Basketball
Favorite athlete: Steph Curry
Favorite team: Philadelphia 76ers
Favorite memory competing in sports: The whole school coming to watch us play for a seed in states which ended up being my last high school home game.
Most embarrassing/funniest thing that has happened while competing in sports: This year during one of our summer league games I fell out of bounds and I tried to get up but I slipped on my sweat and fell face first again.
Music on mobile device: Country, Pop, Rap
Future plans: Play basketball at DeSales University where I will be studying early elementary education.
Words to live by: Leave it all out on the court
One goal before turning 30: Have a family(with a dog), and be a coach for my kids sports teams.
One thing people don’t know about me: I am allergic to camels
By Mary Jane Souder
Little things can make a big difference.
The cheerful ‘hi’ in the hallway, the lighthearted teasing that brings laughter to any situation, the word of encouragement when a teammate makes a mistake, the easy smile for no special reason.
Somewhere along the line, Mikaela Reese came to understand the importance of the little things. A part of it certainly is because of the way the Souderton senior was treated by the upperclassmen when she joined the basketball program.
“I’m smiling right now,” Reese said at the mention of her rookie days. “I was the little freshman and sophomore the upperclassmen would pick on in a friendly way.
“They would always tease me, but I loved it. I had the personality where I’m very outgoing and a little quirky so you can tease on me. I was like their little sister, and they made me feel so included. As a sophomore, it was kind of nerveracking to play with them because you’re so nervous. Their talent was incredible, but they made me feel like I was one of them.
“That’s what I think made it such a fun experience because I was able to connect with them. Now that I’m a senior I can do that to the freshmen. I can tease them in a friendly way. I’m giving back.”
Reese – the team’s lone senior - is also modeling what it means to be a leader, the very best kind of leader.
“She was always the one bringing energy to practices and games,” freshman point guard Casey Harter said. “Even the little things – like in the hallway in the morning, I would pass her a lot, and she would always say ‘hi’ with so much energy. It would make me smile and make my day.
“She does that at practice – her energy, her communication. She’s the one to hype us up before the game. During the game, she’ll give tips and suggestions. It gives me a lot of confidence. She definitely helps me, and it made (the transition) so much easier to have someone to look up to.”
Small wonder coach Lynn Carroll calls her senior captain “a coach’s dream.”
“I feel like at some point I’m going to be saying to the other kids – this is what you need to aspire to be,” the Indians’ coach said. “Someone who is the hardest working player on the team, who is selfless, who wants what’s best for the team.
“This isn’t a kid who was in ninth grade and started playing right away. She had to wait her turn, she played behind some very good talent. When it was her turn last year, she didn’t wait, she went after it, but she’s always been able to take a backseat in terms of leadership. Then just to see her blossom as the leader she has been this year – it’s like the cherry on top.
“There are all these wonderful things she’s done, and it’s going to be such a valuable thing for these young kids. What more do you want as a coach? She’s a huge part of why we’re where we are today. It’s almost like she’s just bringing everyone along for the ride.”
A Souderton squad that was expected to endure a major rebuilding year has instead won 19 games and earned a coveted berth in states – the program’s fourth in as many years.
“Earning a ticket to states – who would have thought?” Carroll said. “But had I known in September, October and November what Mikaela was going to do for us, I wouldn’t have been as surprised as I was with the success that we’ve had.
“She doesn’t get nervous, she’s even keeled. It’s almost like when I describe Mikaela I’m also describing the team. Her identity became the team’s identity. She has been carefree, confident, resilient, works hard, shows up to play and compete every day, and has a we-have-nothing-to-lose kind of attitude – let’s just go out and have fun. She brings all of those things, and I think our team kind of turned into that as the season went on. Everybody has just been following her lead.”
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As a youngster, soccer was Reese’s sport of choice.
“I played softball and basketball and I swam, but soccer was my main sport,” she said. “I really thought I was going to do that in high school.
“I did basketball with my neighbors through a church program, and it was kind of fun. Then I got into SHYBA and I really enjoyed that, so I joined the SHYBA travel team. I tried out for the Perkasie Knights and played for them a little. I started looking for a different AAU team, but I was still active with soccer, softball and swimming.”
When she arrived at high school, Reese narrowed her sports down to softball and basketball.
“I kind of fell out of love with soccer, so I stopped playing for my travel team,” Reese said. “I stopped swimming – I was never very good at it.”
After two years, Reese dropped softball to devote her time to basketball.
“I just fell in love with the sport,” she said. “It wasn’t really anything that stood out. I just enjoyed playing. I think the girls when I was playing my sports – I got along with everyone really well, and I think that helped me when it came time to narrow it down in high school.”
As a sophomore, Reese was a swing player for a varsity that rolled to the SOL Continental, SOL Tournament and District One 6A titles and then advanced to the state semifinals for the second straight year. As a junior, Reese stepped into a starting lineup that included four seniors and was part of another conference championship.
Reese acknowledged she wasn’t quite sure how her final high school season would turn out. Her once class of nine had been reduced to five last year, and she was the only senior left standing this year.
“Going in, I was like – senior year, I’m going to enjoy it,” Reese said. “We might not do as well as the last couple of years, but I’m going to go in and try and enjoy my last high school year playing basketball. I was excited – but not as much as I am right now.”
Numbers are just numbers, but in Reese’s case, they are telling. The senior center led the team in points (12.7 ppg), rebounds (7.2 rpg), assists (3.5 apg), steals (2.1 spg) and blocks (1.9 bpg).
“She literally led our team in every single category except for turnovers,” Carroll said. “She’s first in everything top to bottom. It’s incredible. People say and write how we only have one returning starter, we only have one returning senior on our roster, but it’s Mikaela, so it’s not a small thing.”
Senior Night celebrations are often reruns of every Senior Night before it, but Souderton’s Senior Night this year was different. If for no other reason than Reese was the team’s lone senior. In Reese’s honor, the players wore t-shirts that said simply, ‘We love Mike.’
But it isn’t the t-shirts Reese will remember.
“When you’re playing high school sports, you don’t think you’re going to be the only senior, the only one in your grade,” Reese said. “I never thought that would happen to me.
“I was kind of emotional, I was speechless. They all wrote notes to me, and the notes meant more to me than the t-shirts. They were in my locker. Now I have them in my room. If it’s a bad day, I’ll read them and it makes me feel a lot better.”
A first team All-SOL Continental selection, Reese just last week committed to continue her basketball career at DeSales University where she will join former teammate Megan Bealer.
“They always say – you get a feeling when you go on the campus,” she said. “I always had a feeling DeSales was where I wanted to go. I also liked Widener and Millersville, but I have to go with my gut and what I was feeling, and I was like ‘I have to go to DeSales.’”
In the spring, Reese will once again be part of Souderton’s unified track team.
“It’s the coolest experience,” she said of a team that incorporates special needs students. “After softball, I thought – I guess I won’t do anything.
“I found unified and I was like ‘Wow.’ I really loved being able to help out those kids.”
Working with children will be part of Reese’s future. She plans to major in early childhood education and hasn’t ruled out the possibility of one day coaching.
Reese will be gone next year, but it’s safe to say she will not soon be forgotten.
I always think this about leaders – a good leader leaves a lasting impact on a program long after they’re gone,” Carroll said. “The young kids are going to be better leaders when they’re seniors because they were able to witness what Mikaela has done this year. They know what it looks like and what it feels like to be led by somebody who is strong and positive and inclusive. It’s just been a coach’s dream.”
