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 Dec. 18, 2013)
Lindsay Nier found herself facing a real dilemma when basketball tryouts rolled around this fall. The Central Bucks East senior had a major role in the school’s fall musical, The Sound of Music, and tryouts for basketball coincided with the final week of practice for the musical. “I couldn’t miss rehearsals – I’d already committed to it, but in no way would it be fair for me to miss basketball tryouts and still make the team,” Nier said. First-year coach Liz Potash was sympathetic of Nier’s quandary.
“She came up to me almost in tears, and said, ‘Coach, I’m going to miss tryouts, and if I can’t play this year, I’ll understand,’” East’s first-year coach recalled. “I said, ‘This is not happening. We will find a way to make it work.’” And make it work they did. Nier was able to attend tryouts without missing practices for the musical. Potash, who adjusted her tryout schedule, clearly wouldn’t have wanted to be without Nier on her roster. “She’s awesome,” the Patriots’ coach said. “She just plays so hard. She’s not afraid to get in there and do the dirty work. She’ll box out, she’ll rebound, and her defense is incredible. Lindsay just does all the little things that don’t show up on the stat sheet.”
If the freshmen are looking for a role model, they need look no further than Nier.
“I’ve always been impressed with her from the first day I started working with these guys,” Potash said. “She just hustles. She will give you every single thing that she has.
“I do expect her to score a little bit every game, but anything over that is just an added bonus because you really can’t replace some of the things she gives you.”
If Nier only played basketball, she would get her money’s worth, but that is just the tip of the iceberg for the East senior. She played Baroness Elsa Schraeder in The Sound of Music and has been involved in musical theater at East since her sophomore year when she received a role in a student production written by an East student. For the past 10 years, Nier has competed with the Fanny Chapman swim team during the summer. She also is a lifeguard at Fanny Chapman.
A top flight student with a course load of honors and AP classes, Nier is the treasurer of National Honor Society and enjoys the community service opportunities that NHS affords her. Although she is undecided on a college, Nier has her sights set on pursuing an International Affairs major, focusing on environmental studies
To read Nier’s complete profile, please click on the following link: http://www.suburbanonesports.com/featured-athletes/female/lindsay-nier-0040179
Univest’s SuburbanOneSports.com Featured Male Athlete (Week of Dec. 18, 2013)
They call it the 3,900. It is what Upper Merion’s varsity basketball squad, under the guidance of first-year coach Jason Quenzer, is taught that it represents. It represents something more than just the individuals on the team or even the team as a whole, but the school district – students, teachers, etc. – and the community. In the locker room, there is a bulletin board. Each player is asked to put up a picture of someone outside the team they are playing for this season. Senior guard Joshua Grant has a picture of himself and his mother, Michelle. A lot of people, teammates included, may not fully understand the story behind the story. Grant is not only a newcomer to the team, but also to the school. He came to the area in June, after his mother succumbed to a long battle with multiple sclerosis, to live with his father and grandparents.
Not only does he now have a place on the team but a key role drawing the assignment of stopping the opposing team’s top gun. “He’s our top defender,” Quenzer said. “He gives us that spark, that edge. He’s a great kid. He’s one of those kids you want on your team. He’s a hustle guy and a good leader. The other guys look up to him. He helps us a lot. He quickly found his role and is a real team-first kind of guy. He’s great to have on the team.” As for the team, Grant has quickly become part of the family. Therefore, Quenzer is going to ask Grant to get up in front of his new brothers and talk about his mother and explain why he chose a picture of the two of them for the bulletin board. “I won’t have a problem with doing it,” he said. The story will include how Grant was his mother’s primary caregiver as the disease progressed.
While a day doesn’t go by that he doesn’t think about his mother, Grant is now able to set his sights on the future. He plans to attend college, and he lists West Chester as his frontrunner. He plans to major in either business or criminal justice. And the positive experience of playing basketball for Upper Merion and the 3,900 has played a big part in writing new chapters of the satisfying life his mother surely wanted him to have.
To view Grant’s complete profile, please click on the following link: http://www.suburbanonesports.com/featured-athletes/male/joshua-grant-0040247
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