School: Quakertown
Field Hockey, Basketball, Track & Field
Colleen Gavin used to be the tallest kid in her class.
“I was 5-6 in middle school, and that was gigantic compared to the other kids,” the Quakertown senior said.
That height made Gavin a natural to pursue basketball.
“That made me feel that’s where I belonged – on the basketball court because that’s where I was most efficient in my life,” she said. “I was surprisingly good. The first time I played I was the best on my team. It was natural for me.”
So Gavin set some lofty goals for herself.
“I wanted to play professional basketball,” she said with a smile.
These days Gavin is no longer the tallest kid in her class, and she no longer aspires to play professional basketball, but she has turned into an outstanding high school basketball player who helped turn a struggling program around.
The Panthers were 4-20 in Gavin’s freshman year but were 14-11 the following year. They’ve been winning more than they’ve lost ever since.
“Since the first time I saw her in ninth grade, I knew Colleen had the potential to be real good,” Quakertown coach Greg Swavely said. “I have watched her grow over the last four years, and the biggest thing about her is her toughness inside.
“She’ll go after a rebound and just want it more than anyone else. She’s given everything she has to this program, and she’s helped turn this program around.”
In Quakertown’s season-ending loss to Chester this year, Gavin surpassed the 1,000-point plateau. She is only the fourth Quakertown female athlete to reach that milestone.
Talk to her coach, and it’s clear that numbers don’t begin to tell the story of her contributions.
“Over the last two years, she has taken a leadership role,” Swavely said. “During her freshman and sophomore years, she came in and was happy to make contributions, but she realized her junior year this was partly her team, and she had to sort of carry the team on her back.
“She’s taken that and ran with it the last two years. I can’t say enough about the contributions she’s made.”
This past season, Gavin averaged 14.2 points and 9.3 rebounds a game for a Panther squad that compiled a 13-9 mark and earned a spot in the district tournament. The Panthers have had 12 wins or more in each of the last three seasons as Gavin and junior Daniella Ciccarone formed the nucleus of a team to be reckoned with in SOL play.
“I just wanted to help the team out as much as I possibly could, but I was never the one who was going to turn it around,” Gavin said. “It was a team effort, a coach effort. It had to be everything. Everyone had to be willing to turn it around.”
Gavin has been playing competitive sports since she was in fifth grade. She played them all – softball, track, volleyball, field hockey and basketball, following in the footsteps of her older sister Maureen.
“She’s the one who got me started,” Gavin said. “I always wanted to be better than her. It was that sibling rivalry.”
Gavin’s family moved from North Hills to Quakertown when Colleen was in sixth grade, and she had to narrow down her sports’ choices. Softball was the first to fall by the wayside. In seventh grade, she gave up volleyball but has stayed with hockey, basketball and track.
In track this spring, she is competing in the 100, shot put and discus. Last year, she advanced to districts in shot put. A two-year starter on the hockey field, Gavin acknowledges hockey is a break from basketball in the fall.
“I’m really intense with hockey, and I want to be good, but I have fun,” she said.
Basketball has always been Gavin’s undisputed favorite. She found a home on the varsity as a freshman and when she was a sophomore joined the AAU circuit, competing with the Lehigh Valley Outlaws.
“Over the years, I went to every camp possible – all the local high school camps, college camps,” she said. “I loved it.”
On Friday afternoon in Quakertown’s library, Gavin was honored at a signing ceremony. She has inked her name on a letter of intent to take her talents to perennial Division 3 power DeSales University, choosing that school from a final list that included St. John Fisher, West Chester and Alvernia.
“I wanted to stay local because I don’t want to be far away from my family,” Gavin said. “DeSales seems like the kind of place that won’t just make you a better basketball player but a better person.
“Since basketball isn’t going to be the rest of my life, I have to develop as a well-rounded person. There’s always room to become a better person.”
Gavin plans to major in exercise and sports science with a goal of becoming a physical therapist or athletic trainer.
“I love the sciences, and I want to work with athletes,” she said. “It seemed like a good fit.”
A member of the National Honor Society and Anti-Smoking committee, Gavin excels in the classroom as well as on the basketball court.
“She’s a great kid,” Swavely said. “She’s a very good student, and she’s very kind, very caring.
“That’s the neat thing about having coached Colleen. She’s not only a good basketball player, she’s a good kid, and that’s makes it a little bit more worthwhile.”
