Cheerleading
Favorite athlete: Simone Biles
Favorite team: Philadelphia Eagles
Favorite memory competing in sports: Our first competition when all of our stunts fit for the first time, and when we were done, we all looked at each other with the biggest smiles and jumped up and down happily then we won first place.
Most embarrassing/funniest thing that has happened while competing in sports: I tried to do a round off into a layout backflip and fell on my neck.
Music on playlist: Alternative rock
Future plans: To attend Western New England University and cheer while majoring in Physician studies
Words to live by: “If I don’t do it, who will?”
One goal before turning 30: To be a successful Physician Assistant and have my realtor license
One thing people don’t know about me: I love animals and one day I will own a farm.
By Craig Ostroff
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.
“Cheerleading was the only thing that wouldn’t cost me hundreds of dollars of equipment,” Waters said. “I did ballet when I was younger, but I had never done cheer. 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.”
And once Waters found her place on the team, she had to learn not only the ins and outs of being a backspot, but also had to overcome any hesitation regarding the very real and very common downsides of the position. After all, when a backstop is called into action, it’s typically because a stunt has not gone perfectly. And that can result in out-of-control bodies and body parts.
“There were two times in different stunts she was in,” Schasteen-Smith said. “She was a backspot, and one of the main things we do is a flip in this pyramid, and it’s pretty dangerous. Nonku got kicked in the mouth, her head shot back, but she’s still in there trying to catch for the flyer, and she gets kicked back. After the stunt, she’s looking at me with blood in her mouth. I took a look and said, ‘You have all your teeth, you just have blood in your mouth.’ She just swallowed the blood, wiped her mouth, and was ready to go again.”
Waters also suffered a shoulder injury during one stunt and was forced to wear a brace and sit out for a few weeks.
“Our flyer was learning a new stunt and I pulled a tendon trying to catch her,” Waters said. “But it was better than her falling, in my opinion. I was out for three weeks, I wasn’t allowed to cheer or do any activities, even though I asked them to let me. After a week I felt better, I still showed up to all games, events, and practices, just wasn’t able to be a backspot.”
It almost begs the question: For someone who had just started cheer a few months earlier, why suffer through all the bruises and injuries?
Waters’ answer … seven words.
“For me, it’s the simple idea, ‘If I don’t do it, who will?’” Waters said. “If I don’t catch them, no one else will. And I would feel awful if one of the girls who put their trust in me would hit the ground. It’s not just a team thing, it’s not just cheer – this is someone’s body, and they’re depending on you to save them from getting a serious injury, and you have to do it.”
And yet, it didn’t take long for Waters to fall in love with cheer. Unlike sports she had played as a child, there was something about the reaction to a successful stunt or routine that affected Waters in ways that other athletic endeavors never did.
“It was our second football game,” she said. “I remember doing some of our first stunts outside, we hit one of our first successful stunts and the crowd went wild. I was like, ‘This is something I could really do.’ And the first time in our first competition, we got first place, and just seeing everyone’s joy, seeing everyone’s hard work pay off … I realized this is something I could do for a while.”
Learning the skills and stunts were only part of the process. Waters was also faced with walking into a group of cheerleaders who had been together throughout high school, some since youth cheer.
Gaining acceptance into an already-established group presented another hurdle to overcome.
It didn’t take her long.
“I think the rest of the team saw how much of an effort Nonku put in, she was in every single stunt, and she became such a critical part of the team,” Schasteen-Smith said. “And she really wanted to show a positive example for everyone on the team, regardless if they had a better skillset than her or had been cheering for 8 years, she just wanted to be part of the team and do her best. That’s infectious. If she’s doing her best and I see her, I’m going to want to do my best as well.”
•••
When she’s not cheering, Waters has plenty to keep her busy. In addition to her studies at Upper Moreland, she 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 always wanted to care for my community and be able to help people so I went into Protective Services. I admire first-line people. I originally went to learn to be a police officer.”
But when she began a unit on EMTs, she decided that she wanted to help her community in a different way.
“We started working on a medical unit, and I realized I loved helping people,” she said. “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, started volunteering at Abington High. 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.
“I got to be a full EMT,” Waters saif. “Once I got cleared on my skills, I was able to do everything – took vitals, I would talk to the patients, ask them what happened, what’s wrong, apply pressure if someone was bleeding. I did the full thing.”
So how does a high schooler keep her head when dealing with serious injuries and victims who may be in a state of shock?
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.
The fourth oldest, with her youngest sibling being 2 years old, Waters has also had to learn to manage family obligations in addition to all her school and volunteer commitments.
“It’s definitely a family thing,” she said. “My parents are very selfless, but also as an older sibling, if my parents are busy, they do depend on me, and you have to be able to put other people first, especially in such a big family.
“There’s so many of us, so there are days I have to spend the day with my siblings. It’s always been a thing to be caring for them and watching them. At the end of the day, I’m always there for my siblings and parents when they need me.”
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.
“My dad came to me with this idea, ‘I want to teach kids about Kwanzaa. Can you help me make a book?’” she said. “He gave me an outline of what he’d like it to look like, and he told me, ‘I’m giving you creative authority.’ So I illustrated it on my iPad, printed it out. The book is to bring awareness and teach people about the holiday.
“I want to continue to make more books about different things. There are not a lot of books out there that represent my culture and teach kids about it, but also engage with kids as well as just teaching them. I’m planning on coming out with a line of books to do that. I go to events – Kwanzaa events, holiday parades, events you can come and bring your stuff and vend. I do pop-ups. I will eventually make a website. I need to research more to see how I can broaden my horizon.”
•••
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.
At some point, she even plans on visiting the campus.
Because while WNEU was among the scores of colleges that Waters looked into, it’s not one she visited before accepting.
“I know I should have,” Waters said with a laugh. “I took a virtual tour. But I took a leap of faith and committed. I’m going to visit campus over spring break.”
And while she’s not looking too far ahead, Waters knows that it won’t be long before she’s marching in the processional and saying goodbye to the classrooms and athletic fields of Upper Moreland. Despite her limited time on the cheer squad, Waters said leaving the team behind will likely be the hardest part of graduating.
“I think it might be the cheer team,” she said. “I’ve had a couple rough years at Upper Moreland. It was not always smooth sailing. But the cheerleaders were so welcoming. Even when I’d mess up early, they’d work with me, help me out, and lift me up. I’ve made so many good memories, whether it was events or practices, pool parties or banner making. I’m not going to find that anywhere else. I’m not going to find a team I bind with the way I bind with them.”
Certainly, the sky appears to be the limit for Waters, who has shown time and again that she is willing and able to do whatever is necessary to achieve her goals. And though she’ll be leaving behind her high school family, there are plenty of people who will be watching to see just how high she can soar.
“Nonku is truly one of the hardest-working individuals I’ve ever had the honor of coaching,” Schasteen-Smith said. “I am so proud of who she is and I am so excited to see who she becomes. She is someone that can positively impact people’s lives. She makes a positive impact wherever she goes. There are a large group of us cheering her on and seeing where she goes. I’m proud that she’s part of the Upper Moreland team and family.”
