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 Feb. 19, 2015)
Taylor Spitko appreciates everything she has in life. The Abington senior, a member of the swim team, learned this lesson by going on mission trips with her mother. “I’ve been doing it for a long time, and I’ve been on tons of trips with our church,” Spitko said. “My mom goes every year, and I’ve been going with her, and it’s been amazing.” Spitko has been to different parts of the United States and also to other countries. Three years ago she travelled to Guatemala and last year went to Montana. The trips are not vacations for Spitko. “It’s interesting to see how we are in Abington, Pennsylvania, as compared to those other places, but it’s also an opportunity to help other people, and that’s what makes it so special,” she said. “It makes me realize how lucky and how fortunate I am to have the things I have and the opportunities I have.”
Spitko, who also participates with Athletes Helping Athletes, has been swimming since she was four years old. As much as she enjoys time spent in the pool, Spitko also enjoys the camaraderie of the team. “Our team is awesome,” she said. “We have great morale, and everyone is fun to be around, so they made it all the better for me to be on the team for my last year.” At the recent SOL National Conference championship meet, Spitko finished eighth in the 100 freestyle and 10th in the 50 free. She anchored the 200 medley relay that finished fourth and was part of the sixth place 400 free relay, but Spitko is much more than just a talented swimmer. “She’s a tremendous young lady,” coach Joe Lennon said. “She’s one of the hardest workers on the team. She understands how to push herself at practice. If you had to pick someone that was going to swim well at our championship meet and really deserved to swim well there, it’s Taylor and she delivered.”
Spitko is a quiet captain of the team. “She leads by example,” Lennon said. “She’s always doing the right thing and she’s always in the right spot. Everyone loves her. Some of the kids cheer harder for her than they do for their own siblings. She’s the kind of kid you want on your team every year, and we’re going to miss her.”
Spitko will continue her education in the fall at the University of Pittsburgh where she plans to major in business. “I’m not sure if I’ll be on the swim team because they’re really good,” she said. “But I can see myself doing club swimming just to stay active in the sport.”
To read Spitko’s complete profile, please click on the following link: http://www.suburbanonesports.com/featured-athletes/female/taylor-spitko-0051059
Univest’s SuburbanOneSports.com Featured Male Athlete (Week of Feb. 19, 2015)
The phrase ‘team player’ is sometimes thrown around loosely, but in the case of Ben Wonderling, it’s another story entirely. The Souderton senior might well be the very definition of that phrase. Although Wonderling’s numbers are hardly remarkable, he was one of the most important players on the basketball team this winter. “It’s hard to call a kid a professional, but Ben is professional about playing basketball,” coach Pete Chimera said. “Maybe it’s because he’s he third Wonderling, and he understands it and his mom played at Miami. Maybe he just gets it, but he is just a true professional. He would never do anything that would hurt the team. He might make a mistake, but it will never be a mistake of – I’m just doing something to be selfish. Kids are young and they do that. He doesn’t. He’s just a total team player. Ben was sort of the glue to our team.”
So it’s hardly surprising when Chimera asked his team to vote for captains heading into the season, Wonderling was elected along with Evan Slone and Tim Markow. “Despite the fact that other kids played a great deal more, he was clearly the guy everyone recognized as a leader,” Chimera said. “Sometimes you talk to high school kids, you don’t know if they listen. You think they’re listening, you hope they’re listening. You always knew Ben was listening. He acknowledged you. He was a great listener.”
For Wonderling, it’s never been about the amount of court time he received or the statistics he posted. Rather, it was just a love of the game he has been playing since he was a youngster, following in the footsteps of older brothers Sam and Mark. His parents – Rob and Kristin Wonderling – both played as well with his mother receiving a basketball scholarship to the University of Miami. “It’s such a great game,” Wonderling said. “It’s a team sport, and you can’t be successful without being a team. I just enjoyed how it’s a 12-guy team so it’s more of a family atmosphere, unlike a football team with 40 guys where you’re not really as close with everyone. It’s a game that’s hard not to love.”
A leader off the court as well, Wonderling is president of Souderton’s student council. An excellent student, he is a member of the National Honor Society as well as the LINK Crew, a freshman mentoring program. He is active in the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and teaches Sunday School at his church. Next year, Wonderling will attend Penn State where he plans to major in business. “He’s going to be a tremendous success in whatever he does,” Chimera said. “Who know what he’ll end up doing, but I know he’ll be a tremendous success because he can gather people quietly. He’s the guy behind the scenes who gets things done.”
To view Wonderling’s complete profile, please click on the following link: http://www.suburbanonesports.com/featured-athletes/male/ben-wonderling-0051058
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