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 Feb. 7, 2019
There wasn’t anything extraordinary about the Council Rock South girls’ basketball team’s game against Neshaminy on January 22. But to captain Bailey Vetter, that contest was one of the high points of her senior season for the Golden Hawks.It wasn’t due to any personal statistics—Vetter doesn’t even remember how many points, rebounds, or assists she racked up during the game. It wasn’t that the Hawks pulled off a remarkable upset—in fact, Council Rock South dropped a 67-51 decision to the National Conference champions. But considering that the Hawks were dominated by Neshaminy to the tune of 51-23 just a month earlier, South’s effort in its second game against the district contenders showed how far it had progressed and how much potential the squad possesses.“I’ve never been so proud of the girls as I was after that second game against Neshaminy,” Vetter said. “Everyone worked so hard, it was one of the best defensive games we played as a team. I wasn’t even too upset that we lost, because we knew we gave them a run for the money. I’ll just always remember how proud I was after that game.”
It’s that kind of attitude and maturity that has made Vetter an exemplary two-year captain on a young squad seeking to change the culture of its program. “In my 20-plus years of coaching as an assistant or head coach, Bailey is among the most selfless kids I’ve ever coached,” coach Blair Klumpp said. “She rarely lights up the scoreboard, but that doesn’t matter to her. She doesn’t care if she attempts a shot in a game, she’s not out to boost her own stats. Her main focus is the success of the team, and her leadership reflects that.”
For the Golden Hawks’ girls’ basketball team, Vetter has filled a critical role of the experienced leader on a young team. While her work ethic and dedication are a constant example to her teammates, Vetter is a prime example that you don’t have to be the leading scorer to be a contributor. “Coaches talk about roles and players buying into roles, but it can be tough to get high school players to do that,” Klumpp said. “Particularly with a group trying to find our way in terms of consistency and long-term success. It can be tough to ask them to buy in to giving that effort all the time when they don’t always see the results.But when you have a senior captain that gets it, that gets that, ‘I don’t need to be a 15-point-per-game player to be a leader,’ you start to see some of the other girls look at that and start to follow her lead.”
Vetter will hang up her high tops with no regrets but admits that it won’t be easy to leave behind the sport to which she’s dedicated so much of her life. The Rock South senior will spend the next four years in Central Pennsylvania. Next year, she will head to Penn State on a pre-med track with a focus on chemistry.As such, she’s maintaining a heavy courseload in her senior year, with three AP classes and several Honors-level classes. She is also involved in Athletes Helping Athletes, Buddy Basketball, French National Honor Society, and English National Honor Society. “This year has been super-stressful, but it’s worth it,” she said. “The hard work is paying off. You’re never going to be handed anything. But whether it’s basketball or in other parts of your life, as long as you work hard and don’t give up, you’re eventually going to have great success.”
To read Vetter’s complete profile, please click on the following link: http://www.suburbanonesports.com/featured-athletes/female/bailey-vetter-0082951
Univest’s SuburbanOneSports.com Featured Male Athlete for week of Jan. 31, 2019
It’s always good to be lucky, but luck rarely does a person any good unless he or she has positioned themselves to take advantage of said good fortune.Just ask Luke Della Grotte. Della Grotte isn’t the best basketball player for Pennsbury; in fact, the senior is probably not the second - or third-best, either. But Della Grotte holds an extremely valuable role for the Falcons, currently in the midst of their best hoops campaign in a decade. At 11-1 in the SOL National Conference, the team has already wrapped up a league title since 2009 with its sights set on much more. Until recently, Della Grotte was a bench piece for Pennsbury, a 6-foot-3 forward/center who would spell his teammates when they got tired or in foul trouble, or, more recently, step into the starting lineup when incumbent center Charlie Nushcke went down with an ankle injury.
An all-in “program guy,” according to head coach Bill Coleman, Della Grotte has a reputation for working his tail off in practice and setting a positive leadership example for his younger teammates as one of only two seniors on the roster. His efforts have been recognized behind the scenes and, at least for now, Della Grotte will continue getting minutes as a defensive stalwart on Pennsbury’s back line zone defense in addition to his ability to stroke it from long range off the pick-and-roll.“Luke is one of our hardest workers, a guy who is fully committed two feet into the program,” Coleman said. “Having a successful program is all about sacrificing time and everything else to be a part of it. You need those types of guys. When you compete hard in practice and make other guys around you better, it elongates success. He puts in the time, so for Luke to get rewarded is great to see. To be able to capture a SOL National title, that’s a good sendoff for him. He’s a pick-and-roll pop guy who can knock down some three’s, as he’s done the last couple of games, and he’s a good communicator who quarterbacks our defense. He doesn’t get a lot of chances because we have two ball-dominant guards on the floor with him, but any time he gets an opportunity, he’s been able to enjoy success.”
Della Grotte – elected a captain of the basketball team - is also a standout in the classroom, following in the footsteps of his father, a mechanical engineer for Siemens who graduated from the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He fell in love with chemistry after taking the course last year, and has plans to study chemical engineering in college; thus far, Della Grotte’s been admitted to both the University of Delaware and University of Maryland and is still weighing his options. “I’ve always pushed myself toward the highest goals, and I just fell in love with chemistry,” he said. “To me, chemical engineering just seems like the right path. Just like with basketball, it’s taken a lot of effort. I feel like I’ve grown a lot as a person, just becoming more determined and realizing you have to put all this effort in to reach your goals.”
To read Della Grotte’s complete profile, please click on the following link: http://www.suburbanonesports.com/featured-athletes/male/luke-della-grotte-0082961
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