Volleyball, Basketball
Favorite athlete: Tyrese Maxey
Favorite team: Sixers
Favorite memory competing in sports: Making playoffs for both volleyball and basketball in the same year last year
Most embarrassing/ funniest thing that has happened competing in sports: When I made a really good save in volleyball, and my teammate free balled it into her face
Music on playlist: Country
Future plans: Attend a four-year college and hope to play basketball
Words to live by: “Live everyday like it’s your last.”
One goal before turning 30: Travel to Bora Bora
One thing people don’t know about me: I have a 39 -year-old pet frog
By Mary Jane Souder
Talia DiMichele is a ‘hooper’. Plain and simple.
At least that’s how Bensalem basketball coach Steven Johnson describes his senior shooting guard.
“She plays all year long,” the Owls’ coach said. “She plays spring league for us, she plays summer league, she plays AAU and she does AAU Palinsky pick-up games. She’s just constantly playing basketball.”
There’s no mistaking basketball is DiMichele’s passion.
Interestingly, she grew up in a family where volleyball was the sport of choice -at least for her three older sisters. When she reached high school, Talia gave it a try.
“My sisters were all on the volleyball team, so they kind of forced me into doing it,” she said.
Actually, she didn’t take a whole lot of encouragement. DiMichele loves sports and loves competing, and it certainly didn’t hurt that her sister, Violet, was the JV coach when she was a freshman.
“During the offseason, we didn’t have a setter, so she knew she could train me to be that setter,” Talia said.
Violet says she immediately pegged her sister as a natural fit for that position.
“She’s one of those natural athletes that can pick up anything, so she picked it up freshman year,” Violet said. “She plays basketball, and she’s great at that.
“She has a very high core IQ and just knows what’s around her and what’s going on, and she’s good at playmaking.
“I knew I wanted to make her a setter before I knew what she was capable of, and It came naturally to her.”
One year later, Violet was named the varsity coach, and Talia, who played JV as a freshman, was a perfect fit as varsity setter.
“She just picks up things very quickly,” the Owls coach said. “When I take time out of my day to come up with practices or scout teams – she just actually listens to what I’m saying, comprehends it and applies it to her game. Not all athletes always do that.”
DiMichele wasted little time before making an impact and earned second team All-SOL National Conference honors as both a sophomore and junior.
To say she was a natural fit would be an understatement.
The DiMichele‘Sister Act’
Six years older than Talia, Violet DiMichele played volleyball during her high school days at Bensalem.
“Fresh out of high school I started coaching,” said the Owls’ third-year varsity coach. “I coached JV the first two years and then I did varsity.
“I just like to coach even more than playing the game itself.”
The opportunity to coach her sister has been a bonus of sorts.
“Honestly, I love coaching her,” Violet said. “There are definitely pros and cons to it because obviously, anyone coaching - if you’re a coach and you’re related to someone on the team whether it’s your sibling or your son or daughter or whoever it might be, automatically, there’s a target on them – thinking you’re going to favor them.
“I think that’s a problem for a lot of coaches, so that’s definitely hard to deal with sometimes. But Talia and I both brush those issues off to the side and focus on our own games because at the end of the day both of us like to win, and we’re going to do anything to make that happen.”
Talia insists that favoritism was never an issue.
“She’s tougher on me because a lot of people think I get favored, but that’s not the case,” she said. “My sister is very hard on me. She kind of picks on me a little bit more than she would some other players.”
The pros, however, far outweigh the cons.
“I like having my sister as my coach,” Talia said. “It definitely comes with ups and downs, but I like having that connection – it’s always good to have a connection with your coach.
“With her being my sister, it’s really easy to talk about stuff, communicate. I think the most fun part is being able to understand each other and our passion for the game. We go to practice, we come home, and on the car ride, we’re talking about volleyball. At dinner, we’re talking about volleyball. We do everything volleyball, and that’s really fun – just getting to talk about it.”
And what could have been an uncomfortable situation for the siblings has instead been an unforgettable experience.
“I love working with her because she never talks back to me, never gives me an issue and does everything I ask,” Violet said.
And then added with a laugh, “Because at the end of the day – she knows she has to come home and listen to me if she doesn’t follow what I say, so she never gives me a problem.”
A passion for the games
This year’s volleyball squad has a lot of new faces, and DiMichele takes her role as a captain and leader seriously.
“I’m working on getting our team on the same page, definitely keeping the high energy,” she said. “I feel like we get down on ourselves – we have a whole new team basically this year.
“We lost a lot of key players, so getting that team chemistry on the court and trying to work together - we’re all good individually, but we’re struggling to click together and play as a whole.”
While volleyball has been a relatively new addition to her resume, DiMichele has been involved in sports for as long as she can remember, beginning with rec league basketball as a youngster. In middle school, she played soccer, basketball and softball.
“I never had a break,” she said.
DiMichele traded soccer for volleyball when she was in ninth grade, and she’s been playing ever since.
“I just thought it was fun,” she said. “Basketball I’m very hard on myself. I’m hard on myself in every sport, but volleyball was kind of an outlet to have fun and enjoy my time and make new friends.”
For DiMichele, basketball is a year-round sport, and last year, she was second in scoring only to Amber Howard – who is now playing at North Carolina A&T.
“Talia’s been playing with us since she was an eighth grader in summer league and stuff,” Johnson said. “Skillset-wise, it’s her shooting – she’s definitely a knock-down shooter.”
But DiMichele brings more than just her shooting skills to the team.
“I would say what stands out is definitely her toughness,” Johnson said. “Her toughness is next level.
“She’s definitely an undersized guard, but she’s always diving on the floor, she leads our team in charges every year. She’ll run through a wall for you.”
DiMichele competes on the AAU circuit with Rebels Basketball Academy, and as much as she loves to compete, DiMichele also places a high value on the relationships she has made along the way.
“I think the friendships are what matter most,” she said. “A sport is not fun if you don’t like the people you’re around, so you definitely need to have strong connections with your teammates.”
Looking ahead
Off the court, DiMichele is active in school life at Bensalem. She is part of OTN, the school’s television network. She is a part of Owls Ambassadors as well as Parliament, an extension of class officers.
She also excels in the classroom.
“I don’t like to have anything lower than an A,” she said.
DiMichele is looking to continue her basketball career at the collegiate level and hasn’t ruled out the possibility of playing two sports. Any uncertainty about whether she wanted to compete at the next level was erased as she comes down the home stretch of her high school career.
“That’s why I really want to play in college,” DiMichele said. “I’ve been on the fence about it because it’s definitely going to be a lot handling that, but realizing you won’t ever be able to play again is kind of hard to take.”
DiMichele is keeping her options open.
“She’s going to play somewhere and has some schools that are interested in her,” Johnson said. “Last year, Amber (Howard) was a big focal point for us offensively. Talia was our second leading scorer, but I think her role is definitely going to increase.
"With that increase, I think she’ll also get more recognition and more eyes on her. Just what she brings to the table – she’ll take a younger kid home if they need a ride. She’s always there – she beats me to some workouts. She never misses an offseason workout, no matter what time it is. Whether I text them last minute and say – ‘Hey, the gym is open tomorrow,’ she’s always there. For someone like her – that’s why she’s successful in volleyball as well. Her work ethic is next level. Everything she’s gotten and everything she’s doing is because of her work ethic. She’s just a great kid to have in general.”
