Water Polo, Swimming
Favorite athlete: Carli Lloyd (US women's soccer team)
Favorite team: United States women's soccer team
Favorite memory competing in sports: Winning the 500 freestyle senior year at champs
Most embarrassing/funniest thing that has happened while competing in sports: When my suit ripped while I was on the block and EVERYONE was watching
Music on mobile device: Country Music or Today’s Hits
Future plans: Elementary School Teacher
Favorite motto or words to live by: “The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.” - Steve Jobs
One goal before turning 30: Be a teacher in the Wissahickon School District:
One thing people don’t know about me: I student teach at one of our districts elementary schools
By Craig Ostroff
For all that Anthony Schoppe has accomplished in his Wissahickon High School swimming career, perhaps the best example of what he means to the team comes not from his times or individual race records, his appearances in Districts, or even his recent Suburban One American Conference 500 freestyle championship.
The best example of what Schoppe means to the Trojans was an instance in which he didn’t want to swim in an event.
Having already qualified for Districts in the 500 freestyle, Schoppe offered to sit out the event because the 200 freestyle relay—on which Schoppe also swam—came next, and the Trojans were still trying to achieve the 200 free relay qualifying time for Districts.
Rather than going for an opportunity to lower his own time in the 500 and try to better his standing in his individual event, Schoppe offered to save himself for the relay.
“Anthony came up to me and just asked, ‘Should I not be doing the 500?’” said Wissahickon boys’ swimming coach Jonathan Faikish. “He saw that the lineup was 500 free, then 200 free relay, and he asked if he should be pulled out of his individual event so he could focus on the relay.
“That’s Anthony. His first focus is always the team, and if it comes down to it, he’s willing to take himself out of the race for sake of the team. And that’s something that’s filtered down into the other kids on the relay and on the team. They hear how he speaks and they see his actions and they try to do the same. You can directly see the result of his leadership molding the team to be a team.”
It wasn’t a difficult decision, as far as Schoppe is concerned. It’s all about giving more swimmers the chance to experience the atmosphere at the District Championship meet.
“I had qualified earlier in the 500, so I already had that weight off my shoulders,” Schoppe said. “I wanted to get the relay there, I want the other guys to see what it’s like. I went to Districts last year and I know what it was like. I want as many other guys on the team to get that experience because it’s only going to help them in the years to come.”
With the 200 free relay achieving the qualifying time, it means Wissahickon will take eight swimmers to Districts instead of just the two who had already qualified in individual events. And as happy as Schoppe is for his teammates, he’s also glad to have the company.
“We’re going to have more of the team around, and that’s always a lot more fun when you have a larger group,” he said. “Having more people in practices keeps things a little more normalized, so it’s not just two of us.”
If all goes according to plan, it will add up to memorable District Championship meet this weekend and hopefully a State Championship appearance to cap off his time in the pools at Wissahickon.
But no matter how the postseason meets play out, there’s no understating the legacy that Schoppe leaves with the team and his teammates. A captain on this year’s Trojan squad, Schoppe was the rare leader who possesses the ability to lead both by deeds and words.
“Anthony is the kid every single coach wants and the kind of captain you want for your team,” Faikish said. “He’s the first one in the pool, the last one to leave. He’s the hardest-working kid I have, he’s passionate, and he gives his all in every race and in every practice, and that’s something the younger guys see and it makes them want to match that intensity.
“But he’s also the guy next to me on the pool deck at a meet, cheering on his teammates. He knows the kids’ personal bests, he’s going ballistic for them while they’re racing. He’s the first one running up to them to compliment them on the personal records after a race, he’s up and down the deck screaming for them. He’s a true example of what you want on your team as a leader.”
For Schoppe, perhaps the most important aspect of being a senior and a leader is the opportunity to teach the younger swimmers. It’s a responsibility he holds close to his heart, and one that transcends the pool and enters into all aspects of his life.
“If any teammate has any issues, any difficulties with technique, he’s the kid jumping up to help out,” Faikish said. “Anthony is also one of our assistant coaches for the Wissahickon Community Aquatic Club, and he’s a kid I can give a practice to and walk away from, and I know he’s there to work with every single kid from high school age down to the youngest age group.
“He knows how to work with the older kids who might just need some work on stroke technique, but he can also go to a brand new swimmer their first week in water, and he’s there, and he’s become one of our more requested teachers.”
Seeing that light in a swimmer’s eye when he or she masters a technique, watching them improve from week to week and practice to practice provides Schoppe with a satisfaction that no first-place finishes or medals could possibly equal.
“When I started, the assistant girls coach at the high school ran everything,” Schoppe said of his coaching time at WCAC. “He was on my summer team, and while he was older than me, I had known him since I was little. To see one of my idols from when I was younger teaching the younger kids, and then being able to do the same and showing other kids what I’ve learned is really great.
“It’s definitely a different feeling. Every time I see someone get a new personal best, or just learn a new technique, it’s amazing. They might not have learned it until later in life, or maybe not at all, but I might have just taught a kid something and now and they have that and they can work on it and it will grow with them the rest of their career. I can’t really explain it, but it’s just an amazing feeling when you see that.”
And Schoppe will be the first to tell you that the best teachers are the ones who are still learning themselves. He prides himself on that, and it’s also been a defining characteristic of his high school swimming career. In fact, the two medals he earned at Suburban One Championships—gold in the 500 free and bronze in the 200 free—came in events he’s only been swimming for two years.
“I’ve been swimming the butterfly since I was 6 years old on my summer team,” said Schoppe, who specialized in the 100 fly, 200 IM, and swam butterfly in the medley relay as an underclassman. The switch to the middle distance freestyle events was a challenge he was eager to face.
“Training-wise, it was a little rough going from shorter distances so sets focused around 20 laps instead of four,” he said. “But I was coming from the butterfly where you swim four laps of the hardest stroke there is, going to 20 laps of freestyle. Mentally, they kind of go hand in hand, you just have to build up the grit and determination to get in there and swim it.”
And with two trips to the podium at Suburbans, it provided Schoppe with an opportunity to teach his teammates to be open to swimming in a different event if the team needs you there, because the rewards can be pretty impressive.
“It was super-exciting,” Schoppe said of his gold-medal-winning 500 free. “I had my family in the stands and friends and the team. I worked hard all four years of high school and all the years before high school to have it come to that moment, and to be able to show some of the younger guys on the team that if you work hard, you can do this. It was cool to show that to them as well as to myself.”
Schoppe also found success in his fall sport as a captain on the water polo team. It was a solid season, despite a heartbreaking ending with a loss that denied the Trojans a State Tournament berth. Schoppe was an offensive force for Wissahickon and earned Second Team All-League honors for his efforts.
Not surprisingly, it’s a sport he only picked up in eighth grade and is still earning even as he has led the Trojans to victory after victory.
“Being named Second Team All-League was amazing,” he said. “And it’s really nice because last year I had gotten Honorable Mention, so that makes you want to work harder and let’s try for the next level. Moving up, showing off that accomplishment, it means a lot. I might not be the best player out there, but I work my hardest to get better and learn new things. I hope it shows the rest of the team that if you’re the hardest worker in the water, that might be able to take you past one of those people who might be more talented, but they’re not working as hard. That’s what I’m always trying to do. It’s always nice seeing yourself grow in sport.”
It’s nice seeing yourself grow in the classroom as well, and that’s just as important to Schoppe as growing in his athletic endeavors. He’s loaded his senior year with AP and Honors classes and is still challenging himself with difficult subjects. He is a member of the school’s Ambassador Club and is part of a high school youth group at his church.
Not surprisingly, during his time in high school, he’s found something of a kindred spirit in one of the “tough” teachers because he was able to see past the difficult workload, homework, and tests, and see the teacher who is pushing her students to learn.
“I was always a fan of math when I was younger,” he said. “In high school, one of the math teachers—Miss Woodland-Smith—had a rep of being the tough teacher. But when I got to math my first day, I could tell immediately that this was someone who loved being a teacher, loved teaching kids, loved math …
“To see that all that in one person, being able to have that connection with a teacher is what I’ve aspired to be like when I’m teaching younger kids. And just like I hope to do, she’s not satisfied just being a teacher. She’s continued to learn, she’s getting her doctorate this year. That’s the kind of teacher I want to be. She’s become one of favorite teachers.”
Schoppe will spend the next four years at West Chester University pursuing a degree in elementary education. He expects he will participate in swimming and water polo at the club level, and he said he’s trying to talk himself into trying out for the Golden Rams men’s swim team (odds are strong that he’ll have successfully convinced himself to do so once tryouts are scheduled).
“West Chester has a great education program, and a couple of the parents of guys on the swim team went to West Chester and loved it,” Schoppe said. “It was everything I wanted in a college, and when I walked onto campus, you know you’re going to get that feeling when you set foot on the campus you want to be at. That’s what I felt when I went there.
“I’m still trying to push self to try out for the swim team and see what I can do. College is a whole new game, new people, new training, but I think I’m ready for the challenge.”
But that’s a challenge for the future. Right now, Schoppe is focused on finishing his high school swimming career on a high note.
And whatever successes he may find at Districts, at States, and in the future, are well-earned.
“Anthony comes from a great family, and you can see how his family is a part of our team,” Faikish said. “He’s a middle child, so he’s following in the footsteps of one sibling while trying to set the example for another. But as an individual, Anthony is a perfect representation of that family feeling and that community feeling we want to have with our team. Everything he does, as a teammate, as a student, as a kid in the community, he is the perfect example of who you want for your program.”
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