Soccer, Basketball
Favorite athlete: Alex Morgan
Favorite team: U.S. Women’s National Team
Favorite memory competing in sports: My sophomore year we won the District One championship in penalty kicks
Most embarrassing/funniest thing that has happened while competing in sports: My friend went the wrong way in a basketball game and almost scored for the other team.
Music on iPod: Country
Future plans: Attend college and earn a degree in speech pathology
Words to live by: ‘Dream as if you’ll live forever. Live as if you’ll die today.’ –James Dean
One goal before turning 30: Travel the world
One thing people don’t know about me: I’ve lived in five different states.
By Alex Frazier
California, Maryland, Hawaii, Pennsylvania.
Madi Vitelli has been around.
Growing up as a Navy “brat,” the Central Bucks South senior has seen a lot of the world as well as the soccer field.
She started her soccer career in California when she was five years old.
Although neither of her parents played soccer, her father, a Navy captain, signed her up.
“My dad got me into all the sports, but soccer was the one that stuck,” she said. “He signed me up for pee wee and that started it all.”
Her first travel team experience came when the family moved to Maryland. From there it was a short haul to Hawaii, where she learned to play in deluges. One year it rained for 40 days.
“It was crazy,” she said, “but it was the only bad weather I saw there. I even had to play soccer in those torrential downpours. I wasn’t prepared for that.”
Vitelli moved into the Central Bucks School District when she was in eighth grade. Her father got an extension of his tour so she has been here almost six years.
She didn’t get a chance to play her freshman year because she broke her shin.
“I was running down my driveway and slipped on black ice,” she said.
Her leg is now held together with a rod and four screws.
“I don’t notice them unless I get kicked in them,” she said. “Then I kind of notice them.”
Soccer was still a spring sport then so she missed her first high school season.
“It was a bummer,” she said.
After three months and a period of rehab, she started playing again in the summer for her club team.
When Vitelli arrived on the pitch as a sophomore, South soccer coach Joe Bocklet was pleasantly surprised.
Vitelli knew South was coming off a 14-0 season the year before and had no illusions about making the team.
But she did as an outside midfielder and helped the Titans win a district championship.
“I put her out as a role player and she just worked hard,” said Bocklet. “Every year she got better and better.”
Last year, Vitelli started out as a midfielder but was moved to left back because of injuries to other players.
She liked the change.
In fact she also played defense on her travel team.
“I loved defense,” she said. “It was different. People think it feels good to score, but it feels just as good to stop someone from scoring. I’m pretty loud, so I love to talk. Back there you’re kind of the anchor so you have to tell everybody what you see. I kind of took on that role of a big mouth.”
That was a turning point for her.
“She was awesome,” said Bocklet. “She was lacking some confidence in herself, and once she started playing there, she got the chance to make some runs out of the back and get involved in the offense too.”
“Definitely my background on offense helped me on defense,” she said. “My confidence definitely grew once I earned a starting spot. I felt a lot more comfortable back there.”
This year Vitelli came full circle as she returned to playing forward where she had started, although Bocklet was confident enough in her to move her anywhere on the field that she was needed.
“She’s relentless, works hard for the ball,” said Bocklet. “She’s great in the air and pretty composed with the ball at her feet and in most cases when she was in on goal, she finished.”
The Titans were not a scoring machine this year. Vitelli notched around seven goals. Two of her biggest came in an opening round district playoff game against Downingtown West, which the Titans won 3-2 in overtime. She notched her first goal in the first minute of play and the second in the 12th minute to spot the Titans with a 2-0 lead.
Although South lost to Owen J. Roberts in the quarterfinals, Vitelli still went out a winner when she scored the final goal in the SOL’s 3-0 victory over the Friends League in a post-season all-star tilt last Sunday.
“It ended on a win, nothing better than that,” she said.
Vitelli was also selected to the first team Continental Conference.
“It’s amazing how much she’s matured in the past three years,” said Bocklet, “from a fringe player to a team leader. She created a lot of chances up top.”
Vitelli was also a team captain this year.
“She does all the little things,” said Bocklet. “Obviously her play on the field was a big part, but off the field she was a role model. She was always there for equipment, always first in drills and working hard. All-around she’s great role model.”
In addition to soccer, Vitelli also played basketball and softball. She dropped softball in ninth grade, but still plays hoops at South. She was a swing player as a sophomore, but has been the point guard for the past two years. And is a captain this year.
Coach Beth Mattern notices many of the same qualities on the court as Bocklet saw on the soccer pitch.
“Madi is a leader on and off the court by giving 100 percent of herself to the team and having a work ethic second to none,” she said. “She is our vocal leader on the court is the glue that holds our team together. Madi keeps a level head that allows her to be effective on the court but at the same time take over a game when necessary. She is one of the most athletic individuals I've ever coached.”
But soccer is her first love.
“Basketball is just something I do for fun with my friends,” she said. “I just happened to be kind of good at it.”
Vitelli excels in the classroom as well where she carries a 4.0 grade point average. She is taking advanced placement French and calculus as well as honors English and physics.
“I study pretty hard for all of them, but math comes easier,” she said. “I enjoy writing too. I’m getting better at it.”
She is a member of the student council and the French Honor Society. For the past two years she was also in the Key Club.
Looking back on her career, Vitelli didn’t mind being uprooted almost every three years.
“I actually enjoyed it,” she said. “It was hard meeting friends and soccer teams, but I got to meet so many people and I got to play soccer. It was fun, different.”
That experience will certainly be an advantage for her next year when she goes off to college.
Vitelli wants to attend a large school. She has already been accepted at Penn State and Pitt and is also considering Temple, Delaware and the University of Connecticut.
“I just want to be a student and I want to be in a bigger school and it’s kind of hard to play sports,” she said. “I like to be a small fish in a big pond. I like to be around a lot of people. It comes from my lifestyle. Moving around a lot, I like to meet new friends.”
Since she’s had no scholarship offers, she’s not sure if she will be playing soccer next year, although Bocklet believes she has the ability to.
“She definitely should play somewhere,” he said.
Vitelli probably won’t make a decision until after basketball is over.
As far as a major, she is undecided, but she knows she wants to get into the medical field as long as there’s no blood or needles involved.
“I don’t like blood, and needles, ooh!” she said. “Maybe a speech pathologist or physician’s assistant. The field is huge. I’ll have to see where I fit in.”
Fitting in is something Vitelli has been doing quite successfully all her life.
