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, 2020
Grace Ball will be heading to Appalachian State on August 7, marking the beginning of her collegiate field hockey career. Receiving a scholarship to play Division I field hockey might have seemed like an improbable outcome for the Wissahickon senior when she was a youngster. Not that college was even a thought back then, but sports were not exactly Ball’s forte. Until, that is, she picked up a hockey stick “I always played sports,” Ball said. “Both of my parents were D-I athletes, so it’s in my family to play sports a lot. I played soccer, ran track, did gymnastics and a lot of flag football, softball, tee-ball and everything, but I was never really an athletic kid. There was something about field hockey – it was the first time I ever felt like I could really use my skills. In the other sports I was playing, I never felt like I was good at anything. My mom was my coach in first grade for field hockey for WRA, and it was the first time when I felt, ‘Okay, I’m good at something.’”
Ball turned out to be much better than ‘good.’ A four-time first team All-SOL American Conference selection, the Trojan senior was also a two-time first team PHSFHCA All-State selection. “Grace was such a giant part of our team this year,” Wissahickon hockey coach Lucy Gil said. “I wasn’t (coaching) her freshman year, but I know the three years I have been there she’s played every single game. You don’t take that kind of kid out. She can be a game changer in a lot of instances. Especially these last two years, she’s the mainstay. She’s the person you rely on to carry the ball, to distribute the ball, to be a leader.” Ball led the Trojans in both goals and assists and is in Gil’s top 10 all-time scoring list. An impressive list that includes the most decorated field hockey player in the U.S., Katie O’Donnell Bam, who went on to excel at perennial national powerhouse Maryland and is an 11-year member of the U.S. National team. “Katie went to Wissahickon so coach Gil spoke very highly and often of her,” Ball said. “Our team also went to the Maryland summer camp and she coached us there. I also was in contact with her during the recruiting process. She has inspired me in many ways.”
Ball’s ascent to the top of her sport didn’t just happen. “She works really hard at school as well as in field hockey,” Gil said. “She’s always been on one of the top teams of her club, and she got a lot of recognition through X-calibur (Field Hockey Club). She really works hard at what she does, and she’s reaped the benefits of all that training, but it’s up to her to put the work in, and she does.” Ball chose Appalachian State from a final list that also included St. Joseph’s and Maryland but Lehigh, Lafayette and Towson also were a consideration. In Ball, Appalachian State has inherited a special player whose elite skills are just part of the equation. “Grace wasn’t one of my biggest talkers – she led more by example,” Gil said. “When we did sprints, it was ‘Can you catch Grace?’ because she pushes herself, and the other kids could see that. I made her a captain because I knew she would work so hard that the other kids would follow. I think the kids looked up to her because she was so successful and she was so good at what she did. Grace is just a genuinely nice person. She’s super nice to everybody she comes across. I can’t imagine her coming up to somebody and not having a smile on her face when she’s talking to them. She’s just an overall a great kid.” During her years at Wissahickon, Ball was active in student life, including FANS Club and Wiss Pals. She also helped run the field hockey summer camp and fall clinic offered through the school for young girls to help them improve their skill and overall knowledge of the game.
To read Ball’s complete profile, please click on the following link: https://www.suburbanonesports.com/featured-athletes/female/grace-ball-0090272
Univest’s SuburbanOneSports.com Featured Male Athlete for week of May 6, 2020
For a kid who won 90 percent of his high school wrestling matches, AJ Tamburrino has had his resolve tested on more than one occasion. Through the adversity, the future member of the United States Navy has kept a level head and a clear mind, never letting the sudden potholes along the way derail his path to excellence in and out of the William Tennent and Hatboro-Horsham wrestling rooms. Like many decorated high school wrestlers, Tamburrino donned his first singlet around the age of five. His father, Anthony, was his coach for most of his upbringing and had his own wrestling club in Warminster, teaching Tamburrino everything he knows. “I fell in love with it, of course,” Tamburrino recalled. “I tried baseball for about a month. Then I moved on to soccer, which did not interest me. Wrestling just took hold of me, and it became the one thing I thought about every single day.”
In his four years as a varsity wrestler, Tamburrino compiled an off-the-charts 126-14 overall record, with the first three of those coming at Tennent. Tamburrino started his high school career with a bang, posting a 29-4 record his freshman campaign; however, he was eliminated at regionals one win shy of a berth in the state tournament. He got off to a flawless 19-0 start as a sophomore and was well on his way to Hershey before coming down with a nasty case of the flu, stopping Tamburrino’s stellar season in its tracks. Instead of being at states with his Tennent teammates, Tamburrino watched the event on television from his couch, an even more gutting scenario than coming up a match short one year earlier.
Luckily, the third time turned out to be the charm for Tamburrino, who went back to PRTC for another grueling summer of training. He posted a 38-5 mark as a junior and finally made it to Hershey where he ultimately placed third and came back home with a bronze medal around his neck. Then, a sudden change came about, as Anthony Tamburrino landed a new job, necessitating the family pick up and move. This meant AJ would have to switch schools heading into his senior year, leaving Tennent behind and enrolling at Hatboro-Horsham. The first couple days of school were admittedly difficult as Tamburrino was a stranger in a strange land. Luckily, this was only temporary, and soon wrestling coach Trent Mongillo and the Hatters’ wrestling team were welcoming their new addition with open arms.
Tamburrino went 40-5 in his lone season with the Hatters, wrestling at 152 pounds and qualifying for states for a second consecutive year. When he got to Hershey, another unexpected event unfolded: Tamburrino lost his first match, sending him directly into the consolation bracket. Instead of sulking and letting the dejection consume him, Tamburrino rebounded as he normally does in adverse conditions. He ripped off four straight wins and five of his final six over a three-day period, good enough for a fifth-place medal. “AJ has a great ability to adapt no matter the situation,” Mongillo said. “Throughout the process, he never brought it up. He rolls with the punches and doesn’t let change affect him. He just concentrated on his training and becoming a better wrestler and person. AJ was a pleasure to have on our team in our room. His work ethic speaks for itself.”
Tamburrino hopes to ultimately become a commissioned officer and make serving in the Navy his career and purpose. A member of National Honor Society and Hatboro-Horsham’s Link Crew — a club that blends seniors and freshmen to make the latter’s transition to high school a little easier — Tamburrino is so much more than a one-dimensional wrestler. He devours military history books and documentaries, and always makes it a point to incorporate social time into his life so that he doesn’t work too hard and burn himself out. “A quote that I’ve carried with me since seventh grade is ‘Once you have wrestled, everything else in life is easy,’” he said. “When you’re out on a mat, it’s just you and another guy and your physical skills and mental capabilities. That’s what life is. With the matches I’ve won, I feel like I have a decent grasp on how to approach life because of this sport.
To read Tamburrino complete profile, please click on the following link: https://www.suburbanonesports.com/featured-athletes/male/aj-tamburrino-0090269
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