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 Oct. 23, 2017)
If the sky seems like the limit for the Pennsbury girls’ volleyball team in the postseason, senior middle hitter Shelby Hastings, a first-year starter, has as much to do with it as anyone on the squad. The talent on head coach Mike Falter’s previous squads has never been in doubt, but the culture and chemistry were more the issue. Knowing she was moving into the starting lineup and physically preparing to do so with as much working out as her tendinitis-ravaged elbow would allow, Hastings also prepared mentally. She attended a camp at Misericordia University and came back with a plan. She presented her ideas to Falter, who has known her since she was in seventh grade when he formed a volleyball club at her middle school. “She came to me with ideas on keeping the team more together,” said Falter. “While she wasn’t elected as a captain, it didn’t matter to her. She doesn’t need the title to be a leader. She keeps us going, keeps the team together. She motivated the seniors this year. They came in fired up. We had to change the culture from “I-I-I” to “we” and make an impression on the younger girls. I’ll be honest, there are girls who are maybe better athletes than Shelby, but she gets the most out of her ability.”
Falter describes Hastings as “a good kind of goofy,” adding: “She tries to make you have a good day, but she will also hold you accountable. She keeps things lighthearted and is constantly thinking of others.” Some of Hastings’ outlook on life could be gleaned from circumstances on the home front. She is the eldest of two children of a single mom, and her younger brother, Jordan, was born with a brain condition called Rhombencephalosynapsis. “He has a brain malformation in his cerebellum and autism with it,” Hastings explained. On the team’s Senior Night, Hastings had Jordan walk her on the court. “That was a great moment on Senior Night,” Falter said. “I remember seeing her, as a seventh grader, interact with him. I was in awe that a person of that age having that kind of kindness.”
An aspiring pediatric nurse, Hastings is looking at Division III schools that present the double positive of volleyball and quality nursing programs. It’s no secret that Hatings’ life experiences with Jordan has steered her toward her career goal as she recalls her ears perking up – even when she didn’t quite understand what was being said – when he had appointments with doctors. “In the hospital, I was always curious,” Hastings said. “I was in that environment a lot. I just always really, really liked it.”
To read Hastings’ complete profile, please click on the following link: http://www.suburbanonesports.com/featured-athletes/female/shelby-hastings-0073869
Univest’s SuburbanOneSports.com Featured Male Athlete (Week of Oct. 23, 2017)
Switching from head coach of the girls’ soccer team to the boys’ side at Bensalem High School, Lew Mladjen knew he was going to need some help. Enter Robbie Montero, who knew more than anything that he had something to prove. Mladjen’s inaugural year as the Owls boys’ soccer coach didn’t result in a championship. It didn’t even result in a playoff berth. However, in his first year, which was also Montero’s last, both men got something out of the campaign as they both proved that they belonged. “When I took over the team in late spring, I was looking for a few seniors to lean on,” Mladjen said. “Without having to ask, Robbie stepped up. From day one in the summer, he was in the stadium working hard, getting himself in shape. His actions pulled the other guys along with him. He led not by his voice, but by example.”
Mladjen said the determined Montero, who received no league accolades or attention coming into the season, entered his senior year with a chip on his shoulder the size of a soccer field. “He rededicated and recommitted himself to soccer,” Mladjen said. “He flew under the radar for three years and really caught a lot of teams by surprise. All he needed was a little push and encouragement.” For his part, Montero knew he had to do things differently. He fell in love with the game the first time he kicked a soccer ball at age seven, and then suddenly, just like that, 10 years had flown by, and Montero found himself on the precipice of the end of his high school career that he felt he hadn’t gotten enough out of. Instead of blaming coaches or teammates, Montero looked straight into the mirror. “It was my fault because I didn’t even come close to putting in the work required as I did this past summer,” he said. Montero’s teammates noticed, and he was voted a captain, something he never envisioned while languishing on the bench a year earlier.
By the time the season was finished, he had tallied 11 goals and four assists in Bensalem’s 18 games as the Owls finished with a 7-11 mark. Of the 11 losses, eight were by one goal, suggesting the Owls were in every game they played. Montero had a lot to do with that. “He put us in a position to compete with everybody we played and gave us a chance to win almost every game,” Mladjen said. “We couldn’t have gotten to where we did this season without his hard work and production on the field.”
Montero hopes to play collegiate soccer and dreams of one day playing at the professional level. He’s not exactly sure what he wants to study yet, but he loves the idea of being an architect. He also said he loves to write. “Whatever he puts his mind toward, he will be successful, without a question,” Mladjen said.
To read Montero’s complete profile, please click on the following link: http://www.suburbanonesports.com/featured-athletes/male/robbie-montero-0073870
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