Thanks to our continued partnership with Univest Financial, SuburbanOneSports.com will once again recognize a male and female featured athlete each week. The recognition is given to seniors of high character who are students in good standing that have made significant contributions to their teams or who have overcome adversity. Selections are based on nominations received from coaches, athletic directors and administrators.
Univest’s SuburbanOneSports.com Featured Female Athlete (Week of April 25, 2024)
It would be fair to say that Council Rock North senior Taylor Deppi was born to play lacrosse. “While I tried a lot of different sports, I have been playing lacrosse since I was 3,” she said. “My whole family is lacrosse-based. My younger siblings play. After I tried the other sports, I said, ‘I don’t like this.’ Now, it’s just lacrosse, and I’m sticking with it.” Her father, Paul Deppi, is the JV coach at her school and also coaches youth lacrosse. Younger sisters Addison and Kaitlyn both play as well. Her mom, Bethany, suggested that she referee. You put it all together, and it is all lacrosse all the time. “Literally, lacrosse is her life,” said head coach Denise Noseworthy. “She’s a hard worker. She’s very reliable. She has such a great heart. She really cares about the girls. That’s my biggest thing. She really cares about the team, and she wants to help everybody. When somebody forgets something, and they’ll say, ‘I bet Taylor has that.’ Whatever it is, she always seems to have it. She’s a leader, and she is a lovely girl.” Added Deppi: “I’m always prepared and bringing extra in case anyone needs it. I’m like Mary Poppins.”
Although she got off to an early start in the sport, Deppi had a serious setback in the fall of her freshman year when she broke three bones in her foot in a club game. Because of COVID, there were some hiccups in her physical therapy and the recovery took 8 months. Deppi only played some JV at the tail end of the season, with the most memorable moment being a bad fall that she was able to shake off with her usual good cheer. “It didn’t really matter, honestly,” she said. “It made the whole team laugh, and we were down anyway. It kind of lifted the whole team up.” That has remained a trait throughout her career. “She’s solid,” said Noseworthy. “She is such a team player. She really rallies the girls and helps everyone. When we have clinics, she attends all of them to help the younger girls. She is just a really caring person.”
As determined as she is about helping her team win on the field, Deppi has a clear view of her future. She will be playing Division III lacrosse at Neumann University and studying criminal justice and psychology. She plans to emerge with a master’s degree and then will spend the two gap years -- before applying to join the FBI -- coaching lacrosse, ideally at her alma mater. “I love coaching,” said Deppi. “Once I moved up to the higher level, I knew I wanted to coach older kids instead of younger kids. I can get farther with them.” And she has first-hand experience, as she currently coaches first and second grade girls and fifth and sixth grade boys, which she actually prefers. “My dad is the head coach and I’m the assistant. It’s easier than girls’ lacrosse,” she said. “There’s more contact. There’s less drama. No one is crying.” Noseworthy said that as long as she is where she is, Deppi can consider herself hired. “I would take her on with me, 100 percent,” said the coach. “I think she has a great understanding of the game. She is very clear on what needs to be done on the field. She has a good grasp of the whole field.”
As for going into law enforcement, she is again following the trail blazed by her dad, a sergeant with the Newtown Township Police Department. “My whole family is First Responders,” said Deppi, whose mother is an audiology technician. “I was trying to figure out if I wanted to stay in the police aspect of a career or if I wanted to go medical. I always wanted to help people.”
While it would be easy to just stay in that student-athlete lane, Deppi feels the need to be of service to the school community. She somehow finds the time – between coaching and playing all year and keeping her head in the books – to get involved in many activities at school. That includes Athletes Helping Athletes (working with students with special needs), Rock Ambassadors (helping freshmen adjust), North Outreach (community service) and Applied Leadership (peer interaction). For Deppi, leadership – on and off the field – is instinctive, so she goes with it. “I have always been a natural leader,” she said. “Leadership skills are something I have as a quality, and I just like to be able to fulfill that.”
To read Deppi’s complete story, please click on the following link: https://suburbanonesports.com/featured-athletes/female/taylor-deppi-00112387
Univest’s SuburbanOneSports.com Featured Male Athlete (Week of April 25, 2024)
It’s an interesting coincidence that Chase Olszyk is considering a career in the business world. The Plymouth Whitemarsh senior is a fixture behind the plate for the Colonials’ successful baseball team and, according to his coach, brings a businesslike approach to the diamond. “Chase is kind of a throwback, no excuses, just goes out there and plays the game the right way,” PW coach Chris Manero said. “If he doesn’t have a good game the one day, he usually shakes it off and has a better one the next day. He’s the kind of kid – if there’s ever any issues, he’s not going to be one of them. He just goes out there and does his business and does what we ask. He’s coachable and always has been. It’s important to have those guys.”
Granted, there’s no real connection between Olszyk’s potential career path in the business world and baseball, but there’s no mistaking the senior captain’s approach is indeed businesslike. “We have three captains, and they’re all a little bit different,” Manero said. “But I think coming into this season – hands down, everyone expected Chase to be in that role. He does that role really well. As a coach, I feel like he’s the guy I can go to if I need something done, and he’ll take care of it. I wouldn’t say he’s the most vocal, but he’s vocal in a quieter kind of way. I don’t like to use it because it’s such an overused term, but he leads by example. I tell our captains – sometimes leading by example isn’t enough because you have to have the courage to tell guys when they’re doing something wrong. I don’t think he’s the kind of guy that’s going to get in anybody’s face. He’s not like that rah, rah. He’s just so businesslike in everything he does.”
As the starting catcher the past two years, Olszyk assumed a leadership role well before he earned the title of captain. “As a catcher, you kind of get put in that role, no matter what,” he said. “You have to be a leader. Last year, I felt like a leader even though I wasn’t a captain. I try to lead by example. Sometimes it’s hard to get someone to do something they never did, and it’s just not in them to do that. Some people don’t want it as bad as other people, and that’s just how they are.” Olszyk possesses the skills to play at the next level, but that is not his plan. Instead of trying to find his niche at a school hoping to land his baseball talents – and he had opportunities, Olszyk’s priority was to choose a college he most wanted to attend the next four years. Penn State University is that school. “I think it’s worth pointing out – sometimes when guys are planning to play in college, you get a little more out of them,” Manero said. “They know they’re not just working to be good this year, they’re working to make a team next year. Chase is certainly one of those guys who hasn’t stopped working just because he’s not playing in college. He wants to win, and that is pretty evident.”
Manero describes Olszyk as a steady voice in the locker room but a bulldog on the field. “He puts that gear on every day, never asks for a day off,” the PW coach said. “We try and give him one once in a while, but he plays hard. He doesn’t stop hustling. As a catcher, you have to be in on every pitch, you have to be in on every play. In the last two years, he’s caught three no-hitters. He just has that presence back there. He tries not to let anything get past him, he’s just tough. People talk tough, but to actually show it and to act it – he’s a tough kid. Just in terms of that locker room presence, I’ve just always gotten a sense from my role, which is different – coaches don’t see everything, we don’t hear everything, but it just seems he commands the respect of other players. Guys kind of do what he does, they go where he tells them to go. Off the field, on the field, he’s just a mature businesslike tough presence.”
At PW, he a member of the National Business Honor Society and PW’s Student Coalition, a partnership with Whitemarsh Township Police that encourages young people to make good choices. At Penn State this fall, Olszyk will major in business and is considering playing baseball at the club level.
To read Olszyk’s complete story, please click on the following link: https://suburbanonesports.com/featured-athletes/male/chase-olszyk-00112386
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