Tennis
Favorite athlete: Peyton Manning
Favorite team: Philadelphia Eagles or Villanova Basketball
Favorite memory competing in sports:
-Other sports – In a SHYBA community basketball game a few weeks ago, my team sunk a half court shot to send the game into overtime and then later sunk a three-point buzzer beater to win the game in overtime.
-Tennis Related – Last year, my doubles partner Ryan Morris and I won the final point in the last match of the season on a crazy play. Ryan went to slam a lob and completely missed. I ran behind him and got the ball back over the net with the shot barely missing Ryan’s ducked head. When they returned my shot Ryan attempted to slam the ball and almost missed AGAIN. This time the ball hit off the frame of his racket and bounced at a sharp angle that the other team couldn’t get to in time.
Most embarrassing/funniest thing that has happened while competing in sports: In a game last year, I accidently hit a soft shot directly at the opposing team’s net player. The net player slammed the ball on us so hard that the ball flew over the fence and landed in a massive hole created by a fallen down tree. We had to stop the match to go get the ball, and after an unsuccessful search, we had to go ask our coach for another game ball and explain that the one we were using had gotten lost in the “root system” of a fallen down tree.
Music on your iPod: Popular Music – Imagine Dragons, Bastille, etc.
Future plans: In the fall I will be attending either Villanova University or the University of Pittsburgh and majoring in engineering.
Words to live by: “Work Hard, Play Hard”
One goal before you turn 30: Make my first million dollars.
One thing people don’t know about me: I have an obsession with fruit snacks.
By Mary Jane Souder
Matt Bakey boasts an impressive resumé.
The Souderton senior is president of the National Honor Society and treasurer of Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA). In Boy Scout Troop 137, he wears the prestigious title of Eagle Scout. According to his coach, Bakey, who is in the top five percent of his class, could be in the running for valedictorian, but the title that says the most about the Souderton senior is the one he was given after an unsuccessful – and only half serious – run for captain of his tennis team as a junior.
“I knew I wasn’t going to get it, but I decided I’ll try for it – whatever,” Bakey said. “Surprisingly, I was the runner-up in terms of voting.
“(Coach Wendy Bradshaw) said, ‘If you’re not going to be the captain, you can be the spirit guy.’ It was kind of a lame title, but it stuck.”
This year, Bakey was elected a captain, and while he’s a natural leader, he is still undeniably ‘the spirit guy.’
“The first thing that anybody who meets Matt notices is his charisma and his making you feel like you’re his friend and that he is supportive of you,” Bradshaw said. “Besides being smart and athletic, his best quality is his personality and how much he brings to the team as far as being a leader.
“Last year he ran to be a captain just because he’s a leader type of guy. Two seniors won the vote of being captain, but he was so equal to those top two seniors that everybody was like – ‘Hey, make Matt the spirit coordinator,’ which is kind of like the spirit captain.”
Bakey laid the groundwork for earning the title of ‘spirit guy’ during his sophomore year when he made t-shirts for his teammates that said ‘Money in the bank.’
“I’m honestly not the best technically skilled tennis player, but me and Ryan (Morris) would be running around the court all over the place, just yelling and getting in people’s heads, and that was one of our many sayings when we would hit a good shot,” Bakey said of his doubles partner of two years. “They were really bad t-shirts. I made them – they were iron-on stuff. I think I have to make another one soon. Might need an update – maybe professionally made and not iron-on.”
Look for a redesign of the must-have t-shirt in the near future, and one thing is clear - where Bakey is, fun will most surely follow.
“Sometimes I can be serious, but when it comes to tennis and it comes to being a leader on the team, I just try to keep it a fun atmosphere,” he said. “Except when the matches come along – I get real excited.
“Otherwise, I’m just trying to set the tone that we’re here to have fun. Tennis is already stressful enough and frustrating. Some days I just hate it. It’s so frustrating of a sport to play. If everyone is all tense, it would just be terrible. You have to put it in perspective.”
And no one is better at putting it in perspective than Bakey, who did not pick up tennis until the summer of seventh grade.
“My brothers, my mom and neighbor would go hit around at the courts at Indian Valley Middle School,” he said.
The following summer he attended a tennis camp at the high school and decided to go out for the high school team as a freshman.
“I had been playing lacrosse through all of middle school, but at the time, I was a very small kid,” Bakey said. “I wanted to play lacrosse, but I thought I wouldn’t be big enough. I would just get beat up.
“I really wanted to play a sport at the high school, so I thought, ‘All right, I’ll try tennis.’ I went to all the preseason stuff, and I kind of knew I wasn’t going to make the team.”
With only 15 players chosen for 11 spots, Bakey could see the writing on the wall.
“He said, ‘I’ll go play lacrosse, but I’ll be back next year,’” Bradshaw said.
Bakey earned a spot on the jayvee lacrosse team that spring.
“I didn’t see much playing time, but I loved being on the team,” he said. “It was so much fun.
“The whole time I knew I was going to come back to tennis the next year.”
True to his word, he was back on the tennis court the following year, earning a spot and playing fourth doubles with Ryan Morris. As a junior, he played third doubles and this year has moved up to second doubles.
“It’s just a lot of fun,” Bakey said. “Some people on the team are really good at tennis, and they love it because they love winning and that kind of thing.
“Honestly, my favorite part is just being with the team – practices and the fun stuff we do. It’s been a good way every year in the spring to just close out the year and hang out with the so many cool friends I’ve made being on the team and just funny moments.”
The senior captain, according to his coach, has been an invaluable member of the team.
“He’s just one of those kids that’s just encouraging and friendly,” she said. “He’s always the one with his other co-captain, Alejandro (Casteneda) that are leading the stretches, and there’s no one going to be slacking because those two guys are respected.
“As a coach, it’s just so invaluable to have that. He’s outgoing and everybody loves him. He’s the kind of kid if he says, ‘Come on, let’s do this guys,’ you’re going to do it because you want to be part of whatever he’s leading.”
As president of the NHS, Bakey was responsible for organizing charitable events such as Pie-A-Teacher Day and the holiday food drive. He has earned a spot on the Distinguished Honor Roll – recognition awarded to students earning all A’s - every semester since sixth grade. He is a member of the National Business Honor Society and the LINK Crew and has been active in student government since his sophomore year. He has been a member of the Principal’s Student Advisory Counsel since his freshman year, but his proudest accomplishment was earning Eagle Scout.
“It took a long time,” Bakey said. “I started in fifth or sixth grade.
“In order to be an Eagle Scout, you have to do all the badges and other requirements and also a service project.”
Bakey did his project at the Harleysville Pool.
“They have a lower pool area where they do all the swim meets, and there was no flag there for the National Anthem,” he said. “I put in a flag pool and a garden. I had to plan it and build it. It was pretty good.”
Bakey swam for the Harleysville swim team each summer since third grade.
“I play a lot of sports, and I’d say I’m pretty athletic, but I was never dominant in any single one,” he said. “I swam since third grade in the summer just to get me up in the morning and get some exercise.
“All my friends are on it, so I kept doing it.”
This winter he played basketball for SHYBA – his team advanced to the semifinals.
“I only played this year,” he said. “My friends convinced me to play, and it was awesome.”
Next fall, Bakey plans to enroll at either Villanova University or the University of Pittsburgh where he will major in engineering.
Although collegiate sports will not be part of his future, he left his mark at the high school level.
“Matt is that one in a million student-athlete who every coach would like to be on their team,” Bradshaw said. “He is encouraging, kind, hard working, smart, always willing to pitch in, a leader, and helpful. It has been such a privilege to have someone of Matt's character, charisma, and sportsmanship on my team.”
