School: Hatboro-Horsham
Volleyball
Favorite athlete: Chase Utley, Scottie Upshall, Matt Carle, Jeff Carter, Mike Richards, Scott Rolen
Favorite teams: Philadelphia Phillies and Philadelphia Flyers
Favorite memory competing in sports: Playing volleyball with my friends, support from my friends and family
Words to live by: ‘Reach high, for stars lie hidden in your soul. Dream deep, for every dream precedes the goal.’ –Pamela Vaull Starr
Future plans: Go to college and get a good job
One thing people don’t know about me: I love animals.
Julie Harvey is soft-spoken.
Talk to the Hatboro-Horsham senior, and it’s impossible to imagine that – even though she stands 6-2 – Harvey could possibly be considered intimidating.
Things change in a hurry when Harvey steps onto the volleyball court where she can almost effortlessly take over a game.
Consider only an early season game against eventual district champion and state runner-up Upper Merion that saw Harvey slam down 33 kills and singlehandedly keep her team in the match against a Viking squad recognized as one of the very best defensive teams in the state.
It was the type of performance Harvey routinely turned in over the course of a spectacular senior season. The senior middle hitter/blocker collected 294 kills in 67 games, averaging 4.39 kills a game. Mutiply that number over a four-game match, and Harvey put down an average of 17 kills per match.
Those are dazzling numbers for most but routine for Harvey.
“One-woman wrecking crew is how someone best described her,” coach Kathy Tanner said. “If you knew Julie Harvey only off the court, you would never know this poised, intelligent and humble young woman would be capable of such a task.
“She’s every coach’s dream.”
Coming as no surprise, Harvey is about much more than just playing volleyball. An excellent student, she has a heavy course load that includes Honors Physics and Honors Calculus and boasts a weighted cumulative grade point average of 5.4993 (or a simple GPA of 3.85).
“Julie Harvey is a bright, intelligent young lady who exemplifies the finest qualities of our youth,” said Jackie Anderson, Harvey’s chemistry teacher. “Several of Julie’s strongest attributes are her enthusiasm and work ethic.
“She is a tireless worker who will ask questions and study independently until she masters the most difficult concepts. In addition, she is always willing to help her peers understand the material.”
Things were not a whole lot different on the volleyball court.
“What I really thought was great was how freshmen were just as important to her as seniors,” Tanner said. “She genuinely had an interest in them.
“She’s always the first to pull a freshman aside to warm up with them. They love that she’s very approachable and caring.”
Harvey got her first taste of competitive sports in fourth grade when she began playing softball. In fifth grade, she added volleyball and basketball to her resume.
“My sister Bonnie actually played volleyball before me, and I watched a lot of her games,” Harvey said. “I really enjoyed it.”
She admits she was the tallest in her class and still gets asked regularly if she plays basketball. Softball and basketball actually fell by the wayside when Harvey became involved in club volleyball at a young age.
“I didn’t have time to do all of it, and I enjoyed volleyball more,” Harvey said.
She began playing for the Bux-Mont Volleyball Club when she was in sixth grade and then joined Xcelleration until her sophomore year when she switched to PVA.
Harvey points to a trip to nationals in Dallas, Texas, with her club team as a personal highlight, but she’s also enjoyed the camaraderie of playing both club and high school volleyball.
“All the players and all my teammates have always been so nice and so kind,” she said. “It’s been wonderful.
“It’s been a lot of fun through all the years.”
An outside hitter who played all the way around during her early years, Harvey found a home in the middle of the net when she was in ninth grade. She excelled from the outset.
Last year, she was a first team all-league, all-district and all-state, and it’s been more of the same this fall.
“If you only know Julie on the court, you don’t know that she is a humble athlete that will always give credit to her teammates before herself,” Tanner said.
Harvey lists going to states with her high school team as a junior as another personal highlight.
“Just being able to play with my teammates is so much fun,” she said. “It’s been great.”
Ask her about the Hatter fans – who lived for the senior hitter’s monster kills – and Harvey has an immediate response.
“They were so wonderful,” she said. “They were great.
“It was always fun to see them walk in – I would love it when they were there. It makes my games so much more fun.”
Harvey is active in her community. Since she was a freshman, she has volunteered with Hatboro’s Interact Club.
“She genuinely appreciates knowing that she’s making a difference with those less fortunate,” Tanner said.
Although Harvey intends to continue her volleyball career at the collegiate level, she has not placed volleyball as her top priority when choosing a college.
“I look at everything,” she said. “Volleyball is an aspect too, but it’s just everything tied together.”
She is planning to pursue a major in the math/science area, and one thing is certain – volleyball will not be the same without Harvey at the middle of the net for the Hatters.
“As a coach, I could not ask for a better role model for the team, not only to model athletic skills, but more importantly, to model sportsmanship and life skills,” Tanner said.
That sums up a student-athlete who was an intimidating ‘one-woman wrecking crew’ on the court but warm and approachable to everyone off the court.
