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 Feb. 11, 2020
Sydney Kemp was voted ‘most likely to brighten your day.’ The Hatboro-Horsham senior also was voted ‘class clown,’ but given the choice between one senior superlative or the other, Kemp opted for the former. Both superlatives have happy connotations, and both confirm one thing – Kemp brings a smile to people’s faces, and wherever she is, there’s bound to be laughter. “Sydney is a great person, super nice,” Hatboro-Horsham girls’ basketball coach Dennis Steinly said. “Everybody on the team smiles when they talk about her. She has a great attitude and a great personality.” Tennis coach Michelle McGill echoed a similar refrain. “Sydney has a heart of gold and can easily cheer up anyone with her infectious smile,” the Hatters’ tennis coach said.
It’s easy to understand why Kemp is such a welcome addition to any team, and although her journey with the basketball team had a few speed bumps, it had a happy ending. Kemp is a contributor on a Hatters’ squad that changed the fortunes of the program, earning a postseason district berth for the first time since 2006. When Dennis Steinly took over the helm last season, his coaching philosophy wasn’t the only change. Kemp, a starter as a sophomore, found herself coming off the bench. “That put me down a little bit,” Kemp said, admitting she entertained thoughts of walking away from basketball. “Quitting was a thought in the back of my mind. If I didn’t want to do this anymore, I could easily walk away, but I think the toughest challenge I have had mentally is just staying with it and not letting other factors come between me and what I want to do. If I had quit, I don’t think that I would have been happy with my decision. I needed to stay.”
Steinly, for one, is glad she did. “I have a great amount of respect for the fact that she could have quit - she had reasons, she was upset, but she worked through it,” Steinly said. “The lesson I try to get through – because most of the girls aren’t going to play sports for a living – you’re going to encounter difficulties and trouble and things that don’t go your way. You can either sulk and feel sorry for yourself or you can work and try to improve, and she’s always chosen to continue to work hard. I’m happy that things have turned around, and she is a contributor this year for a team that is competitive. She has really stepped up and is playing the best basketball I’ve ever seen out of her as far as effort and making things happen. Statistically, she’s making positive contributions. I think she’s had a good time being part of the team. It’s a close-knit group of friends.” Tennis might still have a more prominent place in her life if she hadn’t suffered a torn posterior cruciate ligament and was sidelined her entire freshman season. She returned to the basketball court that winter and decided to give lacrosse a try in the spring. For the past three years, Kemp has played basketball and tennis. She played doubles for the tennis team all three years, second doubles as a senior. “She enjoyed working with her teammates, and her presence could always be felt around the courts,” McGill said. “We wish Sydney nothing but well wishes in her future endeavors.”
In the fall, Kemp – who places a high value on academics - will attend Howard University where she will major in biology on a pre-med track with her sights set on becoming a doctor. Both her parents are veterinarians, but Kemp will not be following in their footsteps. “No animals,” she said with a laugh. “Growing up I’ve literally had almost every single type of animal – I’ve had reptiles, I’ve had rodents, literally everything. I can’t do animals. They’re not fun for me.” In order to stay close to sports, she would like to specialize in orthopedics.
To read Kemp’s complete profile, please click on the following link: https://www.suburbanonesports.com/featured-athletes/female/sydney-kemp-0089804
Univest’s SuburbanOneSports.com Featured Male Athlete for week of Feb.11, 2020
Last summer, Bazel Brady decided he wanted to try something new in his final year at Upper Dublin High School. After much encouragement from friends on the team for several years, Brady finally decided he wanted to play football for the Flying Cardinals. Despite having never played organized football at any level. For a team that was the defending SOL American Conference champion, PIAA Class 5A champion, and PIAA State Final Four participant. Not exactly a team that was hurting for walk-ons. Especially walk-ons who would need to learn every aspect of the game. Brady was not expecting to be handed anything. He knew he’d have to prove himself if he wanted to earn even a single snap of game action. He set about earning his spot from day one. “Sure, I was a little leery early on, but I knew Bazel was a heck of an athlete and if anyone could handle it, he’d be one of the few,” said Cardinals’ football coach Bret Stover.
While Brady may have faced an uphill battle, one thing that was never in doubt was his toughness. “When you first start playing football, you have that initial fear factor of taking a hit,” Stover said. “I never got that feeling from him, which is usually not the case with a first-year kid.” Brady quickly adapted and became a valuable player on both sides of the ball. And when a plague of injuries descended on the Cardinals, Brady found himself moved around the field wherever he was needed. Lining up as a wideout on offense, Brady was originally slated to play outside linebacker on defense, but also found himself in the defensive backfield when he was needed there. He also took on punting duties. “We weren’t sure where we were going to use Bazel at first, or if we were just going to limit him to offense, or just to defense,” Stover said. “We threw that out the window early, because he proved he could handle it. By week 3 or 4, he had moved to cornerback, and he’s out there covering the best man on the other team. Was it pretty? No, it was Bazel being an athlete and getting the job done any way he could.”
Unfortunately, Brady’s highly successful experiment on the gridiron came to a sudden halt in the Cardinals’ sixth game of the season. In a scramble for a fumble against Quakertown, an opposing player fell on Brady’s right hand. He had three broken metacarpals with the middle one displaced, requiring surgery that resulted in screws, plates, and a pin. Despite only having played six games his senior year (as well as his entire high school career), Brady earned American Conference Honorable Mention status as a wideout. And he proved to his football coaches and teammates, as well as to fans and opposing teams, something that his basketball coach has known for several years … that there aren’t many athletes out there like Bazel Brady. “You hear a lot about the guy who’s the glue who holds the team together,” UD basketball coach Chris Monahan said of his senior captain. “You could say that about Bazel this year, but the truth is, he’s so much more than that to us. He’s our second leading scorer and rebounder, he handles the ball against pressure, he does everything for us. You can’t undersell the things he does for us on the court. But more than that, we’re losing a leader where it’s hard to ignore him working as hard as he does every day and then justify yourself taking a rep off here or there. They see how hard he works and they want to match that intensity and consistency. Bazel is a kid who really embodies everything we stand for on the court and off.” Added Stover, “He’s leaving a legacy that you can come out and learn the game and be a major part of the team in just one year. He’s one of the most coachable kids I’ve had. I’ll take 11 or 22 of him on the field any day.”
To read Brady’s complete profile, please click on the following link: https://www.suburbanonesports.com/featured-athletes/male/bazel-brady-0089803
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