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 May 11, 2016)
John Calderaio remembers it well. The Warwick-Warrington Girls’ Basketball coach had just gotten his first glimpse of then nine-year-old Jordan Vitelli on the basketball court when – 24 hours later while watching his daughter’s soccer game – he spotted Vitelli playing on an adjacent soccer field. “No sooner had we seen her than she’s chasing down a ball, and she gets a look on her face like, ‘No one is going to stop me. I’m going to make this happen,’” Calderaio said. “She beat this kid to the ball, slid over, kicked it away. My daughter who was watching the game with me and I fist bumped each other – we have a real player here, one of those kids that has the ‘it’ factor, and Jordan has that. That’s one of the things you can’t coach. You can get kids to be more aggressive, you can get them to play harder, and things like that, but you can’t teach that ‘it’ factor.”
The now Central Bucks South senior recently completed a stellar high school basketball career, putting her name in the record books as the school’s all-time leading scorer. A second team all-state selection, Vitelli is a three-time all-league selection. “She’s the cream of the crop in my books,” coach Beth Mattern said. “I don’t say that lightly because I have a lot of respect for the girls who are on the court right now and who have been previously, but she just has that special ‘it’ factor about her and that ability to lead and to work hard and kids follow her lead.”
Unbeknownst to most, Vitelli played her final two high school seasons in severe leg pain, which was diagnosed as shin splints. “My feet go numb, and they feel like cement bricks, and my shins are on fire,” she said. It would have been easy to take time off, but Vitelli didn’t. “She practiced hard, she practiced a lot,” Mattern said. “Sometimes she’ll say, ‘I need a minute,’ but she has never used her legs as an excuse.” Vitelli was recently diagnosed with bilateral compartment syndrome and will have surgery on both legs in May 26. According to her doctor’s prognosis, she should be 100 percent within three months – in plenty of time to be ready for her first season at the University of the Sciences where she will continue her basketball career and pursue a pre-physical assistant major.
Vitelli, who boasts a cumulative GPA of close to 4.0, is part of numerous school organizations. As the new standard bearer for basketball players at South, Vitelli will be missed for her contributions both on and off the court when she graduates. “Jordan has been a one-of-a-kind player that I feel so lucky to have been able to coach,” Mattern said. “There’s no one that I know of that comes in contact with Jordan that does not like her and – once they spend a little time with her – respect her and what she does and how she carries herself.”
To read Vitelli’s complete profile, please click on the following link: http://www.suburbanonesports.com/featured-athletes/female/jordan-vitelli-0062326
Univest’s SuburbanOneSports.com Featured Male Athlete (Week of May 11, 2016)
Upper Moreland baseball coach Ken Irwin says he “could go on forever” about senior pitcher Joe Bates. Prompted to do so, he readily painted a picture of a student-athlete who is wise beyond his years and sees the big picture and was quickly able to point to specific examples. “We went to Florida this year for the first time (in the preseason),” said Irwin. “We had five freshmen go on the trip, with four players to a room. Leaving one freshman without a room, Joe offered to let the freshman stay in his room so we didn’t have to change others room assignments.” Bates pretty much shrugged it off as the right thing to do and does not see it as anything that an upperclassman would not have done for him. It was not the first time that Bates put the needs of the team first, and it won’t be the last.
It’s just the way he’s wired. “Joe has been the ultimate teammate in his high school career,” Irwin said. “In ninth grade, he was an outfielder as well as a pitcher. For the program, Joe put all his focus into pitching. Joe has worked hard and improved every year.” Extra work and Joe Bates are not strangers. He held down a part-time job until the start of the season and will pick it up again after the season. Once he decided to focus on pitching, Bates made a year-round commitment that included American Legion in the summer and fall ball, not to mention participating in offseason workouts. Bates also volunteers in the community and recently told a reporter – after pitching a gem – that “it needed to be quick” because, like other teammates, he had a little league game to umpire.
Bates received feelers from some Division II and III schools about continuing his pitching career, but he decided to attend St. Joseph’s University with the main draw being its food marketing program. “It is one of the few schools that even has this as a major,” Bates said. “I will be taught how to market brands and items in the food industry and will hopefully land a job with a major company.” It should come as no shock that Bates has his priorities in order. A serious student, he is a member of the National Honors Society and tutors others as part of the program.
To read Bates’ compete profile, please click on the following link: http://www.suburbanonesports.com/featured-athletes/male/joe-bates-0062327
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