Basketball
Favorite athlete: Dwayne Wade
Favorite team: Philadelphia 76ers
Favorite memory competing in sports: Scoring 24 points as a seven-year-old in an intramural game.
Most embarrassing/funniest thing that has happened while competing in sports: Tripping over my untied shoes twice in a row in one game.
Music on iPod: Kanye West, Counting Crows, John Mayer
Future plans: Major in International Relations and become a human rights or refugee lawyer
Words to live by: ‘Your mountain is waiting.’ – Dr. Suess
One goal before turning 30: Visit all seven continents (3 down, 4 to go)
One thing people don’t know about me: I like to write.
By Mary Jane Souder
Mention the name Libby Wetzler to Lynn Carroll, and the Souderton coach cannot hide the immense respect she has for her senior captain.
“We always have all the players and all the coaches vote, and I’ve never had someone be unanimously voted captain ever,” the Indians’ coach said. “That’s so telling of the kind of person she is.
“She’s one of the most well-rounded kids I have come across as a teacher or coach. We tease her a lot about how unique she is. She can hold an intelligent conversation on anything. She can talk about politics, she can talk about sports. One year she was giving me her opinion on who I should start in my fantasy football league. She is a phenomenal student.”
As a freshman, Wetzler was second in her class. Although that information is no longer provided, it’s safe to say the Indians’ senior captain is near the top of her class.
“Every time I turn around she’s doing something impressive,” Carroll said. “One day this girl is going to be working at the White House or doing something really impressive, and hopefully, she will remember me and invite me over.
“I could just go on and on about how impressive she is.”
A passionate advocate for human rights, Wetzler aspires to one day become a human rights or refugee lawyer.
“Since my freshman year, I’ve had so many ideas about the career path I wanted to take after high school,” she said. “I started by saying I want to be a lawyer and went through all these things and kind of landed back on being a lawyer.
“I also was very interested in international law and the way countries interact with each other. I’m a news junky and love world events. I was looking around online at different organizations like the United Nations and Red Cross, trying to see what they do and what does someone with my interests actually do.”
While searching the internet, Wetzler stumbled upon Amnesty International and knew immediately she was onto something. Last fall, the Souderton senior received approval to start an Amnesty International chapter at her high school.
“There wasn’t really any other club at our school that focuses on world issues,” she said. “We have a lot of clubs that do community service and focus on community issues, so I thought that was kind of unique.”
Wetzler recently was selected to attend the United Nations Student Conference on Human Rights in New York City where she along with other students from around the United States and Canada met to discuss and share their human rights solutions.
“It was a really, really unique experience,” Wetzler said. “I was very fortunate to be able to go.”
Wetzler would have a full plate if she didn’t compete in sports, but she somehow manages to find time to fit basketball into her packed schedule.
Carroll, for one, is so glad to have the senior captain on board.
“She’s nice, but it’s so genuine,” the Indians’ coach said. “There’s nothing forced about it.
“We’ve had to ask her to be a little more vocal than I think is in her comfort level. She kind of epitomizes the non-vocal leader who leads by actions. Because she’s so well respected, it really works. I’m not sure that works with every kid, but because of the amount of respect her teammates have for her, she’s easy to follow.”
Wetzler got her first taste of competitive sports playing soccer as a youngster. Basketball entered the picture when – at the age of seven - she began playing with SHYBA.
“My parents just wanted us to get involved, and they said, ‘No matter what you do - you will be involved in something at the high school level, whether it be sports or music,’” Wetzler said. “When I was little, basketball was fun because it was fast paced compared to soccer and softball at the lower levels.
“It also was kind of cool because it’s a smaller team than other sports, so you really get to know the people you’re playing with really well, and you make friendships. I think that’s what attracted me to sticking with it.”
Basketball, by Wetzler’s own admission, is not necessarily a natural fit.
“I say this to my parents – basketball doesn’t really agree with my personality,” she said. “It never has.
“I’m not someone who likes criticism, and I don’t like running. There’s all this stuff that doesn’t match with me, but I think because of that, it actually has helped me work through things in school and has made me better that way because it’s a challenge to stick with something like that.”
Wetzler has never seriously considered walking away from basketball.
“I have always wanted to do it all the way through high school,” she said. “It’s always been my thing.
“I am not a very big AAU person. I did AAU for two years, and know people do that, but I do take time off when school basketball season ends. That kind of balances it out a little bit because when it starts up again I’m excited.”
The relationships Wetzler formed on the hardwood have also been significant.
“I’ve known some of the people on my team since I was in fifth grade,” she said. “Some of the best relationships I have are with my teammates. They help me as a person. I’ve learned to laugh at myself and be silly because of basketball.”
The fact that Wetzler, a fixture on the post for the Indians, is not a year-round player has not diminished the respect she receives from her teammates.
“Her teammates just love her,” Carroll said. “When she was a freshman, the older girls loved her. Now she’s grown into one of the leaders on the team, and she is as welcoming and inclusive of a leader as I have ever had.
“She’s so funny and has a dry sense of humor that makes her enjoyable to be around whether you’re an adult or a player. I wasn’t surprised at all that she was unanimously voted captain, but I don’t think that happens often in any program.”
Wetzler’s leadership skills have been put to the test in the season’s early weeks as twice in their first three games the Indians lost in overtime.
“Coach always says after losses like that, ‘Take care of each other,’ and that’s what we do,” she said. “When you see someone who’s really upset, we’re a team that’s good at consoling and helping them through that. We’re very close.
“It’s nice to be a captain and know that your teammates trust you and have faith in you. That’s the biggest compliment for me. Courtney Day and I try and keep everybody positive.”
Off the hardwood, Wetzler is busier than ever. She is president of the National Honor Society and is a commissioner of LINK Crew, an organization that helps orient new students to the school.
Wetzler helped organize the first Amnesty International project this fall, which included the purchase and distribution of bananas – with a note - during lunch.
“They were free to anyone who wanted a banana,” Wetzler said. “We had a note with each banana that said, ‘There are more international trade regulations on bananas than there are on guns.’
“There were people who just wanted a banana, but there were also people who were taken aback by that.”
Wetzler’s course load this year includes three AP classes. Last August, she was named AP Scholar with Honor, an award given to students with outstanding achievement on college-level courses and exams. Wetzler received a perfect score of five on four AP exams.
Three times Wetzler was named Student of the Month, and as a junior she was the Rotary 4-Way Speech Contest Club Level Winner. As a sophomore, she received the Class of 2013 HOBY Scholarship.
During the past three summers, she has volunteered more than 100 hours at Lehigh Valley Hospital. She also organized the participation of her basketball team in the walk for Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.
Wetzler admits she has considered politics, and the idea of becoming a judge or working with the State Department or a government agency that works with human rights is not out of the realm of possibility.
Georgetown is at the top of Wetzler’s list of colleges with American and the University of Pennsylvania also high on her list.
Despite her lengthy list of accomplishments, Wetzler, according to her coach, remains humble.
“For her to talk about herself is not easy, which is another great characteristic to add to the long list,” the Indians’ coach said. “What a great thing for a coach to have someone on the team like Libby who does all the right things and is so well respected. She’s wonderful."
