Basketball
Favorite athlete: T.J. McConnell
Favorite teams: Philadelphia Eagles, Sixers, Phillies
Favorite memory competing in sports:Playing at Liacouras Center last year in district semifinal.
Most embarrassing/funniest thing that has happened while competing in sports: Losing to my brother in 1-on-1 in the driveway
Music on mobile device:Rap, 80’s, hip-hop
Future plans: Gather wealth and travel the world
Words to live by: “When you want to succeed as bad as you want to breathe, then you’ll be successful.”
One goal before turning 30:Be able to support myself and provide for others
One thing people don’t know about me:I lived in North Carolina for two years.
By Mary Jane Souder
Reed Zerweck remembers it well.
The one-on-one interview with coach Adam Sherman at the end of basketball tryouts his freshman year when the now Central Bucks West senior captain received some very unexpected news.
“My brother (Davis) was on the team already, and I obviously thought I was good enough at the time to make the team,” Zerweck said. “I went into the interview, and the first thing he said was, ‘We don’t have enough spots for you.’
“Immediately, my heart just sank in my chest. I was devastated. I was holding back tears, and before I left, I told him one thing – ‘I’ll be back next year,’ and then I left.”
For Zerweck, that interview didn’t mark the end but rather the beginning, and those parting words – ‘I’ll be back next year’ – became his words to live by for the next year.
“It almost felt like I recorded it – I remembered it so vividly,” the Bucks’ senior captain said.
Sherman remembers it as well.
“He left the meeting and said, ‘I’ll be back next year, and I’m going to make this team,’” the Bucks’ coach said. “He literally said that, and we tried to encourage it because he was a kid we felt was on the fence.
“For us, it becomes a numbers issue. One of the hard things about picking a ninth grader, especially with boys, you have no idea how much their bodies can change in the next year or two.”
Zerweck could have been angry when he was unexpectedly cut, he could have blamed everyone but himself, but he didn’t.
Instead, he made a plan and implemented that plan.
“The day after I was cut I started doing my own gym program, just making sure I got to the gym every single day and worked my butt off,” Zerweck said. “I went to Lenape Middle School, and the YMCA is pretty much right across the street. I would walk there every single day after school.
“I actually ended up going into DAA intramurals, but I played a year up, so I was playing with the 10th, 11th and 12th graders instead of my own age.
“I took what the coaches gave me in the workouts in the offseason and the tryouts and the skills they taught me, and I just kept working on those and working on those.”
He credited his brother for playing a key role in his comeback.
“He definitely helped me out,” Zerweck said. “After I got cut, he was always coming home after practice telling me how I could get better and what I could do.
“I watched him play. I still went to games, and I just watched people play and took that back to the gym. I needed to play high school basketball. That was something I always knew I wanted to do.”
Zerweck never wavered in his resolve, working at his game year round. A year later, he tried out again.
“It’s always harder to make the team sophomore year, so I knew I had to stand out and stand out above all the freshmen,” he said. “There’s a lot of pressure, but a part of me knew that after putting in all that work, it couldn’t have gone wrong.
“I was pretty confident, but at the same time, I just kept having flashbacks of what happened the year before.”
Zerweck was able to put those flashbacks forever behind him when he earned a spot on the team.
“He worked his tail off and really invested in his game,” Sherman said. “He came back, and it was a no-brainer. We had to pick him for the team.
“(As a freshman), his jump shot was not where it should have been. What he was able to do was he worked his tail off and got himself a nice looking jump shot. He just improved his skill set.”
While earning a spot on the team was a major victory, his journey was far from over. He saw action for the jayvee team his sophomore year and a year later was a swing player but saw limited varsity minutes.
At Zerweck’s year-end exit interview, he received some life-changing advice from Sherman.
“He said, ‘If you want to have a big role on the team, which I know you do, I need you to work on your fitness level,’” Zerweck said. “I said, ‘All right, I’ll do that.’”
Zerweck committed himself not only to the weight room but also to better eating habits.
“Obviously, I still worked really hard in the gym, but a lot of it was the nutrition, which was lax on my part,” he said. “I kind of got on – not necessarily a nutrition plan, but I wasn’t eating any artificial sugar for a while and ate pretty much chicken, rice, eggs, steak, everything natural. I’ve maintained that just because I like it.
“I worked out a lot. I spent a lot of time – but not as much – in the basketball gym but more in the weight room. Credit my coach for telling me to improve my fitness.”
The results were astonishing.
“He dropped 18 pounds of fat and put on probably another 10 pounds of muscle,” Sherman said. “It made him a lot quicker, a lot more physical, and it really changed the way he played the game.
“Basically, it was a no-brainer that we had to start him, and his natural leadership skills came through, and he was named as a captain.”
Zerweck’s selection as captain was a fitting finish to his high school career.
“It was a huge honor because if you look back in the past of CB West basketball, all of the captains – they were great guys, great players,” Zerweck said. “Once I heard I was captain, I knew I had to step up as a leader.”
The season has not been without its speed bumps – he missed three games recently with tonsillitis.
“That was pretty rough,” Zerweck said. “I had a couple of jayvee kids FaceTime me during the games, and I was watching them from the couch, which was terrible.”
Although his journey has been far from easy, Zerweck credits the program for teaching him valuable life lessons.
“I really learned that just working hard in life at anything can get you so far,” he said. “It’s about the work you put in. I just realized it applies to everything – hard work pays off. I really learned that.”
All those endless hours of work have given Zerweck a deeper appreciation for the experience.
“It’s super special because I know how hard I worked for it,” he said. “Being sick all last week really made me realize how much I love playing and how much I sometimes take it for granted.
“I always have to remember how hard I worked at this and take full advantage of it.”
Zerweck – an admitted ‘baseball kid’ until eighth or ninth grade – hopes to continue his basketball career at the club level next year. He is looking to major in either athletic training or business with his top three schools West Chester, Temple and Penn State.
He is part of the Buddy Basketball program at the YMCA, which includes playing basketball with special needs athletes. At West, he is part of the Best Buddies Club and the Future Business Leaders of America Club.
Zerweck is also a walking advertisement for the value of hard work and perseverance.
“We tell the kids (these stories) – he’s not alone,” Sherman said. “We have other kids in our program that were cut in eighth or ninth grade and come back and make the team.”
Some – like Zerweck – do more than just come back. They become an integral player on the team and, in Zerweck’s case, an easy choice as a captain.
“He’s a natural leader,” Sherman said. “His work ethic, the way he carries himself – it was an easy decision.”
