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 for week of Oct. 18, 2021.
Izzy Reilly grew up with a ball in her hands, but it was hardly your typical ball. For the Abington senior, volleyball was the ball – and much later - sport of choice. It turns out Reilly’s mother was a CYO volleyball coach, and for Reilly, it was a natural choice. “I’ve been around volleyball since I was literally a baby, and I’ve had a volleyball in my hands since I could walk,” she said. It probably shouldn’t come as a surprise that Reilly – who attended St. Luke Catholic School through eighth grade - made an unusual offer to coach Dan Marsh when she attended her very first open gym the summer after eighth grade. “When I met her, I’m like – ‘What position do you play?’” Marsh recalled. “She said, ‘What do you need?’ I said, ‘I need a setter,’ and she said, ‘Well, then I’m your setter.’ After I saw her play, I knew she was.”
While neither is completely sure exactly how that first conversation went, both player and coach agree that Reilly knew the Ghosts needed a setter, and she was more than willing to take on the task. An all-league selection in all three of her years and a sure bet to make it four straight, Reilly has handed out over 1,300 assists and is the program’s all-time assist leader. “There’s nothing Izzy can’t do on the volleyball court,” Marsh said. “She literally can do anything on the volleyball court, but she’s worked really hard on her footwork, so she’s able to get behind the ball and push it to the outside. She works endlessly.” While Reilly’s accomplishments are impressive, listening to her coach tell it, that’s just a small part of what sets the senior captain apart. “The growth I’ve seen in Izzy since the day that I met her has just been immeasurable,” Marsh said. “She went from a shy introverted kid who just wanted to play volleyball as her escape, and she has become a leader and has really become a positive influence on everyone else. She gets on kids, and she holds them accountable. She grew into that role because she wasn’t the most vocal person, and obviously, as a setter, you have to be that person.”
When Marsh says that Reilly has had a “rough go at it with life,” it’s a point his senior captain won’t argue. Around the time she was to begin her freshman year at Abington, her father left both Izzy and her mother, and neither have seen or heard from him since. “There was definitely stuff happening in my family, but volleyball has always been a safe place for me,” Reilly said. “My friends and Marsh – they’ve always accepted me. It was always a place I could go and not have to worry and not think about my dad for a few hours.” Although Reilly is without a father, she admits his departure brought an end to a tumultuous chapter in her life. “It really was a relief,” she said. “It was such a burden and always something to worry about with him being in my life, and when he was gone, me and everyone in my family just felt so much more free and happier. My mom has always been my rock, she’s always been with me, she’s always supported me with everything. Even with all the stuff with my father, I’ve always looked up to her for being so strong. I think it brought us even closer. He was abusive, but he would never touch my other siblings (a half-brother and half-sister). It would just be me and my mom, so that was definitely a bond. For both of us, it definitely changed our outlook on life just in general. I think we’re both so much more positive about things. He brought such negativity in our lives, and when he was gone, it just flipped that, and it became a whole different world. Everything was just more positive and happy. I wasn’t looking for the bad things in life anymore, I was always looking for the good now.”
Reilly, who plans to continue her volleyball career at the collegiate level, is looking to take what she’s learned through her life experiences to help others and is considering a psychology major. “Izzy has become a strong young woman,” Marsh said. “And she’s right – her mom has held it together through the tough times. I always say I’m her volleyball dad, which she laughs at, but I’ve developed a really good rapport with her, and she’s one of my favorite kids of all time.”
To read Reilly’s complete profile, please click on the following link: https://www.suburbanonesports.com/featured-athletes/female/izzy-reilly-0097382
Univest’s SuburbanOneSports.com Featured Male Athlete for week of Oct. 18, 2021.
Ryan Horst is the epitome of what coach Stefan Szygiel likes to call a ‘West Kid,’ a player who understands and buys into the culture of a Central Bucks West soccer program that has been a force in the SOL and beyond. “Ryan is a kid we’ll refer to for years to come,” the West soccer coach said of his senior captain. “He has had a very different path than some of the kids we’ve had before him, but he was on the roster with them, and he learned from them. He’s always learning, always trying to better himself. In the bigger picture, he’s also absolutely stellar in the classroom. That’s a big part of who he is. Ryan’s the type of guy – I genuinely think wherever he ends up going to college, there’s a good chance some of us might end up working for him someday.”
Horst has pretty much experienced it all during his soccer career at West. As a freshman, Horst was a swing player on the varsity and experienced the Bucks’ magical run to the District One 4A title. A year later, Horst was in the starting lineup, poised to make an impact on a team with lofty expectations. In the fifth game of the season, he broke his leg and was sidelined except for cameo appearances in the state semifinal and final games during the Bucks’ improbable run to the state title game. One year later, Horst and his teammates weren’t sure they would even have a season during the COVID-19 pandemic but were grateful to play 10 games in an abbreviated season. The Bucks won just two games and did not advance to the postseason, and this year they will once again be at home when the District One 4A Tournament begins.
If it seems as though Horst – a standout player – might be frustrated and even angry, you don’t know the senior captain. “This wasn’t a typical West year,” Horst said. “But none of the guys over here are upset or angry. Especially the seniors, we know we’re just getting the younger guys ready to do what West had done when we were underclassmen, so we’re still having a great time. We’re competing every game. It’s not like we’re throwing in the towel. It’s definitely been a down year but still one with a lot of great experiences, memories we will never forget.”
That remarkably mature response doesn’t surprise his coach. “Ryan’s wildly resilient,” Szygiel said. “He’s been through pretty much everything you can go through as a high school player, the ups and downs. We are so young this year, we are so inexperienced and that is not an easy place for a senior to be in, especially a senior that has been in and around district and league title teams and on the sidelines for a state championship game and the run we went on in 2019, a 2020 COVID year and a 2021 season we just haven’t quite gotten enough results. He has done everything and more that we’ve asked him to do.”
This fall, Horst has added an additional sport to his schedule – he is the kicker for the football team, trying out at the suggestion of a good friend. He hasn’t regretted it for a minute. “I was initially a little apprehensive – I didn’t know if I’d have the time, but I ended up going to a practice, and I just really liked doing it,” Horst said. “It’s been one of the best decisions I’d say I’ve ever made, just meeting all the friends and having all the fun.”
Horst is active in school life, working with the school newspaper and serving on class council. He is a member of the National Honor Society. Although he won’t mention it himself, Horst is a brilliant student, ranked in the top five of his class. He boasts an SAT score of 1560 and is enrolled in three AP classes this semester. As for his future, Horst – who will major in something related to business or economics – has not decided on a school or whether he will play soccer at the next level. Depending on the school – Duke University is his top choice, he will play intramural or club. “Ryan is going to be very successful,” Szygiel said. “I don’t think he’ll remember his time at West as – my junior year was tough with COVID, my senior year we just didn’t quite get the results. I think Ryan will remember what we’re about and how he was an important part of that.”
To read Horst’s complete profile, please click on the following link: https://www.suburbanonesports.com/featured-athletes/male/ryan-horst-0097384
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