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 May 21, 2014)
Tatyana Keshanech’s father has a prized photo in his office of a little league baseball all-star team. In the front row, in the middle of an entire team of boys, is a little girl with long blonde hair. The seven-year-old girl is Tatyana Keshanech, now a senior and four-year starter for the Bensalem softball team. Baseball went out the window for the senior second baseman when the boys had a growth spurt and she didn’t. Softball was not an immediate fit for Keshanech. “It doesn’t seem that different, but it is very different,” she said. “I wasn’t used to it, so the first year I played I was awful. I didn’t want to quit – I still liked it. I just wasn’t used to being bad.” Keshanech wasn’t bad for long. She joined the travel circuit when she was 14 with Newtown Rock and now competes with the Jersey witches.
When it came time to play for the high school team, she was shocked to hear stories from a friend one year her senior about the program’s struggles. “I remember her saying that the team was so bad and that they lost every single game and they never had a chance,” Keshanech said. “I thought because we all played travel that we were ready for what was coming. Basically, that entire season it was – let’s just try and get a win against anyone. I think we had three wins that season, and that was a big deal because they hadn’t won any games in three years.”
Keshanech – described by her coach as cerebral – is not your typical softball player. “I’m more into fielding than hitting,” she said. “Everyone wants to hit all the time, but I would rather go take ground balls. I spend a lot of time working on my fielding. I guess that’s my strong point.” That might be an understatement. The senior second baseman went through a stretch of 30-plus games without committing an error, a span of time that included the entire season last year and extended into this year. “She’s like a captain when it comes to someone on the field who always knows what to do with the ball,” coach Dan Schram said. “She’s just really tremendous on defense and has been big for us in situations hitting as well.”
Keschanech leaves Bensalem as part of the group of seniors Schram calls the ‘core four,’ who helped turned the fortunes of the program around. “She’s a special kid,” Schram said. “What you see is what you get. She’s been trustworthy and reliable. She’s very thoughtful in what she says. She thinks before she acts. She’s just been an asset to us and one of the bright points. I’m definitely going to miss her.”
Keshanech’s cerebral approach to the game undoubtedly got its roots in the classroom where she also excels. A member of the National Honor Society, the senior honors student is ranked sixth in her senior class and has been taking AP classes since her junior year. This fall, Keshanech will enroll at Lehigh University where she will major in math. She has been involved with service projects through NHS, last year tutoring first graders and this year helping babysit children of parents taking ESL classes.
To read Tatyana Keshanech’s complete profile, please click on the following link: http://www.suburbanonesports.com/featured-athletes/female/tatyana-keshanech-0044672
Univest’s SuburbanOneSports.com Featured Male Athlete (Week of May 21, 2014)
As the setter on the state powerhouse Central Bucks West volleyball team, Matt Hennigan knows all about decision-making. On the court, he becomes the embodiment of the John Wooden be-quick-but-don’t-hurry model, as his choices have to be made in real time in the fast sport where momentum hangs in the balance. “I’m involved in every play,” said Hennigan. “I’m kind of the quarterback of the offense.” He found himself as the setter for his own future recently, weighing the pros and cons of his college choice. After careful consideration, which included offers to continue playing volleyball at the Division III level, he instead opted for the University of Colorado Boulder. There, while majoring in engineering, he will likely reduce the role of volleyball in his life to the club level (the school does not have a team) and indulge himself with his second love of snowboarding. It was not an easy choice, but he is not the type of young man who takes the path of least resistance. “It’s very scary,” admitted Hennigan. “I felt like volleyball has defined me. I didn’t want it to dictate the rest of my life. I thought about what kind of college life I wanted. (Being a student-athlete) is a lot of pressure.”
Hennigan had been urged to play high school volleyball by assistant coach Rick Fehrs, a friend of Hennigan’s mother, Colleen, who played college volleyball and raised her son around the sport in the Doylestown Athletic Association. Since then, Hennigan has maintained a rigorous volleyball schedule outside of school, playing in tournaments from State College to Rochester to Reno to Dallas and all points in between. He has been the varsity setter for four years, and he also played the role of recruiter, approaching friends to join the team. “He has really helped to build this team up, just from encouraging friends to come out,” coach Todd Miller said. “He wanted them involved in the joy he has in his life.”
Another role Hennigan has grown into is that of team leader. “He doesn’t expect anything to be handed to him,” Miller said. “Matt is a team leader, and that comes from the way he carries himself. It comes from the respect and compassion he shows toward others. He draws the best out of the people around him. He is an all-around, stand-up person. He sets a good standard, buying into seeing this team as a family. He has helped other people, not only on the court, but off the court. He’s incredibly friendly and personable.”
Hennigan is no stranger to Colorado, having visited there in eighth grade on a trip with his father, Paul, and extended family. His parents separated when he was in fourth grade, and he acknowledged the divorce impacted him greatly. “He has overcome adversity in his life,” Miller said. “For him to overcome and come in and act the way he does as a young man speaks highly not only of him, but of his mother and the job that she has done. He has stayed humble, and you really don’t see that too much in this day and age.”
To view Hennigan’s complete profile, please click on the following link: http://www.suburbanonesports.com/featured-athletes/male/matt-hennigan-0044671
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