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 Sept. 9, 2024)
Talia DiMichele is a ‘hooper’. Plain and simple. At least that’s how Bensalem basketball coach Steve Johnson describes his senior shooting guard. “She plays all year long,” the Owls’ coach said. “She plays spring league for us, she plays summer league, she plays AAU and she does AAU Palinsky pick-up games. She’s just constantly playing basketball.” There’s no mistaking basketball is DiMichele’s passion. Interestingly, she grew up in a family where volleyball was the sport of choice -at least for her three older sisters. When she reached high school, Talia gave it a try. “My sisters were all on the volleyball team, so they kind of forced me into doing it,”
she said.
Actually, she didn’t take a whole lot of encouragement. DiMichele loves sports and loves competing, and it certainly didn’t hurt that her sister, Violet, was the JV coach when she was a freshman. “During the offseason, we didn’t have a setter, so she knew she could train me to be that setter,” Talia said. Violet says she immediately pegged her sister as a natural fit for that position. “She’s one of those natural athletes that can pick up anything, so she picked it up freshman year,” Violet said. “She plays basketball, and she’s great at that. She has a very high core IQ and just knows what’s around her and what’s going on, and she’s good at playmaking. I knew I wanted to make her a setter before I knew what she was capable of, and It came naturally to her.”
One year later, Violet was named the varsity coach, and Talia, who played JV as a freshman, was a perfect fit as varsity setter. “She just picks up things very quickly,” the Owls coach said. “When I take time out of my day to come up with practices or scout teams – she just actually listens to what I’m saying, comprehends it and applies it to her game. Not all athletes always do that.” DiMichele wasted little time before making an impact and earned second team All-SOL National Conference honors as both a sophomore and junior. To say she was a natural fit would be an understatement.
Off the court, DiMichele is active in school life at Bensalem. She is part of OTN, the school’s television network. She is a part of Owls Ambassadors as well as Parliament, an extension of class officers. She also excels in the classroom. DiMichele is looking to continue her basketball career at the collegiate level and hasn’t ruled out the possibility of playing two sports. “She’s going to play somewhere and has some schools that are interested in her,” Johnson said. “Last year, Amber (Howard) was a big focal point for us offensively. Talia was our second leading scorer, but I think her role is definitely going to increase. With that increase, I think she’ll also get more recognition and more eyes on her. Just what she brings to the table – she’ll take a younger kid home if they need a ride. She’s always there – she beats me to some workouts. She never misses an offseason workout, no matter what time it is. Whether I text them last minute and say – ‘Hey, the gym is open tomorrow,’ she’s always there. For someone like her – that’s why she’s successful in volleyball as well. Her work ethic is next level. Everything she’s gotten and everything she’s doing is because of her work ethic. She’s just a great kid to have in general.”
To read the complete DiMichele story, please click on the following link: https://suburbanonesports.com/featured-athletes/female/talia-dimichele-00114514
Univest’s SuburbanOneSports.com Featured Male Athlete (Week of Sept. 9, 2024)
If football is the ultimate team sport, then Wissahickon senior quarterback Nolan Pounds is the ultimate team player. For Pounds, in his second season under center, there is truly no “I” in team. There’s hardly any “me” and a whole lot more “we.” He’s been a key piece in the resurgence of Wissahickon’s football program in recent years and is coming off a 56-28 victory over Lower Merion this past Saturday in which he threw three touchdown passes. Wissahickon rosters 83 players, with more than 20 being fellow seniors who share the same vision after having a taste of the postseason a year ago. “We lost Week 1 to Upper Dublin, but now we
just want to win out and make a run and try and win the district and make a run at states,” Pounds said.
Pounds is quick to point to the players around him - from the offensive linemen to the skill position players - that make his job easy. “I definitely feel like I progressed as the season went along last year, but I didn’t feel like I was thrown into the fire too much,” he explained. “Two of the receivers last year (Jaden McLean, now at Kutztown, and Michael Bemis, now at Muhlenberg) were seniors, and we were always going to the field, just throwing and getting routes in. I feel like I had great chemistry with them. Being on the field with them felt like second nature. This year, though, our receiving corps is so good. I think we have the best receiving corps in the area. The one receiver, Aidan Wescott, is in my grade. We have been throwing together the past five years. The other receiver is Zay Johnson. He just transferred here from Carroll. He’s a junior and is phenomenal. They make it really easy for me. We can also pound it out with running back Quasir Sampson.”
Several fellow seniors share the leadership burden with Pounds. However, being a returning starter at quarterback, all eyes are on him. “We have a ton of great leaders on the team. It’s not all on me, but I feel comfortable stepping up as a leader,” said Pounds, who added that the team shares a strong belief in God. “I owe everything we have accomplished as a team and personally to God.”
In addition to being a leader on the field and the locker room, Pounds excels in the classroom. While taking AP and honors classes, he carries a 4.1 GPA. “He is a leader on the football field, but he is also a leader in the classroom,” said head coach Rory Graver. Although he hasn’t ruled out playing football in college, Pounds hasn’t ruled it in either. “I believe he can play at the college level, and I know he has interest in that as well,” said Graver. “I know he went out this past summer and visited some schools and did some college showcase type deals. I think he is going to play out his senior year and see where it goes from there.”
To read the remainder of Pounds’ story, please click on the following link: https://suburbanonesports.com/featured-athletes/male/nolan-pounds-00114515
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