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 Nov. 7, 2017)
“Be humble. Be hungry. And always be the hardest worker on the field.” Those are words to live by for Courtney Supp, and listening to coach Audrey Anderson tell it, the Pennridge senior could well be the poster child for that phrase. A selfless athlete who puts the team first, the senior captain has excelled at center back the last three years for a Rams’ soccer squad that captured back-to-back SOL Continental Conference titles. There’s nothing especially noteworthy about that until you consider the Lehigh University commit is a natural forward and is penciled in to play that position at the collegiate level. “She’s always been a forward, she’s never been a defender,” Anderson said. “My goal was not to have her a defender this year. My goal was to play her possibly as a target (forward) or attacking center mid, but our numbers didn’t allow it. She was willing to step up in whatever role was needed. She doesn’t complain about it, she doesn’t make an issue. When you talk about a team player, this kid has every opportunity to say, ‘This is not the best place of me,’ but she didn’t. She played the position she was needed in most to help her team. Truly, if she was not there, we would not have had the success we’ve had over the past couple of years.”
Anderson recalls a team meeting the Rams – coming off a scoreless tie with Central Bucks East – held prior to a key conference game against Souderton. “Courtney stood up and pretty much in a nutshell said, ‘I’m listening to what everybody wants, and I can respect that everyone wants a conference championship, a state championship, but at the end of the day, I want us to play as a team, and I want us to win and lose as a team. Whatever is going to happen, we’re going to do it together.’” What the Rams accomplished – winning the program’s fifth conference title in six years – might seem almost commonplace. Until you consider the fact that they did it with an almost entirely new lineup after losing 11 seniors – nine starters – to graduation from last year’s district runner-up squad.
The next chapter in Supp’s life will be at Lehigh where she will live out her goal of playing Division One soccer. She plans to major in business with the strong academics a major drawing card for Lehigh. Off the soccer field, Supp is active in her church where she is a small group leader of middle school girls. She is also a leader of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes at Pennridge as well as a member of the Executive Council and the National Honor Society. “Anybody (Courtney) comes in contact with – they’ll tell you exactly the same thing,” Anderson said. “She’s just a really, really good person, and in the world we live in right now, for a teenage kid to think of others more than herself is something you don’t normally come by.”
To read Supp’s complete profile, please click on the following link: http://www.suburbanonesports.com/featured-athletes/female/courtney-supp-0074132
Univest’s SuburbanOneSports.com Featured Male Athlete (Week of Nov. 7, 2017)
There really is a first time for everything. If you don’t believe that, just ask David Akinwande. Prior to the 2017 season, the Harry S Truman football team had never made the postseason. As in, never ever. Entering his senior year as a running back and defensive end for the Tigers, Akinwande was having none of it. This year would be different, he said to anyone willing to listen; you’ll see. Truman would make the playoffs, he assured the doubters. If you didn’t buy into what Akinwande was selling, that’s okay, because the Truman football program hadn’t given anyone much reason to believe over the years. When Mike LaPalombara, a math teacher at Truman for the last 25 years, was hired to take over the helm, he brought an experienced and respected staff with him. “The seniors wanted to show the new staff we were going to make an impact and lead this program,” Akinwande said. “I was proud of myself and my senior teammates for the example we set for the underclassmen who are going to be the ones to lead the program for years to come.”
LaPalombara recognized Akinwande’s extra effort immediately, and the other players following his lead helped make it easy for the Tigers’ coach to get his new players to buy in quickly. “With him on board, others followed, and that was really important,” LaPalombara said. “Dave was always out there on time ready to go. He practiced hard all the time and doesn’t take any time or downs off. He represented what we were hoping to bring to the program and was the player we hoped all the guys would eventually become. He was our lead captain, our number one vote-getter. He’s a quality student and all of his teachers speak very highly of him, and above all, David is just a genuinely nice kid. He shows leadership on and off the field and nobody ever says anything negative about him.”
As the season progressed, Akinwande, a contributor at both running back and defensive end, began to see less carries as LaPalombara and his staff began experimenting with different formations. His role transitioned to more of a blocker. Never, not once, LaPalombara said, did Akinwande complain or question any of the coaching staff’s decisions. “I didn’t look at it like I was getting less carries,” he said. “I saw it more as my teammates getting more opportunities to shine, and I didn’t take it as a personal offense.” The Tigers made history as the first Truman team to advance to the postseason. Akinwande, who hopes to continue his career at the collegiate level, is going to enjoy the remaining glow of his senior year, basking in the glory and support from the surrounding community that resulted from the football season. Make no mistake about it: he will miss it dearly. “Just the fact that we made the playoffs, the journey itself is what I’ll really miss,” he said. “That and being able to play with my teammates and classmates.”
To read Akinwande’s complete profile, please click on the following link: http://www.suburbanonesports.com/featured-athletes/male/david-akinwande-0074130
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