These elementary school cheerleaders will make Philly public school history: ‘It’s going to leave me starstruck’

If you would’ve told Solange Mota two years ago that her cheerleading squad would go on to make history on the national level … she would believe it.

“Honestly, we knew we were going two years ago,” said Mota, 29. “We kept saying, ‘We’re going to Disney; we’re going to Disney.’ I think the biggest obstacle about it was financials. It takes a lot of money to get them there because you have to go to camp. After camp, you have to make it to regionals.

“It’s kind of their way of filtering out teams before you get to nationals, and that was our biggest problem. We know the girls can do it. But how are we going to make this happen?”

Now, thanks to a whole lot of resilience — and a $30,000 grant from Mastery Schools — Mastery Charter School at Smedley, which serves predominantly Black and Latino students, will be the first inner-city public school to compete at the Universal Cheerleaders Association nationals in Orlando, it says. (A Philadelphia public high school, George Washington High School, competed in the 2023 NCA finals in Dallas, finishing 10th and starring in a documentary about their journey.)

“There’s privilege in that,” Mota said. “But there’s also a weight. When you’re the first of anything and when you have a privilege to do something, there’s always a sense of responsibility.

“You’re seeing that it’s Catholic schools, it’s private schools, but the demographic is all the same. So, the biggest thing that we talk about with the girls is that we’re going out there, not only as an all-Black and brown team, but also as the first Philadelphia inner-city elementary school. I think the girls feel a sense of pride in that.”

The team, known as Bulldog Blitz, will compete in the junior high intermediate division of UCA’s National School Spirit Championship.

Mota, a former competitive cheerleader and first grade teacher at Mastery Smedley, started the squad with Ana Rosario, 29, in 2021. It started as an after-school program, but a year later, it became an official competitive cheerleading team consisting of 22 girls ranging from first to sixth grade.

The school educates 737 kindergarten through sixth grade students in the city’s Frankford section.

Some of the girls on the team have been with the program throughout its five years, including 11-year-old Malayah Bell. In her final year with the team, she’ll finally be competing on the national stage.

“Since it started, I never really thought that it was going to be something big,” Bell said. “I thought it was just going to be an after-school program where we just had fun. Until I noticed that the cheer team can really do big things.”

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The age gap between some of the girls could be seen as a challenge. However, Mota says it works perfectly with their big sister, little sister program — pairing a sixth grader with a first grader as a mentor.

“People are like, ‘How does a first grader get along with a sixth grader?’ Mota said. “But I’m like, ‘If you see it, it just works out.’ Our sixth graders are so loving and kind to our babies.”

That sisterhood has deepened through their practices. They typically train Tuesdays through Saturdays from 3:15 to 4:45 p.m. However, that schedule changed as they prepared for nationals, and their practice hours were extended to 6 p.m.

With a busy schedule ahead of them, the team took a 19-hour bus to Florida on Tuesday and arrived on Wednesday morning. Bell said they had one activity to help them pass the time: rapping.

“Honestly, I thought it was going to be a very long drive,” Bell said. “But it just felt really quick with us just playing and then going to sleep. It was fun. I liked the whole experience with my team just being with them for basically a day. We did a lot of rapping.”

Once they arrived, they had a day of fun with their families at the Disney parks before training for the next two days.

“It’s so heartwarming,” Rosario said. “As a former cheerleader, I’ve come as a spectator with my cousins that competed. But I’ve never got the chance to compete. So, just watching them live out a dream and be a part of this opportunity just makes me super emotional.”

Mastery Smedley will take the stage on Saturday for the first round of nationals. If they score high enough, they’ll make it into the finals on Sunday. Although winning is one of the goals entering the competition, Mota is focused on only one thing.

“My biggest thing is just watching them come out on that stage,” Mota said. “You know, watching their smiles. Like, this is everything that they worked for. So just watching it all piece together, this is why we’ve done everything that we have done. Watching the girls, seeing our school name and it saying Mastery Charter Smedley Elementary, Philadelphia, Pa. That’s a first. It’s going to leave me starstruck.”

However, Bell has her eye set on something else.

“I’m looking forward to the white jackets when we win,” Bell said.