Thanks to our continued partnership with Univest Financial, SuburbanOneSports.com will once again recognize a male and female featured athlete each week. The recognition is given to seniors of high character who are students in good standing that have made significant contributions to their teams or who have overcome adversity. Selections are based on nominations received from coaches, athletic directors and administrators.
Univest’s SuburbanOneSports.com Featured Female Athlete (Week of Dec. 32, 2023)
Upper Moreland senior Mickie Soroka has not dealt with any serious physical injuries in her athletic career as a state-level diver and a passionate role player on the soccer team. She has always made sure to stretch properly and do all the right things to avoid serious injuries. However, she could not prepare herself for a broken heart. That came in the summer of 2019, right before she was about to begin high school. Her father, Michael, passed away suddenly of a heart attack in his sleep. Soroka explained that her father’s passing made her as much of a wrestler with grief and a hurdler of adversity as it did a diver/swimmer or soccer player. “Grief is a lot at a young age, and sports is already a mental game,” she said. “Trying to make sure I was focusing on my performance as I started high school sports right after it happened took a lot. But now I see it as motivation. My dad was always my biggest supporter. He was the one who got me into diving and who inspired me to take it as far as I have. Now, I’m really able to focus on my sports and use his support as something I know I will always have.”
In terms of that mental game, the daughter of Regina Soroka was also making the distinction between being a heart-and-soul player on the soccer team and a standout with major goals as a diver. “Individual sports versus team sports - they’re very different,” said Soroka, who takes all honors classes and is a member of the National Honor Society. “It was a big difference, changing from fall to winter. I’ve always done a bunch of sports, but the ones that stuck around were soccer and diving.” This year’s soccer team fell in the second round of districts to top-seeded Villa Joseph Marie, but there was a sense of completion that wasn’t there before for what will go down as the most decorated senior class in the school’s girls’ soccer history. “This senior class may be the best we have ever had,” said UM assistant coach John Solla. “The girls are awesome, and the players are awesome, but none have that quality that Mickie had. On the field, she is going to be working her butt off. On the bench, she is going to be screaming her butt off.”
Soroka was swimming at the Upper Moreland Swim Club by the age of 5 and - with her dad’s help - was a fearless diver by the age of 7. Fast forward to her freshman year, the COVID-shortened season, when Soroka surprised even herself by winning SOLs and finishing fourths at districts. One year later, she finished second at districts and in the middle of the pack at states. With three of the top four finishers graduating, expectations are high for her senior season. Diving coach Sue Powidzki even altered her personal plans for her star pupil. “I retired from teaching this past June but came back to coach diving for Mickie, which I think says it all,” said the coach. “She will throw a dive over and over until it is correct, and she will review the tapes and self-evaluate what she needs to do to get it right. Mickie is so much fun to coach. She makes me laugh and we have an awesome time, but that is not to say she can’t be fierce when it comes to competition. She always strives to do her best on every dive, staying on the board until it is right.” While diving may be an individual endeavor, Soroka is also a key member of the swim team, jumping into events and relays as needed.
Soroka has carefully weighed the pros and cons of diving at the collegiate level and has decided to just focus on studying to become a nurse (or maybe a dentist). “I was contemplating it but, in the end, I decided it would be better if I just went to a college to get my education,” said Soroka, who is likely to stay within the state (Villanova, La Salle, Penn State). UM girls’ soccer coach Lisa Benvenuto paid her the highest compliment that a coach can give a player. “In a nutshell, Mickie is that type of kid that you like to have on your team,” the UM coach said. “She is like a ray of sunshine. She is positive, and she works hard. She expects others to step up. She’s realist. She calls it like she sees it, and she doesn’t make up any excuses. She’s definitely someone who, if she wasn’t on the team, her absence would have definitely been felt. She has had a rough go of it. She had to persevere through so many different obstacles, and she came out on the other side.”
To read Soroka’s complete story, please click on the following link: https://suburbanonesports.com/featured-athletes/female/mickie-soroka-00110349.
Univest’s SuburbanOneSports.com Featured Male Athlete (Week of Dec. 21, 2023)
The boys’ basketball program at Harry S Truman hasn’t exactly been a fairy tale story in recent years. In fact, it may be closer to a hard-luck tale. The Tigers have occupied the cellar of the Patriot Division every year since the 2018-19 season and haven’t had a five-win season since then. Additionally, it’s been difficult to maintain any sort of consistency as interest has waned in recent years and players have left both before and during seasons. Second-year Truman coach Randolph Jackson is trying to turn the page on those days. And there’s no one he’d rather have writing the next chapter than Aaron Nathan.
The only senior starter on the young Tigers’ squad, the 6-6 center is leading the team in points and rebounds. But Nathan is being counted on to provide so much more than just stats for this team, and this program looking to close the book on the past and write a brighter future. “There’s a culture and work ethic we’re trying to build here,” Jackson said. “My first season here was grueling, we’d have three to five kids show up per workout. This past offseason, from eighth grade to varsity, we’d have 30 guys in the gym. We’re working to get the kids to commit and buy into everything our coaching staff has been preaching, and Aaron is the guy who sets the tone for them. We’ve got a lot of underclassmen on this team, but Aaron is giving them someone they can look up to and rely on. He bought in to what we’re trying to do here. He works hard, he provides leadership, he’s vocal on the court. He’s absolutely been making a difference.”
That might sound like a lot of pressure, but Nathan not only expects it, he encourages it. While doing his part to help his teammates improve on the court, he’s also spearheading the effort to overcome the mental barriers that can lead to doubt, dismay, and desertion. “With everything we’ve been through in the past, a lot of it is mental and having everyone framing us to be a bad team, saying we come from a bad area, things like that,” Nathan said. “We have athletes on our team, we have guys who can play, but when everyone frames us to be bad, it messes with you mentally. I’ve been on this team for three years, and I’ve basically heard the same thing every year. But I talk to the younger kids, tell them that you have to ignore that and just play the game. I try to set that positive mindset because that’s what’s going to get Truman somewhere. We have a good team, our coaches are good, our players are good, we have to get over that phase mentally.”
Although the results have not yet shown up in the win column, Nathan said he is proud of how far this team has come this season. “I feel like I’m seeing a lot of improvement from this team,” he said. “I knew coming in that I needed to take it more seriously, I’ve got to set the tone. We needed to have the mindset that you need to keep playing and keep fighting. Coach tells us that no matter the score, we go to battle until that final buzzer, so we keep fighting whether we’re down 50 or down three.”
While Nathan is helping write the first chapter of a new story for Truman basketball, it will be up to the rest of the team to continue writing it once he graduates. Nathan is still in the early stages of assessing his college options. He’d like to play basketball if the opportunity is there, and he’s considering a major in either business or culinary arts. And he’ll leave large shoes to fill for the Tigers, though he’ll leave knowing he’s done his part to prepare the underclassmen to take their spots as leaders in the years to come. “Coaching Aaron the last two season has really been a blessing,” Jackson said. “We’re really going to miss him next year. Besides what he brings to us on the court, we’re going to lose his goofiness on the bus rides, his storytelling, his willingness to be open and have guys talk to him, everything he brings to the table for us. He’ll be greatly missed, but we’re trying to establish that culture here that we’re a family, and like family, we expect he’ll come back and share many memories with us.”
To read Nathan’s complete story, please click on the following link: https://suburbanonesports.com/featured-athletes/male/aaron-nathan-00110351.
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