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 28, 2016)
Joe DiFilippo has a vivid memory of Deanna Moyer’s first varsity softball game as a freshman. “She was going after a fly ball so hard she fell – I think she outran her body,” the Hatboro-Horsham coach said of his then right fielder. That play may have been insignificant in the whole scheme of things, but it effectively captured the fierce determination that has been a trademark of the Hatboro-Horsham senior both on and off the athletic field. “She just has a determination to make herself better,” DiFilippo said. “She takes instruction extremely well. She’s like a sponge – she just soaks everything in. She continuously works to make herself better.” A four-year varsity player, Moyer has earned all-league honors in each of her three years, last year earning first team recognition at shortstop after earning recognition for her play in right field as a freshman and sophomore “I moved her to shortstop last year, and she went through the whole season with four errors,” DiFilippo said. “She can play any place on the field but pitcher and catcher.”
Moyer would be on the wish list of more than a few college coaches if she opted to pursue softball at the next level. As much as she loves the sport, the senior captain made the difficult decision to forego playing at the collegiate level to focus on a career in the medical field. “I’ve always played sports my entire life and deciding not to be part of a team is going to be pretty hard,” Moyer said. “I made the decision because I really want to focus on my academics, and I wanted to pursue a career as a doctor.” The decision to pursue a career in medicine came after attending an eight-day National Youth Leadership Forum at the University of Pennsylvania the summer before her junior year. “We toured hospitals and watched live surgeries and got to interview doctors,” Moyer said. “That’s when I really fell in love with it, and I realized that’s what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.”
The knowledge that she wouldn’t be continuing with a sport she loves has made her final high school years even more significant, and it looked as though her senior season would be in jeopardy when – on August 1 while at a tournament in Virginia with her Thunderbirds travel team – she went down with a knee injury that was later diagnosed as a torn ACL. Moyer promised DiFilippo she would be back on the field when the season started, and she kept her word, receiving the green light to resume activities on Feb. 23, just six months after the surgery. The injury has given Moyer a new perspective. “It makes me more grateful that I could play sports,” she said. “It makes me realize how much I do truly love sports.”
Moyer is a member of the National Honor Society and is also a member of the advisory board that plans class events. She has not ruled out the possibility of playing club softball when she enrolls at the University of Pittsburgh next year.
To read Moyer’s complete profile, please click on the following link: http://www.suburbanonesports.com/featured-athletes/female/deanna-moyer-0061814
Univest’s SuburbanOneSports.com Featured Male Athlete (Week of April 28, 2016)
Sports is not always about winning and losing and star athletes setting records. And coaches will be the first ones to attest that their favorite athletes are not always the ones running for touchdowns, sinking three-pointers or hitting home runs. They are role players, like Plymouth Whitemarsh senior Kyle Chandler who form the true heart and soul of a program. This is Chandler’s first year at the varsity level. His contributions go beyond answering the call from his coach, Chris Manero, to pinch hit, pinch run or grab a glove and play the outfield. “Every coach knows that it takes a lot of hours and a lot of effort to run a successful high school program,” said Manero. “But watching a player like Kyle helps me to realize the impact all of those hours can have. Whether it’s an approach during an at bat, a play in the outfield or the mechanics of running the bases, Kyle demonstrates everything that our coaching staff has taught him in each rep he takes. He is the epitome of a fundamentally-aware player. When you teach players certain nuances of the game, like how to properly bunt, how to take a lead from second base, how to get behind a ball in the outfield – and then you see a player doing everything exactly the way it was taught – well, that makes you feel good as a coach. And Kyle does just that every time he is on the field.”
Chandler calls himself a “home-grown guy” who “doesn’t want to go too far away” to college. He’s looking forward to two more seasons – as a starter – with the Whitemarsh American Legion squad and is already eyeing adult baseball and softball leagues in the area. “I want to be able to keep the game in my life,” said Chandler, who began playing baseball at age five. Even though he played football and still plays basketball, along with golf for fun with friends, baseball is clearly his number one passion. Although he spent a year on the freshman team and two on the junior varsity level, only to get to the point where he plays sparingly as a senior, there are no regrets. “My mindset has always been to keep on getting better,” he said. “Even though I’m not playing much right now, I’m always trying to stay in the game.”
Baseball and Chandler are an ideal fit, as it is a game that lends itself to the year-round dedication he relishes. Fall ball? He’s there. Off-season conditioning? Check. Spring? Every day, ready to go. Summer? Legion ball. “As a person, he demonstrates the high character and values that we want our players to show,” Manero said. “I receive compliments about him from teachers and, whether it’s on the bench or on the field, Kyle approaches each game like it is all business.”
Chandler will likely attend Temple – even if he attends Montgomery County Community College for a year or two – and says he has drawn most of his inspiration from his family. “They have gotten me to where I am today,” he said. “They tell me to just keep having fun and to keep on working hard and that my chance will come.”
To read Chandler’s compete profile, please click on the following link: http://www.suburbanonesports.com/featured-athletes/male/kyle-chandler-0061815
- Log in to post comments
