Cheer
Favorite athlete: Angel Rice. She does all-star cheer. I remember seeing her for the first time when I was about 6 years old and I’ve been obsessed ever since.
Favorite team: The Lady Jags. I joined them when I was little. Seeing them dressed in their uniforms is always amazing, and getting to watch them at national comps is the best, too.
Favorite memory competing in sports: I’m not sure if I can pick a favorite. I have been cheering for the majority of my life, so this is all I know. I love making new friends and traveling with my teams. It’s always a good time with them, so I couldn’t just pick one memory.
Most embarrassing/funniest thing that has happened while competing in sports: When I was about 8 years old, my ponytail fell off my head while I was performing. Everyone laughed with me, so that I wouldn’t feel too embarrassed.
Music on playlist: One artist that makes up the majority of my playlist is Rod Wave. I love his music and really relate to a lot of the things he says. He’s also just a good vibe.
Future plans: My future plans are to attend a HBCU for four years, majoring in forensic psychology and continue cheering in college.
Words to live by: The words to live by are the words I got from cheer. They apply to real life, which would be to “push forward.” In cheer, we say to just “push” and also say “200 percent for your team.” The word “push” stays with me. No matter what life throws at you, it keeps going. It’s the same with cheer. You get injured at the beginning of the routine, you “push” through and fight for your team and get to the end.
One goal before turning 30: Receive a bachelor’s degree in general psychology.
One thing people don’t know about me: I don’t just cheer because I am passionate about me. At the age of 17, I don’t live the same life as most 17 year olds. I have lost my father and other family members to gun violence, so cheer for me started as a fun hobby but now is the best escape from reality. I don’t know what I would do without it.
By GORDON GLANTZ
There is a common misconception that cheerleading is more of a strenuous activity than a “real” sport.
Upper Moreland senior Sade’ Bond, the cheerleading equivalent of a 30-point scorer in basketball or a 2,000-yard rusher in football, has a message for those who think that way: No.
“I don’t know how people don’t see it as a real sport, even compared to football,” she said.
Practices, for example, can be long and hard on their bodies.
“We really love the sport, but I wish football players could really see what it’s like to be at a practice,” she said. “I know they wouldn’t get it, normally.”
Wearing ankle braces, Bond has the injury history to back it up.
“My first injury was a broken tibia in my right foot,” she said. “I’ve have many compressions and knee sprains. I’ve had dislocated shoulders. I have this ankle problem that’s ongoing.
“I used to wear a brace on my knee, but I stopped wearing it and I feel like I’m cheering better now without it.”
A Spectacular Athlete
Bond cheered for Upper Moreland as a freshman, but stepped away and just focused on her all-star (i.e. club) teams before coming back out for the school squad as a senior.
Coach Sarah Fullerton, who was not at Upper Moreland when Bond cheered as a freshman, was only aware of Bond through some informal open gyms held before getting an up close and personal look this year.
She literally could not believe her eyes.
“Sade’ is one of the best athletes that I have ever seen,” said Fullerton. “I mean, she’s just spectacular. She really pushes hard to do as much as she can with the team that she has. She really fills up her schedule with cheer and school and other things going on, but she is just a great all-around student-athlete.”
In the process of coming back to the high school squad, Bond was pretty much punching in for overtime. While she already cheered year-round, it is also the longest running high school sport.
“They are actually both on the same day,” said Bond, whose other team is Cheer Athletics Philadelphia, which recently merged with Dynasty Spirit Elite All-Stars. “It doesn’t really work, but I make it work.
“I may come home, take a nap really quick, and by 4:30, I’m on my way to cheer practice at school. That practice doesn’t end until, like, 7:45. My other practice starts at 7 o’clock, and it’s down in North Philadelphia. I have to leave early from school cheer to get to that gym.”
This is only sampling of the juggling act involved in being an elite cheerleader.
Informal practices begin in the summer, followed by tryouts in August. Football season in the fall is followed by simultaneous cheering for basketball and cheer competitions.
As the football season now merges into basketball/competition, Bond has ascended up the leadership ladder.
“She is one of our team leaders this year, which is the same as captain, along with two other girls,” said Fullerton. “She has just been showing a great leadership aspect when it comes to showing skills to the other girls. She keeps showing us new things that we never tried before. She’s a great team leader. She really helps out at practice.”
For Bond, she said it was process of integrating herself with the school squad and she slowly had to take on that leadership role.
“At first, I was a little bit worried that I wouldn’t feel like a leader,” said Bond. “I hadn’t been on the teamthe whole time. Other people, like juniors, had been on the team for three years. I didn’t cheer for two years, but then I was back on the team. I thought people would be weird, but they were actually pretty welcoming.”
This has helped her, overall, to be acclimated to the school environment. Through cheerleading, she has become less isolated.
“My sophomore and junior years were really hard,” she said. “I felt like I didn’t really have a lot of friends. Now, I have a lot more friends, and it’s mostly through cheer. It helped a lot.”
While she has traveled up to 20 times to Florida and twice to Las Vegas, the bus rides to high school games have been outstanding bonding experiences as well.
“Going to different schools is fun,” said Bond. “You all get to ride the bus together. I feel like it makes us closer as a team. Sometimes, we do get frustrated with each other at practice. When we get on the bus and go to games, though, it’s always a good time.”
Fullerton added that Bond has taken some of the aspects from her more advanced all-star team.
“The skills that she has are crazy,” said Fullerton. “She has learned them from her other cheer team. She’s getting into school cheer this year. She wanted to try it. She is bringing all those skills to our team, which is fantastic.”
Added Bond: “With my all-star team, there is a higher level of difficulty. With school cheer, there is not a specific area of difficulty that you have to stay between. The year before I came back, they were working on stunts that they could have hit. I gave them some corrections on how to do them properly, so that they would hit them. Lately, we have been hitting a lot of stunts they hadn’t hit before.”
This can only help with the upcoming competition season.
“I feel as though we only need some more practice time together, and we will do great,” said Bond. “I’ve seen a lot of progress.”
Staying Focused
What impresses Fullerton the most about Bond is not her physical ability but her fortitude, pushing through some serious tragedies.
Said Fullerton: “After everything she has been through, and the fact that she is still just a regular kid who is doing what she loves without letting anything stop her, just shows her resiliency.”
While life got in the way of Bond cheering for Upper Moreland her sophomore and junior years, Fullerton let her know she was always welcome.
“She had some family stuff happen the last couple years,” said Fullerton. “This was the first year she was able to tryout.
“We did know her, though. In the summer, we have open gyms. It was last year, or two years ago, that she came to a few of the open gyms. We knew who she was. And then the family stuff got in the way and we said, you know, ‘Come back next year.’ She did, and now we are just so happy that she is on the team.”
Bond could have easily given up. She lost her father, Robert, and other family members, to gun violence.
She has used cheerleading, which was always a passion, and made it into a passionate escape where she can block out the world.
“When I was 12ish, maybe 13, my father was murdered,” said Bond. “I was already doing cheer for a long time. When that happened, I stopped cheering for two years, but I was miserable without it. I went back and it was almost as if all my problems were solved.
“Whenever something happens, whenever bad news is given to me, it’s a way that I can just escape.”
Bond went on to add that she drew strength from her mother, Niema Anderson, and paternal grandmother, Evette Abraham.
“I feel like they are really strong,” she said. “I always think about how they are not only just pushing through for themselves, but also for everyone else around them. They are the strongest people I know.”
That extends to her longtime cheer coaches, specifically Daquan Johnson-Thompson.
“I would say that they really helped to build my character, my mannerisms and the respect that I have for others,” said Bond. “They drill it into our heads.”
Looking Ahead
In addition to her cheerleading talents, Bond is a strong enough student to earn senior privileges, something she has no choice to take advantage of to juggle her hectic schedule.
With a plan to major in forensic psychology, Bond is eyeing some HBCUs – Southern, North Carolina A&T, etc. – and plans to continue cheering.
Bond said that some high school classes spurred her interest in criminology and forensics.
“It really grabbed my attention,” she said. “I just feel like I should really major in something that keeps me on my toes because it’s something I really find interesting.
“I’m not really sure yet what I want to do after college, but that’s definitely what I want to major in.”
Bond added that she hasn’t ruled out the idea of taking some preliminary credits at Montgomery County Community College first.
“I wouldn’t really call it a gap year, because I would still be going to school at community college for a year before I leave and go somewhere far,” she said. “I’d be getting some credits.”
There is no doubt, though, that she will look to remain a student-athlete.
“I don’t know if she has picked a specific college yet, but I know that she is visiting and seeing different teams,” said Fullerton. “She is absolutely cheering in college.
“She’s a very strong student. She’s very smart. She gets her work done and she is on top of things. She is just a great person in general.”
What Fullerton noted, overall, is how well Bond relates to others.
“While she is very motivated, she is just very nice,” said Fullerton. “She’s super respectful to adults and coaches. She does a good dance of being a good student and a good leader while also being respectful of adult coaches. She does a great job of balancing all of that.”
