan-doyle-00122817
- Log in to post comments
