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 for week of May 6, 2019
Yaa Aye-Danquah became a shot put and discus thrower on the track team because, according to the Upper Moreland senior, she’s no good as a runner. Plenty ironic considering the distance she’s covered to get here in the first place. Aye-Danquah will continue her throwing career at the next level when she attends York College of Pennsylvania in the fall; but first, it is necessary to look back on just how she got here, a remarkable story in itself. Aye-Danquah was born in Ghana, a nation of 30 million people off the western coast of Africa. She came to the United States in December of 2008 when she was just eight years old, along with her mother, sister and grandmother, the latter of whom later returned to the family homeland. Aye-Danquah’s mother is a preacher, and the family’s most sacred responsibility is the charity they have run since 2012 in which they ship clothes, food and essentials to the disabled, orphans and people in need in Ghana, according to Yaa.
Quite simply, Aye-Danquah is fully aware of the opportunity she was given by coming to the United States as a child, something millions of other Ghanaians never will have the chance to do. As a result, Aye-Danquah seized control of her chance, becoming a captain of both the Upper Moreland track and tennis teams, and becoming a quintessential leader in her school community at a level that has stunned her teachers and coaches. “We arrived on to the tennis court the same day,” said Upper Moreland head tennis coach Kristin Summers, who was an assistant at Central Bucks South before taking the head job at UM when Yaa was a freshman. “It has been an honor and a privilege to watch her grow from a quiet freshman who didn’t say much into a beautiful young woman and amazing human being.”
On the tennis court, Aye-Danquah played doubles her first three years, gradually working her way through the ranks until she got the opportunity to play singles as a senior captain. She may be going to college to continue her track and field career, but Aye-Danquah has a soft spot for tennis, a sport she said she picked up from her father, a skilled player in his own right back in Ghana.
As for what makes a successful shot put and discus thrower, Aye-Danquah kept it pretty simple: practice, practice, practice. Count Upper Moreland head track coach Doug Smith as another of Yaa’s many admirers. “Awesome kid, awesome person,” Smith said. “She’s a hard worker, one of the hardest I’ve seen; she’s tough on herself, but that’s only because she wants to push herself to do the best she can. She wants that not only for herself, but for her teammates and opponents too. With her leadership, it’s like having another coach around. I’m going to be so sad to see her go. She brightens your day just by smiling and saying hello.”
Soon Aye-Danquah’s high school track career will reach its conclusion, and shortly after that, she will graduate and receive her diploma. Then, this fall, she will be off to York College where she will continue her track and field career. Not only does Aye-Danquah have her sights set on giving back by becoming a nurse, but she also wants to continue the philanthropic spirit that is fostered in her family. The charity that her mother started to give back to the people of Ghana - well, Aye-Danquah wants to take that over someday when the time is right. In a few months, Yaa Aye-Danquah from the Western African nation of Ghana will be off to college. She will continue to throw the discus and shot put and she will get her degree in nursing, and even if the universe is not aware of it, its people will be better off if they cross paths with Aye-Danquah, who had the time of her life the last four years and cannot wait to see what’s next.
To read Aye-Danquah’s complete profile, please click on the following link: http://www.suburbanonesports.com/featured-athletes/female/yaa-aye-danquah-0084832
Univest’s SuburbanOneSports.com Featured Male Athlete for week of May 6, 2019
Michael DeCarolis uses the word fearless to describe Elias Ortiz. It was the reason the former Penn State-Lehigh coach had his sights set on landing the Quakertown senior. When DeCarolis was hired to take over the helm of the Panthers just over a week before the start of the season, he had a good idea the kind of player he was inheriting. “He wants the ball when it matters, he wants to guard the other team’s best player, he’s going to take a charge for you, he’s going to come up with a big bucket towards the end of the game,” DeCarolis said. “He has no fear. He plays as hard as possible. ”Oritz’s fiercely competitive nature was underscored when he was dealing with a wrist injury as his final high school basketball season was winding down. Watching his final high school games from the sideline was never a consideration for Ortiz. “My mindset was that even though it was slim, we had a chance to make playoffs and I knew that if that was to become a reality they needed me for it,” Ortiz said. .
That desire to compete is a trait coaches covet, but listening to the Panthers’ first-year coach tell it, that’s just the tip of the iceberg where Ortiz is concerned. “One of the things you need if you want to have a good team or a good program – you need a guy like Eli,” DeCarolis said. “Everything is now how many likes you get on (social media) – there’s a lot of me going around these days. Eli is one of those kids – he really doesn’t care about the me part of everything. He just wants what is best for the team. If you want to have a good program and a good culture, you need someone – especially someone who’s going to be a captain and a leader – who just does nothing but put what’s good for the program and what’s good for the team in front of what’s good for himself.” DeCarolis has the policy of choosing one captain and allowing the team to vote for the other two. “For me, after being there a little while and seeing the type of character he has on and off the court, it was an easy decision for me to have the coach’s pick for the captain be Eli,” DeCarolis said.
Ortiz was more than just part of the team, he was part of a senior class that laid the foundation for DeCarolis. Sophomore Matt Catalano gave bricks to all the seniors at the Panthers’ end-of-season banquet underscoring their contributions. “He actually gifted all the seniors bricks with everybody’s signature saying this senior group, especially Eli, were the ones that are going to be looked at that laid the foundation for the change in the program,” DeCarolis said. Ortiz will continue his basketball career at Cairn University. Ortiz will enroll in a pre-physical therapy track with his sights set on one day becoming an athletic trainer.
Ortiz leaves behind an example for future players to follow. "All the successful teams I have ever been a part of when I played or coached – we always had a player like Eli,” DeCarolis said. “He might not necessarily be the best player, but there’s just something about him – he’s going to give everything he has whether it’s a practice, a scrimmage, a game, whether we’re watching film. Whatever we do, he’s going to be a good example. When we’re on the bus, when we’re sitting in the stands at an away game, Eli was just everything that I wanted Quakertown basketball to be if somebody is looking at us from a distance.”
To read Ortiz’s complete profile, please click on the following link: http://www.suburbanonesports.com/featured-athletes/male/elias-ortiz-0084833
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