School: Neshaminy
Soccer, Basketball
Favorite athlete: Mike Richards
Favorite team: Philadelphia Flyers
Favorite memory competing in sports: Basketball Nationals for AAU and finishing in third place
Most embarrassing/funnies thing that has happened while competing in sports: Once while playing baseball with my friends in the street, there was a long fly ball. One of my friends ran to catch it, not realizing there were three huge trash cans behind him. He got air born, flipped over the trash can and landed on his face.
Music on iPod: Country. Anything Sugarland, especially ‘Stuck Like Glue’
Future plans: Become a physical therapist for special needs kids
Words to live by: ‘What the mind can conceive and believe, the mind can achieve.’
One goal before turning 30: Create or join an organization to help special needs kids.
One thing people don’t know about me: My family is the most important thing in the world to me.
Jen Slivka, according to her basketball coach, is one of those special players that comes along perhaps once every five years.
“The unfortunate part is that with people in our positions, most of us pray for the superstar stud kids you get once every five years,” Neshaminy coach Joanne McVey said. “But I tell you what – I’d take a kid like Jen Slivka every day of the week.
“She’s a special kid.”
Special hardly covers a young lady who has been a four-year starter in both soccer and basketball and been named captain of both squads for each of the past two years.
“She’s a hard worker and a phenomenal leader,” McVey said. “She does all the little things that some of the premiere superstar players don’t want to do.
“She was voted captain as a junior. The kids recognize – she’s a natural leader. People come to her if they have a problem. She has a way of being their friend but also - more importantly with sports - of being a good teammate.
“If she thinks people are out of line, she’ll make tough decisions, and she’ll say some things for the good of the team other kids might not say. She’s a kind but forceful leader. She’s just a wonderful kid to be around.”
Slivka’s soccer coach echoed almost identical sentiments.
“She was a phenomenal leader,” coach Rachel Clemens said. “Her integrity is just unreal. I just feel her outward actions match her inner values.
“Her passion for the game of soccer and her dedication are just contagious, and all those things allowed her to earn the trust and respect of her teammates. She really was a role model for our underclassmen. She just had such a mature attitude.”
Slivka isn’t the most flamboyant player on the soccer field, nor is she flashy on the basketball court, but she has been a major contributor to both squads.
Soccer has been and remains Silvka’s top sport, and no one – according to Clemens – was better at winning 50-50 balls in the air.
“She just dominates,” Clemens said. “She’s fearless.
“It was an ongoing joke during the season – is anyone else even going to challenge a 50-50 ball? I remember one of the girls yelled from the field, ‘We don’t need to. Jen’s got it.’ It’s huge when you’re winning the majority of the 50-50 balls in the center of the field, and she was just fearless when it comes to bringing the ball out of the air, regardless of whether it’s coming off her head or chest or whatever.”
Slivka was one of just two freshmen to earn a spot on the varsity, and after her team suffered some injuries, she found herself thrust into a starting role. She has been a mainstay at center midfield ever since.
“It was intimidating for us to play varsity in ninth grade, but it was a really good experience,” Slivka said.
Although she admits she has a defensive mindset, Slivka – who has received all-league recognition in each of the last three years - heeded her coach’s advice to become more offensive-minded this past fall.
“Defensively, your team really counts on you to be strong in the back, and I guess that was always easy for me because I felt as though in times of trouble or chaos, they would look to me and our other captain, Alyssa Kirk, who played in the back,” Slivka said. “We always seemed to settle the team down.
“It’s different than being offensive. It’s almost like saving the day. Being offensive is a little out of my box because I’m not really a goal scorer, but the team needed me to, so I tried the best I could.”
Slivka scored six goals for a Redskin squad that finished conference play with a 10-2-2 mark.
“You could see she became more confident each game offensively, which was a marked change for her because she always had more of a defensive attitude and role on the field,” Clemens said.
With Slivka and Kirk providing leadership, the transition to head coach was an easy one for Clemens, who had previously been the jayvee coach.
“Jen had that experience under her belt because she was a varsity player for four years, and she just knew what to do,” the Redskins’ first-year coach said. “Her communication skills are very strong.
“The other thing that sets her apart in terms of leading by example – she just strives to outcompete her opponent. It could be her teammate during practice, but especially on the field, she is always trying to outcompete her opponent, whatever that might be.
“She was the backbone of our team. She and Alyssa Kirk were the glue that kept the team united the whole season.”
This year’s team, according to Slivka, shared a special camaraderie.
“The team last year was a little bit divided,” she said. “It was kind of cliquey, and it wasn’t really a united group.
“This year what we tried to do is be a tight-knit team, and that ended up showing up on the field. It really helped us. We tried to get rid of as much drama as we could and tried to keep it in the family.”
Slivka has been playing soccer since she was five when she began playing for Pearls in-house squad. That same team eventually ended up becoming her travel team, Neshaminy United Gators, and Slivka has been with the same program for 12 years.
For all of those 12 years, she has been coached by her father, Bernie, who also assisted with her travel basketball team over the years as well.
“It’s great,” she said of playing for her dad. “I love it.”
Slivka began playing basketball in third grade, initially for her church and then for the Lower Bucks Lightening on the AAU circuit.
Although she has not invested the time into basketball that she has soccer, Slivka enjoys that sport as well.
“It’s difficult to play both, but the seasons would kind of alternate,” she said. “Summer was for soccer, and winter was for basketball, and everything else filled in with soccer.
“My main sport is soccer, so basketball was kind of a fun sport for me to do. I love the sport, but it’s not something I intend on pursuing, it wasn’t as intense.”
While it might not be as intense, Slivka’s competitive drive still shines through. The 5-6 senior – a sometimes reluctant shooter who averages 4.9 points a game - is her team’s top rebounder, averaging 6.2 a game.
“You’re putting numbers on words there because rebounding is hard work,” McVey said. “When you’re six foot, maybe not so much, but when you’re 5-6 and you’re leading your team in rebounding the basketball - that speaks volumes.”
It comes as no surprise that Slivka – the ultimate blue collar player - is the Redskins’ best defender.
“We always put her – regardless of the person’s height – on the best player of the other team,” McVey said. “She just works as hard as anybody and tries for the team to shut that kid down.
“She does all those things without ever requesting any recognition or acknowledgement. She just puts her head down and does it. Kids like her are few and far between. She’s not one that tries to get into the limelight. She just does all the little things.”
A member of the National Honor Society, Slivka excels in the classroom where she takes honors classes and is on the distinguished honor roll. She has been accepted at Penn State main campus but is also considering Bloomsburg and York.
“I always wanted to go to Penn State, but I also have been talking to York and Bloomsburg about playing soccer,” she said. “It’s difficult especially since York is offering me money and financial aid. If I go to Penn State, it would mean I would stop playing at a competitive level, but it’s always been my dream to go there.”
Wherever she winds up, Slivka plans to major in physical therapy with an interest in working in pediatrics with special needs children.
“My basketball team works with a group called Athlete Helping Athletes, and that really inspired me,” she said. “Just being around the kids and seeing how happy you can make them and impact their lives – it changed me a little bit.”
Slivka will leave Neshaminy in June with her fingerprints firmly placed on two programs.
In soccer, Slivka was voted ‘Ms Midfield’ in each of the last three years. As a senior, she also received the ‘Nails Award,’ given to the player that is tough as nails. In basketball, she received the Lady Redskin Award each of the last three years.
“That award is given to the kid that kind of exemplifies what we’re looking for in a Neshaminy girls’ basketball player,” McVey said. “She’s not gifted with tremendous basketball skill, but that being said, she gets every ounce she has out of it.
“She has a great work ethic, and she’s a great team player. She’s just a great kid.”
“It’s bittersweet to see her go,” Clemens added. “We’re left with an everlasting impression of Jen and her leadership abilities.
“I hope there’s an underclassman who will fill her shoes because they will be big ones. She’s just an exceptional student-athlete.”
