Volleyball
Favorite athlete: Sean O'Malley
Favorite team: Philadelphia Phillies
Favorite memory competing in sports: Winning the District One 3-A title
Most embarrassing/funniest thing that has happened while competing in sports: When I served the ball directly into the back of my teammate’s head.
Music on playlist: Country and Rap
Future plans: Attend Merrimack College to study Biology and continue my volleyball career
Words to live by: "If you're not first, you're last"
One goal before turning 30: To be self sufficient
One thing people don't know about me: I aspire to eventually enlist in the military and fight for our country
By GORDON GLANTZ
Nathan Knapp’s father, Eric Knapp, was a standout volleyball player at Pennsbury, but the recent Pennsbury graduate insists he was not forced to play the sport.
Although he tried some other athletic endeavors, Knapp naturally settled in the family business by the time he was a freshman in high school.
“I was never pressured,” said Knapp, who also played baseball and football. “I always wanted to play volleyball. It was definitely what I enjoyed the most.”
As it was, the Falcons were in the midst of a nightmarish season when he was a freshman, but it allowed him significant playing time by the end of the campaign that helped him take off on a record-setting career.
Despite missing a chunk of his junior season with a partially torn MCL in his knee, Knapp still leaves Pennsbury as the school’s all-time leader in kills with 682.
As a senior, with the Class AAA District One champion Falcons going unblemished until the state quarterfinals, Knapp set a single-season school mark in kills with 399 while putting the ball away for a point 58 percent of the time he was set (usually by Kieran Shaw).
“It feels awesome,” Knapp said. “I got injured last year. I was out for four weeks and missed around seven games. Coming off of injury and still being about to break those records is just awesome.”
The reality is that Knapp, a tri-captain, was more interested in team accomplishments.
And nothing felt more satisfying than experiencing a senior season that was the polar opposite of his freshman year.
“It was really cool to experience that,” said Knapp. “It made my senior year a lot more eventful.
“My freshman year was the worst year in Pennsbury volleyball history, and my senior year was the best year in Pennsbury volleyball history.”
Added coach Justin Fee: “His freshman year he started for us by the end of the season, like three or four matches. We only won three games, so it was the worst that we had ever done. This year we had the best record in Pennsbury volleyball history. That was awesome. He was a big part of that, a cornerstone.”
It is for this reason that, beyond statistical records, Fee acknowledges a void that will be difficult to fill.
“He’s one of those players that we are not going to be able to replace with just one guy,” said the coach. “It’s going to be a collective effort.
“I’m feeling pretty good about next season. I have a strong core of juniors coming back. But, to lose what is arguably the best player in Pennsbury volleyball history, that’s one that I don’t think we are going to be able to replace.”
Touching The Clouds
Fee was actually a teammate of Eric Knapp in high school, so he had known Nathan Knapp since he was a small boy accompanying his dad to matches.
Nonetheless, Fee was blown away by the younger Knapp’s freakish athleticism once he arrived in the Pennsbury gym.
Measuring at around 6-4, Knapp soars like a super hero up to 12 feet.
“He’s probably the most outstanding jumper I’ve ever seen in my life,” said Fee. “He has a 46 vertical and touches 12 feet high. He uses every inch of it. He is a sight to see. When you see him jumping and attacking the ball, it’s pretty amazing. That’s one of the many physical attributes that he has.”
But those physical skills are not what make Knapp special.
“More than that, while being the all-time career kill leader and the single-season career kill leader, the kid is unbelievably humble,” said Fee, who Knapp thanked, along with his family (including mom, Danielle) for supporting him all the way through his career. “All four years that I had him - for a player of his stature and for being one of the all-time greats, he just continued to want to be coached.
“He would stay humble and help younger players out. To just be a nice guy, like he is, was just a nice thing to see. It has been a pleasure coaching him.”
What Fee will remember most, perhaps, is the positive impression that Knapp left on referees and opposing coaches.
Said Fee: “They would ask: ‘Is Nathan really that nice of a kid, or is he putting on an act?’ He’s a really a good kid like that.”
Knapp, a fan of UFC fighter Sean O’Malley and all the Philadelphia pro teams, said his demeanor was part of a bigger picture.
“I just play the game and have fun,” said Knapp. “I just have a lot of respect for the game.”
That respect for the game extended to his teammates, for whom he was a leader through his actions while letting his opinion be known.
“As a leader, he is little bit of both,” said Fee. “Because he is such a tremendous physical talent, the younger players are a little bit in awe. He is just an awesome kid. He leads by example but also can be vocal. He the one of our three captains that really spoke up. He was a big part of our leadership this year.”
Exciting Time
In many ways, high school was a grind for Knapp, and the recent graduation was a relief.
“It felt great,” he said. “It’s a very exciting time.”
While playing for his New Jersey-based club team, Warren Sixpack, Knapp was able to connect with some college programs and ultimately chose Merrimack over another Massachusetts school, Springfield.
“They watched me at nationals, and I kept in contact with the coach and stuff,” said Knapp. “Then, this past fall, I was invited to go on an official visit.
“They are a program on the rise, definitely. I like that idea a lot. That’s definitely one of the reasons why I decided to go there. I’m very excited about it.”
There was a point in time, though, where being a collegiate athlete seemed iffy.
Like many others his year, online academics during COVID had a negative impact. Knapp was thinking seriously of pursuing a lifelong dream of going directly into the military.
But, once COVID limitations were lifted and he fully established himself as a certified superstar on the court, Knapp became a more serious student and ended up lifting his GPA into the 3.0 range when it was all said and done.
“My freshman and sophomore years, COVID had a pretty big impact on me,” he reflected. “Up until the middle of my junior year, I was set on joining the military. Then, I decided to look into college. In the window, from moving from online school to in-person school, I knew I had to step up my academics.”
It is a true comeback story.
“He buried himself around the COVID years, but he bounced back the last couple of years,” added Fee.
Now, Knapp will major in biology at Merrimack.
“I’ve always loved science,” he said. “It has always been one of my best subjects. I just loved the idea of life and living organisms.”
Meanwhile, his dream of serving his country remains alive – just on the backburner.
If Knapp enlists after graduating, he can do so and become an officer, likely in either the Army or Air Force.
“I always wanted to join the military,” he said. “It’s something I’m still looking into for after college.
“I love America. I feel it’s the greatest country, and I always wanted to fight for this country.”
(Pennsbury/Pennridge photo courtesy of Jon Sklut. Visit Photo Gallery)https://solsports.zenfolio.com/f869437409)
