School: North Penn
Lacrosse
Favorite athlete: Cliff Lee
Favorite team: Phillies
Favorite memory competing in sports: My best friends on the team were definitely what always kept me going. We’ve had so much fun over the years, and I will never forget everything that we’ve been through together.
Most embarrassing/funniest thing that happened while competing in sports: During one of the biggest games of the season, everyone was fighting for a ground ball, and when it went up in the air, I jumped up to catch it, but my teammate hit my feet as I was in the air, and I landed on top of her. We both just laid on the ground laughing as the other team ran away with the ball.
Music on iPod: A mix of a lot of different things but mostly country and Kesha
Future plans: Attending Lebanon Valley College as part of their six-year Physical Therapy program. I also plan to play lacrosse in college and then start a career in PT with pediatrics or sports medicine.
Words to live by: ‘It’s the guy who is willing to die, who is going to win that inch.’
One goal before turning 30: Have a solid PT career and travel to Spain.
One thing people don’t know about me: I have six dogs and two cats, so my house gets pretty crazy.
Maddy Humphrey, according to her coach, is a program type kid.
“She’s somebody that does a lot of other things – she might be involved in community service, she might be involved in another club or organization, but North Penn lacrosse has always come first for Maddy,” lacrosse coach Jami Wilus said. “Whether she’s been a jayvee player or a varsity sub or a varsity starter, she was always about the team, and she wanted to be a part of what was going on in our program.
“I think when a lot of people think of North Penn, they automatically assume we have these powerhouse kids every single year, and everyone is all about lacrosse. Maddy is such a great balance of academics and athletics. It’s more about developing a complete person, not just one who excels in one area or the other.”
The North Penn senior wasn’t a star athlete. As a matter of fact, Humphrey wasn’t a fulltime varsity player until her senior season.
“Very rarely do you see kids that don’t start or get playing time sticking with it – they’re calling it quits after their junior year because they want to focus on something else,” Wilus said. “Maddy is so academic and really excels in the classroom.
“Lacrosse was an escape for her where she could get away from all that and hang out with different people and really develop a relationship with a lot of girls on the team.”
Although Humphrey was part of a North Penn program that has done nothing but win SOL championships, it was the relationships and her love of lacrosse that mattered most to the Maiden senior.
“The team was my group of best friends, and we just had so much fun together,” she said. “At North Penn, we play all year round.
“We play fall ball, and then we do winter league and morning practices and then go into the season. We do summer camps. It’s year round, and I feel like if I didn’t do it, I wouldn’t know what to do with myself. I just have so much fun with all the girls on the team. Even if I didn’t get the varsity playing time, I would still love being with everyone and being part of the team.”
In truth, Wilus wouldn’t necessarily have projected Humphrey as a future varsity starter when she entered the program.
“I remember when she was a sophomore she always just worked really hard and was always there and got along with everybody on the team,” the Maidens’ coach said. “She’s not somebody I remember thinking that by the time they got to their senior year would be a starter.
“I think it shows how far she’s come and what she’s done with what she’s been given – the opportunity to start and be a part of our program.”
Humphrey was first introduced to lacrosse in fifth grade when she began playing for her community program in Upper Gwynedd Township. It was her first taste of competitive sports, and it was a good one.
“I never wanted to play soccer or softball,” Humphrey said. “I danced for two years in elementary school, but that really wasn’t anything.
“I wasn’t interested in sports, but as soon as I started playing lacrosse, I just had so much fun. I had fun with all the girls on my team. We were all so close and had such good connections that we all got better and better together. That made me love it even more.”
Humphrey played lacrosse in middle school and played jayvee as a sophomore. She was a swing player her junior year and this year earned a starting spot on attack for a Maiden squad that rolled to another SOL Continental Conference title.
“I wasn’t sure how it was going to go when we started in the fall,” she said. “I wasn’t sure where I would fit into everything.
“Throughout the school year, I went to everything. I kept working, and I kept trying to get better every day. Over the course of the year, we all fell into our places, and I fell into the starting attack spot.”
It was Humphrey’s commitment and work ethic that led her to a starting role.
“She always went to camp, and she always did the extra things,” Wilus said. “She didn’t play club, but the extra things we ask of them at North Penn – she was always doing them. She was 100 percent always there. She was super committed.
“Maddy takes the quiet approach, but she fits in with our team really well. She’s not the one who’s dominating the conversation or needs to be the center of attention, which shows what kind of person she is.”
Humphrey plans to continue her lacrosse career next year at Lebanon Valley College.
“I’m really looking forward to it,” she said. “Meeting new girls and being on a different team – it’s going to be a totally different atmosphere.
“I’m glad lacrosse is not going to be over. It’s going to be more and more.”
She plans to major in physical therapy, an interest that was sparked when she took an athletic training class as a junior.
“That really got me interested in sports medicine,” Humphrey said. “I have always loved anatomy and sciences, and I also did a physical therapy observation where I shadowed physical therapists, and that really got me interested.”
An excellent student, Humphrey has taken all honors classes and is enrolled in two AP classes this year. She is ranked fifth in a senior class of over a thousand students unweighted and 39th out of that number weighted.
She admits she takes some good-natured ribbing from her teammates for her unwavering study habits.
“I was the one on the team who was always worried about getting home because I had to finish my homework or I had to study for a test,” Humphrey said. “I could never let my grades slip.
“Even if we had late night games, I would be staying up late finishing all my homework. I never wanted to let my grades drop. They made fun of me because I was always the one to not go do something because I had to do my homework.”
Humphrey also finds time to do community service. She volunteers with the Special Olympics and also at the SPCA. She has helped her mother raise money for Susan G. Komen for the Cure.
Ask her what she’ll remember most about her high school career, and it’s not the championships or big wins.
“I’m going to remember everything about the team,” Humphrey said. “We were always such a family. We could always count on each other, and just the friendships – they’re like my best friends.
“That’s what mattered most to me about North Penn lacrosse. It wasn’t about the playing time or scoring all the goals. It was about being with the girls that I loved and having fun with them.”
It’s exactly the kind of answer you’d expect from a 'program type' kid.
