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 April 2, 2015)
Chelsea Briggs is the very definition of a positive person, an optimist in the truest sense of the word. In the worst of times, the Bensalem senior always finds the bright side. “The glass is half full with that kid,” softball coach Dan Schram said. “I have never seen her down.” That’s not to say she hasn’t had her reasons to be down. In reality, Briggs has faced more adversity than most. The fact that she’s playing softball and has verballed to continue her career at Neumann University is a testament to her remarkable determination. “My sophomore year I started to get pains in my back after one of the games when I was playing travel ball throughout summer,” Briggs said. “I was like, ‘Oh, it’s just a hamstring pull.’ I was in pain for a year and a half. I really didn’t understand. I didn’t think someone my age could go through that.” When epidural shots in her back did not alleviate the pain, Briggs was left with just one option – back surgery.
In February of her junior year, she underwent surgery for herniated discs. It seemed safe to assume Briggs – who was out of school for a month – would miss her junior softball season, but that didn’t happen. Three games into the season, according to Schramm, she was back in the starting lineup. “She didn’t miss a beat,” the Owls’ coach said. “She has overcome a great deal of adversity to reach her current level of success. Time and time again she triumphs with a smile. If you didn’t ask her what was going on outside of school, you wouldn’t even know.” Getting back to the softball diamond was just one of many triumphs for the personable Briggs, a four-year starter for the Owls whose family has overcome some major hurdles as well. The difficult experiences have only made her a stronger person.
The recipient of an 85 percent scholarship to Neumann, Briggs – an honors student – will major in psychiatric nursing. “I’ve always been interested in nursing, even at a young age,” she said. “Both my grandparents were really ill when I was younger, and from nine years old, I would take care of my grandpop. My friend’s mom is a psychiatric nurse, and she said it’s a tough job, but she wouldn’t trade it – just knowing that you’re helping people out is great.” And if anyone seems to fit the bill to handle that challenging profession with grace and strength, it would seem to be Briggs. “I’m looking forward to knowing her the second part of life as an adult because I think what was once coach-to-player – she will always be a friend of mine moving forward,” Schram said. “She has that kind of disposition that she’s just someone you’d want to know.”
To read Briggs’ complete profile, please click on the following link: http://www.suburbanonesports.com/featured-athletes/female/chelsea-briggs-0052016
Univest’s SuburbanOneSports.com Featured Male Athlete (Week of April 2, 2015)
Forget about a whodunit. We have a classic whosaidit. The quote in question: “Give me six guys like Tom Piccari and I win the league every year.” A bold statement – one made last spring about the then-mercurial junior second baseman, and many around the Norristown baseball program lay claim to it. “Any one of our coaches would say the same thing,” coach Rich Campbell said. “Nothing has changed (since last season). Tom is a coach’s dream. Any coach would be grateful to have him on their team. He loves the game. He wants to compete. He wants to win. He’s a flat-out leader. He’s not a rah-rah guy. He does it by example. He’s always working. He’s not sitting on the side on the phone. He’s always working on something. That’s the kind of kid he is.”
When it comes to his work ethic, Piccari credits two men above all others. “A lot of it comes from my father,” he said of his dad, Len, “and from Doc Bishop, my Junior (American) legion coach. I learned fundamentals from those two. It’s the way I know how to play. I don’t like taking any breaks in games or in practices. Doc Bishop is not just an orthodontist, but a doctor on all the fundamentals of baseball. When I was 13, I had a Little League swing. By the time I was 15, I took a combination of what he taught me and was doing it much more mechanically.” As for his father’s influence, it was about overall approach as much as proper form at the plate. “He taught me how to think, how to work,” said Piccari. “He taught about having a work ethic for life, in general, and that there is no good reason to start a job you don’t intend to finish.”
It only figures that Piccari is a student of the game as he is an excellent student, period. “He is first in his class,” said Campbell. “In terms of the academics, he’s got that down in spades.” While admitting that time management is often as difficult as a current course load of four AP classes, Piccari says his teammates in similar situations form a strong support system outside of the family unit.
Piccari has been offered a full academic scholarship to Pitt, has been accepted to Penn State and is waiting on word from Princeton. A wildcard is Lehigh where he was also accepted and would have the best chance of continuing his baseball career. Piccari intends to major in general math while either holding down a second major – or minor – in physics.
To view Piccari’s complete profile, please click on the following link: http://www.suburbanonesports.com/featured-athletes/male/tom-piccari-0052012
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