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 Oct. 21, 2024)
Homecoming, senior year. It can hold different meanings for different athletes, especially seniors. For North Penn’s Dana Coakley, it marked the end of a wondrous journey within the North Penn tennis program. Also, a runner -- and repeat medalist -- in just about every local 5K she can find, Homecoming for tennis was a metaphorical finish line. “It was just the seniors who got to run out,” she said. “Everything occurred to me, everything I’ve overcome and all the challenges and all that I accomplished. It was just a special memory to me.”
Coakley chooses not to dwell on her challenges, which stem from suffering a stroke in-utero (at birth). She had been in occupational therapy since six months old and didn’t really come to appreciate the importance of it until she started playing tennis in seventh grade, at age 12. “My mom wanted me to get into a sport,” said Coakley. “She thought it would be good for me. I started playing tennis and I’ve been playing ever since then.”
Running cross country would have been another option, but she stuck it out with tennis – and is glad she did, considering she scratches her running itch outside of school. “I’ve always liked to run,” said Coakley. “I’ve run a lot of 5Ks, and I run almost daily. I love running. It’s kind of my thing. I guess I did consider it (as a school sport) but tennis was cool to me and it was good for me. There were some challenges to it, but I just thought it was cool and then I began to get pretty good at it.”
How good did she get at tennis? Well, good enough to show up at tryouts for the North Penn tennis team, coached by Renee Di Domizio. The idea was first planted by her tennis coach at the Philadelphia Sports Club, Fred Perrin. Said Coakley: “When I was going to the Philadelphia Sports Club, I would go like two or three times per week for tennis practices. My coach there is the one who really wanted me to try out for the North Penn tennis team.” Di Domizio was immediately impressed with what she saw in Coakley. “I have had this young lady since she was a freshman,” said the coach. “She walked onto the court, and I said, ‘Well, I’m not going to cut her.’ And she has since worked her way up from the bottom of the JV squad, while perfecting her technique, and being able to be competitive.”
It was with the help of Perrin that Coakley developed her famed “one-armed serve” that many others have tried, and found impossible, to duplicate. She said: “My friends and coaches will try to do it, and they will say, ‘I don’t know how you do this.’ I don’t give them tips or tricks or anything, because I really don’t even know how I do it.” Most importantly, it is a testament to her fortitude. “She’s just an amazing young lady,” said Di Domizio. “With her right hand, she holds the racket, and she has the ball with it, too. She has her two fingers with the ball. She throws it up at the same time she is pulling the racket up and she serves the ball. It’s amazing. They worked this technique out where she holds the ball and the racket in one hand. She kind of flips it up and serves it. Some kids can’t even serve with two hands. It’s a thing of beauty to see, actually.”
Coakley has primarily been a JV player in a competitive program at a large school, but she holds a rare distinction of being unblemished at the varsity level after teaming up with Helene Kim in a victorious doubles match against CB West in her junior year. “I put her in a varsity match last year,” said Di Domizio. “She did really well. I just wanted her to experience one of those matches. I said to myself, ‘You know what, I’m pulling Dana up for this match,’ I said to her, ‘Dana, you are going to play in this varsity match today.’ And they won.”
While she has bounced around, in terms of possible career paths, Coakley has come to embrace the obvious: Occupational Therapy. “I wanted to be biomedical engineer, which is totally different,” said Coakley. “I went to an open house recently, and I was talking to a guy about occupational therapy. It just seemed so interesting. My aunt (Janet Parkinson) was an occupational therapist, and I know a lot of other occupational therapists, and I just think it is the perfect career for me.”
Coakley, who works extended part-time hours at Giant, is an “A-B” student at North Penn and plans to start off nailing down her prerequisites at Montgomery County Community College and will then be taking it from there when it comes to her desired career path. She said: “I love to try to help other people like myself who have the same type of issues. I love to help them to understand that it will be OK and that they are doing great and can do whatever they want to do.”
To read the complete Coakley’s story, please click on the following link: https://suburbanonesports.com/featured-athletes/female/dana-coakley-00115658
Univest’s SuburbanOneSports.com Featured Male Athlete (Week of Oct. 21, 2024).
In preparation for his senior season on the gridiron at William Tennent, Dan Ellis was presented with a challenge from his coaches. Get louder. “One of Dan’s best traits on the defensive side of the ball is his ability to get us into our checks, but you have to be loud to do that,” said second-year coach Colin Leach. “In the offseason, we messed around with Dan, and we jokingly told him, ‘If you’re not going to be vocal, you’re not going to be that guy.’ But he took it to heart. He took that feedback from us, and if there’s a check we have to get into, he’s the loudest and he’s the guy getting people lined up and knowing what they’re doing.”
Ellis, however, is a firm believer that actions speak louder than words. And as important as he is in getting the defense set before the play starts, his efforts after the ball is snapped are just as important to the Panthers. Ellis lines up as linebacker and offensive lineman – though he has played all over the field both on offense and defense during his high school football career – while also playing special teams for the Panthers. “Dan took the offseason and preseason weight training very seriously, and it shows not just in his build, but in his play,” Leach said. “He put in the work not only the offseason but the summer to get himself in position to be out there 60, 70 snaps a game and able to give us 100 percent at all times. Dan stands out in every aspect of his game. People don’t realize how tough it is to play both ways. But Dan’s never complaining, he never wants to come off. The only time he comes off is when we need him to get a break.”
For Ellis, it all comes down to one simple notion – team above self. “I feel like I can always help the team,” Ellis said. “I feel like if I’m not on the field, I’m not helping as much as I can. I always want to be out there.” And if being more vocal on the field and getting stronger was the best way to help the Panthers, then Ellis was ready to do whatever was asked of him. As an offensive line, Ellis, according to his coach, is giving up 30-some pounds to some of the players he’s going up against. “He’s not the biggest guy in the world, but he’s moving, making contact, forcing the line of scrimmage to be changed because of his physicality and aggression,” Leach said.
Once the football season ends, Ellis has little time to rest as he trades helmets for singlets in taking to the wrestling mat for the Panthers. While both sports complement each other, Ellis admits it can take time to shift from football to wrestling. Last season, Ellis wrestled at 172 and 189, though he expects he’ll likely slot in at 189 this winter. And while wrestling may be a far more individualized sport than football, one thing remains the same for Ellis. “When I wrestle, I’m focused on winning to help the team,” he said. “I want to win, for sure, but I want to win because I know that will help the team. We have a lot of expectations this year. We really think this team could compete for a league championship.”
Outside the athletic arenas, Ellis remains busy with his schoolwork and extracurriculars. He carries a 3.8 GPA, and his courseload is loaded with AP classes including Calculus, Physics, and Government. Ellis is a member of student government and is a member of the William Tennent chapters of the National Honor Society, National English Honor Society, and National Math Honor Society (and is waiting to hear back from an application to the National Science Honor Society as well). While he said he’d consider playing football in college if the right opportunity came along, he has accepted that his time on the field is likely coming to an end.
“Wherever Dan goes, that school gets one of the hardest workers that I coach,” Leach said. “If he’s not great at something, he’s willing to put in the work to become great at it, and that’s invaluable to any program he ends up in. He’s willing to do that work, and Dan’s the guy who’s putting in the work when the eyes aren’t on you. It’s easy to put in the work in practice, but it’s the things he does on his own that make him so special.
“What we’re losing here … we’re losing a Swiss Army Knife. He’s been there for us through my two years, he’s played every position known to man with a smile on his face and to the best of his ability. Our guys are losing a guy you can go to with any question, and he’ll be a mentor.”
To read Ellis’ complete story, please click on the following link: https://suburbanonesports.com/featured-athletes/male/dan-ellis-00115659
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