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 (Week of April 30, 2016)
Phylicia Wilkov is a student-athlete who has found a way to do it all. A captain of her softball team, the Council Rock South senior has had a love affair with the sport for as long as she can remember and will be playing at the Division One level next year. She is involved in a myriad of school activities, and there’s no mistaking her commitment to community service. But that’s just a part of her impressive resume. “I value academics a lot,” Wilkov said. “As much as I love softball and softball is my passion, academics is right up there.” For the past four years, Wilkov has taken the hardest courses her school has offered, and in a senior year when some might elect to put it on cruise control, Wilkov is taking four advanced placement courses. It is the desire to be challenged academically that influenced her decision to continue her education at Yale University.
The secretary of South’s National Honor Society, Wilkov, who boasts a 4.6 GPA, is ranked in the top one percent of her senior class of approximately 520 students and will represent her school in 6ABC’s Best of Class event. She is the Class of 2017 Advisory Board officer and is a doer, a difference maker. She gave a window into her remarkable ability to make things happen when – as a seventh grader – she founded a non-profit organization that focused on supporting individuals with special needs. Inspired by her brother Michael, who was diagnosed with autism at a young age, her non-profit, We Bake Smiles Foundation, purchased iPads and donated them to schools that included Council Rock, Pennsbury as well as schools in Massachusetts. “It was difficult finding activities that both my brother and I enjoyed doing together until I stumbled upon a common interest in baking,” Wilkov said. “(The foundation) raised money – a lot of the time through baking.” These days the foundation is more of a hobby for Wilkov, but the cause is not. She is the co-founder and co-president of the Autism Awareness Cub at South and remains passionate about helping others.
Wilkov has been a fixture in the varsity softball lineup for four years, playing numerous positions. “She works hard at her game,” coach Greg Heydet said. “She’s just constantly working at it. She’s a fun kid, and everyone gets along with her. She’s a coach’s player and will stand by her coach and what the coaches say. She is very friendly and thoughtful, and she will do anything for everyone.”
Wilkov will continue her softball career at Yale and plans to major in economics. She credited her parents for their support. “Both of them have just been so supportive over the years, and I couldn’t thank them enough,” Wilkov said.
To read Wilkov’s complete profile, please click on the following link: http://www.suburbanonesports.com/featured-athletes/female/phylicia-wilkov-0069965
Univest’s SuburbanOneSports.com Featured Male Athlete (Week of April 20, 2016)
If coaches could go shopping for ideal players, you might be surprised at what would fill up their shopping carts. And you just might find them at customer service, trading in one superstar for a coachable player willing to work at his craft and improve with each passing season. That makes athletes like Mike Pagan a hot commodity. “Mike is just a good kid,” coach Dave Stastny said. “I have coached him since he was a freshman (when Pagan played junior varsity). He has grown into being both a great person and a great athlete. He treats everyone – coaches, players – with respect. He’s not a vocal kid, but he is a leader by example. He’s not a yeller. He’s more about talking to other players. We talk about the past, present and future and how you can’t do anything about the past or future and to focus on the present and take it one play at a time. He’s good at that.”
Pagan has made his greatest leap, in terms of improvement, this past offseason in anticipation of what has been a seamless transition from middle hitter to the more vital outside hitter spot. “It’s all about experience,” Pagan said. “I played a lot of AAU and club volleyball. The more I played and got stronger, the better I got – especially this past offseason.” Part of Pagan’s regiment is to run for the cross country team in the offseason. By his own admission, he is not a standout, describing himself as “adequate.” Still, according to coach John Donahue, his presence was felt. “He was a good strong leader for many of the jayvee kids in big invitational meets,” the Indians’ coach said. “He was a strong role model to middle of the pack runners that sometimes get overlooked in a large program.”
Pagan, with an AP-heavy schedule, boasts a weighted GPA of 4.9. He is a member of the National Honor Society and Future Business Leaders of America, for which he recently attended a leadership conference. “My parents (Mary and John Pagan) encouraged success in the classroom,” Pagan said. “It has always been academics first.”
In a perfect world, Pagan would be able to play volleyball in college, but Title IX has all but wiped out men’s volleyball programs at anything but the big-time Division I level. Even though he is 6-3, Pagan knows the deal and has no delusions. Instead, he will attend the Penn State Honors Program and major in chemistry. Right now, he is thinking dental school and then being an orthodontist. And still play volleyball, the sport he fell in love with after following the trail blazed by his older brother.
To read Pagan’s compete profile, please click on the following link: http://www.suburbanonesports.com/featured-athletes/male/mike-pagan-0069902
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