"Go hard or go home." This is senior wrestler Bernard Cheairs’ motto. Cheairs , who stands 5’9 and 140 pounds, posted a strong 32-8 record last year, and is anxiously awaiting the start of the upcoming wrestling season.

Cheairs started off his wrestling career at Orchard Lake St. Mary’s Preparatory, and after an altercation forced him to leave, decided to come to Southfield. He confronted a student who was stealing, a fight broke out, and because of the "zero tolerance" policy enforced by the school, both students were expelled. Cheairs "went hard," standing up for what was right, and in this case, he "went home" too. In more ways than one.

The wrestler also returned home to Southfield Public Schools. He had formerly attended Levey Middle School in Southfield, and was reunited with a lot of his old friends. "It was pretty cool coming back and catching up with old friends," he says. Coming back provided him a fresh start, with some familiar faces.

With this fresh start, and new season ready to kick off, Cheairs is determined to make an impact. He attended the J. Robinson Intensive Wrestling Camp in Minneapolis, Minnesota, over the summer in preparation for the season. J. Robinson is the number one wrestling camp in the nation, and Cheairs spent 28 days there to get better. "My senior year has to be my best year, so my goal is definitely to make it to states. Whatever I have to do to be prepared is what I’m going to do," Cheairs says. The camp was a major learning experience for him and he emphasizes that he "improved a lot."

Cheairs prides himself on his work ethic and hopes that his teammates bring the same passion to the mat that he will this season. "We can’t get complacent, and we have to always make sure we’re getting better," he says. "If we do that, we are going to have the best season Southfield has ever had in its history."

If the entire team buys in to that idea and has a similar mentality, wrestling coach Vernon Burden says this year’s team has the potential to accomplish just as much if not more than the League Championship team of last year. "My goal is to improve every year," Burden says. This year is no exception.

Wrestling season officially starts November 15, with the first meet December 1st at Brother Rice. While Cheairs is going "hard," Coach Burden has a motto this year for the team as a whole. It’s very simple, and to the point. "Go." Burden wants the team to "go" in practice, at all the meets, and even possibly to states at the Palace of Auburn Hills.

With everyone going, the Blue Jays shouldn’t be going home at the end of the season with anything less than another League Championship. Cheairs and the rest of his team say they hope to this potential turns into reality, with discipline as the key.