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 March 5, 2015)
Souderton senior Sarah Derstein came on strong at the end of her junior season. A four-year varsity player, the soft-spoken captain - a relentless rebounder and defender - suddenly began to assert herself on the offensive end of the court. . Coach Lynn Carroll had big plans for Derstein, who was the centerpiece of her game planning for the 2014-15 season. “We were going to have to find ourselves as a team because we were so new, but if there was one thing I was sure of, it was Sarah was going to average a double-double and teams were really going to focus on her,” Carroll said. “We were expecting a lot of good things for her senior year.” Everything was in a place for Derstein to have a stellar senior season. Until Sept. 27 and her Fencor AAU team’s final tournament game of the season at Spooky Nook in Lancaster when Derstein stepped into the path of an oncoming player to take a charge. “I remember hitting the court,” she said. “I knew right away I had a concussion, but I think I was in denial that it was as serious as it was.”
A visit to a concussion specialist resulted in Derstein getting glasses and beginning vestibular therapy to help retrain her eyes to read and process information. An excellent student, Derstein attended school for only half days until early December. Playing basketball seemed like a remote possibility. “At that point, it was just difficult for me to sit there and listen to the basketball pounding on the court,” Derstein said. Three times over the course of the season Derstein was projected to return to action. Three times she failed the concussion test. The fourth concussion test – taken in late January – was the charm. The final four games of the season read like a storybook. In 18 games without Derstein, the Indians were 6-12. With their senior leader back on the court, they were 3-1, notching wins over three teams that went on to compete in the district tournament. “I knew we were going to be better, but we were a completely different team,” Carroll said. “The attention she attracted was instant.”
As impressive as Derstein is on the basketball court, the senior captain – according to her coach is even more impressive off of it. “Everything about Sarah is kind,” Carroll said. “She just has a good heart. Some people you can just tell everything about them is good to the core, they’re a good person, and that’s Sarah.”
An honors student and a member of SAVE, Derstein is deciding between Philadelphia University and Drexel University and has been accepted at both. She plans to major in graphic design with possibly a double major in either marketing or computer science. “Art has been one of my passions,” she said. “They always say – whatever you enjoy most, that’s what you should do as a job.”
To read Derstein’s complete profile, please click on the following link: http://www.suburbanonesports.com/featured-athletes/female/sarah-derstein-0051302
Univest’s SuburbanOneSports.com Featured Male Athlete (Week of March 5, 2015)
Ryan Bischoff loves his country music. “It’s the only kind of music I listen to,” he said. Fittingly, the Plymouth Whitemarsh senior is much like a character from a country song. He hunts, fishes and plays paintball . “I love to do it all,” he said of the outdoors lifestyle. Rounding out the All-American package – as once portrayed in those old Chevrolet commercials – would be apple pie and baseball. And the national pastime was the sport of choice for both himself and twin brother, Evan, with the simple rationale that they are “originally from a baseball family.” But that all changed in seventh grade for Ryan. A friend, Brett Highland, approached him about trying shoulder pads on for size. While his height and girth gave him an advantage as a two-way lineman, he was at a clear disadvantage, having not played football since his toddler days. “It was tough adjusting and playing, but I kept sticking to it,” he said. He felt increasingly comfortable in eighth grade, making him a can’t miss – literally and figuratively – among the incoming group of freshmen for coach Dan Chang and his staff in 2010. “My high school coaches did a great job of coaching me up, and I ended up doing well,” Bischoff said.
For the soft-spoken man of few words, “ending up doing well” on the high school gridiron is an understatement. Now 6-5 and tipping the scales at 320 pounds, he was heavily recruited by Division One schools. He was able to pick his school, the University of Virginia, before his senior year began. Chang can attest to the example Bischoff set by raising the bar for himself and working to clear it. “Ryan is a total example of what you want your football program to represent,” the PW coach said. “He spends more time in the weight room and working on his technique than anyone I can remember.” Bischoff – with aspirations of becoming a doctor, possibly an orthopedic surgeon – knew the weight room would be his ticket to being able to choose a school that best met his athletic and academic needs. With his grades in order and courses like honors microbiology on his schedule, being the best offensive lineman was the final piece of the package that schools wouldn’t be able to resist.
Despite his success, Bischoff – a first team All-PA Football News selection – has not let it go to his head. “As big as he is and as aggressive as he is when he’s blocking someone on the field, he is equally as nice of a human being as you can find,” said Chang.
Ironically, Bischoff will close out his scholastic career on the diamond as baseball practices began last week. However, it was America’s game – not pastime – that punched his ticket for a train to Charlottesville.
To view Bischoff’s complete profile, please click on the following link: http://www.suburbanonesports.com/featured-athletes/male/ryan-bischoff-0051301
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