Volleyball
Favorite athlete: Ali Frantti (Penn State Volleyball)
Favorite team: Philadelphia Eagles
Favorite memory competing in sports: Whenever my team is facing a rival or sister school, we all come together as one and play super hard for each other
Most embarrassing/funniest thing that has happened while competing in sports: My high school teammate Shayne did a full unintentional split in the middle of practice diving for a ball and the whole team was laughing till our stomachs hurt
Music on playlist: Hype of music and throwbacks!
Favorite motto: “Everything happens for a reason.”
One goal before turning 30: To have a stable job that I love and a happy and healthy family
One thing people don’t know about me: My ALL time favorite season is Fall
By Mary Jane Souder
Mention the name Courtney Pohl to Kurt Godfrey, and the Central Bucks South volleyball coach can’t find enough superlatives to describe his two-year captain.
“She is by far, the hardest working kid I’ve ever had,” Godfrey said. “She is an awesome kid, she is the sweetest person on the planet, and at the same time, she has an incredible athletic drive.
“She never gives up, she sacrifices her body, diving on the court for every ball she can possibly get to – she’s just an amazing kid.”
Pohl’s competitive drive was underscored in this fall’s match at North Penn. The Titans, who had swept the Knights earlier in the season at South, were struggling to get untracked.
“We expected – and maybe not rightfully so – to beat them in three again,” Godfrey said. “We won the first one and lost the next two. Halfway through the fourth set, someone shanked a pass, and Courtney went diving into the bench to try to dig the ball for us. She tipped the chair and ended up putting a gash in her leg that required four stitches.”
The Titans went on to win in five, although Pohl was sidelined for the remainder of the fourth and the entire fifth set. While there’s nothing unusual about a volleyball player diving for a bad pass, it’s the kind of play typically reserved for the defensive specialists, not an outside hitter like the six-foot Pohl.
But Pohl – who committed in early October to continue her volleyball career at Catholic University – is a complete volleyball player. Her stats speak for themselves. In 16 matches in this year’s abbreviated season, the senior standout averaged close to 16 kills a match, providing a lethal one-two punch with teammate Millie Grove on the outside. She also averaged close to double-digit digs and had 22 serving aces.
Numbers, however, are just part of the story of a captain who was provided a positive vibe to literally every setting.
“If you look at any of the pictures from our matches – Courtney is always smiling, she’s always happy, she’s always that person you can look to to pick everybody up,” Godfrey said. “If we’re getting beat, she’s super positive and says, ‘Come on ladies, we got this. We’re not done yet.’
“We were down 9-17 to Council Rock South and came back to win it. A lot of that is her being that leader on the court the girls can look to. If they make a mistake, she can smile and say, ‘It’s all right, we got it. We’ll pick you up. Don’t worry about it.’”
While Pohl’s upbeat nature can undoubtedly be attributed at least in part to her genes, it’s much more than that in the senior captain’s case and has a whole lot to do with the gap in her athletic career when she was a youngster battling acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL).
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Pohl grew up competing in many sports. She tried gymnastics and karate, she swam, and she also played some soccer and softball. It all came to a halt when she was diagnosed with ALL as a nine-year old in third grade.
“When I was diagnosed, I was really scared,” she said. “I had no idea what cancer was, but I knew it was bad, and that’s all I knew.”
With the diagnosis of ALL, a cancer of the blood and bone marrow, came extensive treatments.
“It was chemotherapy, spinal taps – I was in and out of the hospital,” Pohl said. “Lots of chemotherapy and day trips to the clinic in King of Prussia to CHOP.
“Pills, chemotherapy and surgery. It was rough, but me, my mom, dad and family tried to keep it positive, and my community around me was really great about it. I had a tutor at home because it would have been compromised if I did go to school, but towards fourth and fifth grade, I went back to school.”
Pohl was also back competing in sports again, and a new sport was about to enter the picture.
“In fifth grade, I was sitting in the church pew, I was looking at the bulletin, and I was like, ‘Can I try CYO volleyball?’” Pohl said. “My mom was like, ‘Volleyball, what?’
“It all started from there. I signed up for one of the open gyms, I joined the team, and I’ve been playing ever since. Swimming was my big sport before that, but once I found volleyball I kind of stopped everything and focused mainly on that.”
From CYO volleyball with her Lady of Mount Carmel parish where she was on the practice squad that first season, Pohl moved on to club, beginning with GPS Crush. For the past three years, she has played with East Coast Power.
Pohl points to the team aspect as the draw for volleyball.
“Swimming was more of an individual sport,” she said. “It was a team sport, but it wasn’t the competition.
“I never felt the adrenalin I feel with volleyball. It was the passion for the game and the bond with your teammates on the court.”
Playing collegiate volleyball never crossed Pohl’s mind until early junior year, and she began attending college combines to be seen by coaches. The COVID-19 lockdown occurred in the peak of volleyball club season.
“Everything stopped for a while,” Pohl said. “In March, I was talking to some colleges, so I was emailing them, talking to them and updating them on what was going on in my life. That definitely impacted everything.”
The decision to take her volleyball talents to Catholic was an easy one for Pohl.
“Honestly, I really loved the location of the school, and I had a bond with the coaches,” she said. “I was able to do a zoom call with the players and everything. I could see myself there - it was a perfect fit. It checked all my boxes for what I want in a college. It just felt really right.”
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Pohl’s final high school season is behind her, and it was memorable if for no other reason than the fact that it actually happened.
“It was definitely touch and go,” she said. “Kurt always preached – ‘Wear your masks, keep your distance, try and be as healthy as possible to be able to have a season.’ The girls were really faithful with that.
“We started playing outside, which was really different for us. Following all the guidelines allowed us to have the season we did, and I’m grateful for that. I felt so bad for the boys’ volleyball who did not have their spring season, and there was a COVID outbreak on jayvee, so when that happened, and we had to break from practices, we’re like ‘Wow, that was serious. Everyone stay protected, don’t go out in big groups.’
“I was nervous about that. The senior season is what you look forward to, and the girls on the team – we all have a good bond with each other, and we all wanted each other to have a season.”
As a captain, Pohl did little things to unite the team, bringing a speaker on the bus rides to away games to listen to music.
“One Saturday after practice we went to Dunkin’ – little stuff like that was really important this season versus last season when we could do all that,” she said. “Little things helped us bond. I think this team at the end of the year got really close.”
According to Godfrey, Pohl was the perfect leader during these uncertain times.
“Courtney and Lizzie (Shirley) are the first two girls I ever had elected captains as juniors,” the Titans’ coach said. “I’m making it a rule now that we have a junior captain so we can bring one back every year so we can have some guidance throughout the offseason with a captain.
“Courtney really kept the girls’ spirits up throughout the offseason. When we were in the spring (quarantine) when we were supposed to be doing open gyms and they were supposed to all be playing club, it was Courtney that was sending text messages to all the returning girls – ‘Hang in there, we’ll get back in the gym when we can, I’m begging Kurt to get us as much gym time as possible when we can.’
“She was at almost every summer workout with the exception of one when she was down at the shore with her family. She was the first one there, she was the last one to leave. And just made it a point as a returning captain to make sure she knew everybody. We had 44 girls try out and Courtney knew all their names. She may not know everybody’s story, who’s friends with who, but she could say, ‘Bye Alyssa, bye Olivia,’ she knew everybody’s name and she took it on this year and she’s just been fantastic for us outside of her talent as a volleyball player.”
Ask Pohl the best thing she’s taken from high school sports, and she points to the great friends she’s made, which – she says - confirm the value of true friendship.
In addition to volleyball, Pohl is a member of the National Honor Society, the Science Honor Society and HOSA (Health Organization for Students of America). She was part of student council as a sophomore and junior.
After eight years of CCD classes, Pohl was a teen advisor last year, helping out second grade CCD students.
Although uncertain of her exact career path, Pohl is certain of her major - health sciences.
“I know DC is a great place to get internships and get a job right out of college, so I think that’s another thing that drew me to Catholic,” she said. “Health sciences is a passion to me because when I was younger, I had cancer, so I want to do research with that and help other people and be able to make a difference.”
In August, Pohl was six years cancer free.
“Everything happens for a reason,” she said. “I think like that all the time now. Just living your life to the fullest honestly because I’m grateful to be here because I know it’s possible that I wouldn’t be. I try and always be optimistic about everything. I think I do bring an optimistic atmosphere wherever I go, and I try to be positive in everything.
“I don’t know why I had cancer, but looking back, I wouldn’t change it for the world. It made me who I am today. I would not be the person I am without it.”
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