Basketball, Volleyball
Favorite athlete: Michael Jordan
Favorite teams: Flyers/Eagles
Favorite memory competing in sports: Making it to the Elite 8 in playoffs for volleyball this year
Funniest thing that has happened while competing in sports: Pants fell down while jumping for a layup in basketball and I still made the shot
Music on playlist: Rap, Country, R&B, anything 2000s
Future plans: HVAC or Electricians Union
Favorite motto: “You miss 100 percent of the shots you don’t take”- Wayne Gretzky
One goal before turning 30: Start my own company for whatever trade I do
One thing people don’t know about me: I put ketchup on my pizza
By Mary Jane Souder
Mike Carr made an unusual decision this winter.
After two years away from basketball, the William Tennent senior – whose focus had turned to volleyball - tried out for the basketball team. It’s not exactly a formula for success, but Carr wasn’t worried about playing time.
“He’s an athlete, he can jump, and we were looking at him as the tryouts were going on,” Tennent basketball coach Robert Mulville said. “We had all these seniors coming back, so we knew it was going to be difficult for him to break into any kind of playing time, but he was athletic, and he was a nice kid.
“We told him at the beginning – ‘We’d like to keep you, but this is going to be your role. If you’re not happy with it, we understand.’ He immediately was like, ‘Nope, I’m fine with that. I understand what it is I’ve got to do. I just want to be a part of the team,’ and that’s just the way he was.”
Carr’s isn’t a story of a player who worked his way into the starting lineup and became a major contributor on the court. Rather, his is a story of a player who understood his role, accepted it and made himself an invaluable asset to the team.
“I went in knowing I wasn’t going to have a main role, but I knew I could make other people better, so I went into it thinking – ‘Hey, I dive all the time in volleyball. Why not dive in basketball and hustle nonstop?’” Carr said. “I figured that doing all that would get me on the team, and that’s exactly what coach said, ‘You do things other people don’t do on the court during practices, and we love that you do that.’
“I understood that I wasn’t going to get much playing time, and I told him that right away, but I still wanted to be on the team, I wanted to be a part of it. I also knew I’d be in shape for volleyball when that season would come.”
It turned out to be a win-win for both sides.
“He was great all season,” Mulville said. “He practiced hard all the time. During the games, he was into it. It wasn’t like he just sat there and didn’t try to contribute in some way. He tried to do that.
“Sometimes you take a senior and it doesn’t work out. It can be a problem, but we just felt confident. I never had him in class, but I remembered him as a freshman. You’d see him in the hallways and he always said, ‘hello’ – it wasn’t like he left the team on bad terms.
“I liked his intensity. When he did get in a game, he wasn’t afraid to take the ball to the rim. He was physical, but he just had all those seniors playing in front of him. He was great for us this year, he really was. He was tough to practice against. Besides being positive and active on the bench, it was good competition for us to go up against him on a daily basis.”
When Carr’s final volleyball season rolled around this spring, he was ready. A captain of the young squad that returned just two players with varsity experience after last year’s season was cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic, his leadership was invaluable.
“He was fantastic with our kids when we were doing virtual meetings,” Tennent coach Jim Creighton said. “And even conversations when we were in quarantine in the summer and in the fall, he really kind of spearheaded it, helping the kids out and laying out our goals for the year.
“He was good at communicating with the kids that were younger because we had a lot of freshmen and sophomores. He was really good relaying what to expect – how to plan for games, how to deal with our coaching staff. He was really invaluable and a huge asset, especially to our younger players.”
For his part, Carr knew this was his final high school season, and he wanted everyone to be up to speed.
“I didn’t want anyone to be behind on anything,” he said. “So I had to keep them engaged and ready to play even though we weren’t playing, so Zoom calls were the best thing we could do.
“We talked about how to play volleyball for beginners, and from there, we pretty much went into the season with an idea.”
******
Carr got his first taste of competitive sports playing ice hockey when he was eight years old. After several years, he switched to basketball, and as a freshman in high school, he was introduced to volleyball.
“Our middle school did not have volleyball, l so I knew nothing about it, but when I got to high school, a friend of mine said I should try out for the team,” Carr said. “He really talked me into it. My mom said a couple of times I should try volleyball out. I said, ‘No, I don’t think I’ll like it.’ I tried it and I loved it. Now it’s my favorite sport.”
What was volleyball’s appeal?
“I really liked the team spirit,” Carr said. “Everyone was happy and energetic – they wanted to be there and play. They were always there to help me out when I was a beginner, so ever since then, I try to treat the younger guys the way my teammates who were older treated me.”
Carr started out as a middle hitter, moved to opposite and ended his high school career as an outside hitter.
“He was really athletic, showed a ton of potential when he was a freshman and sophomore, and then with the COVID break, it was tough but he really progressed physically,” Creighton said. “His jumping ability, his hitting – everything really improved over the break as he grew into his position.”
For Carr, who likes to be active, missing last year’s season due to the COVID-19 pandemic was difficult.
“I was pretty upset when it happened – I didn’t really know what I was going to do,” he said. “I thought I wasn’t really going to progress much.
“Then I just figured – ‘Hey, I’ll go to the gym, I’ll do some sports with my friends in the summer,’ and when school came around, I just decided to keep in shape I’d do basketball. That’s exactly what it did for me, and I came into volleyball and I was in great shape.”
Carr was the Panthers’ go-to hitter and led the team in kills. He was second in blocks, second in aces and one of the team’s primary point scorers.
“He’s going to be hard to replace for next year- he did really well,” said Creighton of Carr, who was the team MVP and earned first team all-league honors.
In many ways, Carr’s success this spring was directly tied to his idea to try out for basketball.
“I think playing sports you have your role, and I knew exactly what my role was when I joined the team,” Carr said. “Coach said, ‘You do things others don’t,’ and I knew if I kept doing those things, I’d make people better.
“Volleyball is a hustle sport. At (basketball) practice, most people don’t hustle like that, so I’ll show them what that looks like in a game.”
As for his experience in sports, Carr isn’t going to remember the wins and losses.
“The best part is just being around other people,” he said. “You won’t get this opportunity many times to play with the people you do – these are your best friends when you’re in high school. Just being able to play with your friends and enjoy the time while you have it, it’s something special.”
Carr’s future on the volleyball court will include outdoor and beach volleyball.
“I want to get involved as much as possible in grass and beach volleyball tournaments,” he said. “Doubles is so much fun, it’s probably my favorite thing to do.”
Instead of attending college in the fall, Carr will be pursuing a trade.
“I’m looking to pursue something that is hands on, so right now I’m looking into HVAC and an electrician as maybe a backup,” said Carr, who will be taking his HVAC test on June 9. “My plan is to eventually have my own company. I know that’s going to take a lot of time, but that’s my goal.”
Listening to those who know him best, Carr appears destined to succeed.
