Basketball
Favorite athlete: Alex Wheatley (Princeton Women’s Basketball)
Favorite team: Villanova Men’s Basketball
Favorite memory competing in sports: Beating Red Lion last year during the second round of states. They ended our state run my freshman year, so it was nice to avenge the loss.
Most embarrassing/funniest thing that has happened while competing in sports: My freshman year we were competing in a tournament down at the shore at the Wildwood Convention Center. Before the game started, one of my teammates spilled water onto the court right where the starting five runs out when their names are called. So another one of my teammates says, “Watch out for the water. Please, no one slip.” Once they called my name out, I got up and just dropped to the ground after slipping in the water. Everyone was watching because they just called my name out, and I felt so embarrassed.
Music on your iPod: Beyonce, Eminem
Future plans: Graduate from college, become a teacher and live near my parents.
Words to live by: ‘I may not be there yet, but I am closer than I was yesterday.’
One goal before turning 30: Compete in a triathlon
One thing people don’t know about me: I used to play the violin.
By Mary Jane Souder
Alexis Hofstaedter is the very definition of a team-first athlete.
The Council Rock South senior recently broke the longstanding career assist record of Ben Luber, an assist record that includes not only Rock South but the entire Council Rock School District.
The senior point guard was unfazed.
“I’m not one to be ‘Oh, I want records,’” Hofstaedter said. “I just want to do what I can to win. I’m more about the team game aspect.”
In Hofstaedter’s case, that isn’t just lip service. Give the senior point guard the option to shoot or pass, and she will pass every day of the week. Unless, of course, she has a mandate to shoot, which is exactly what coach Monica Stolic has given her point guard this season.
“I told her at the end of the season last year that Alex (Wheatley) is graduating, and we’re missing 18 points and 20 rebounds a game,” the Rock South coach said. “I told her ‘I really need you to pick up your scoring.’
“She said, ‘Okay, no problem,’ but I wasn’t positive she would do it – she’s not used to it, but she more than doubled her average.”
Hofstaedter is averaging close to 16 points a game this season after averaging eight last season, and she admits that looking to shoot first does not come naturally.
“I remember coach saying at the beginning of the season, ‘All right, you have to shoot more. You have to get at least double digits if we want to win games since Alex isn’t here anymore,’” Hofstaedter said. “It’s definitely different.
“I always will pass, and even if someone is open, I’ll still get yelled at for not shooting, but I just love to pass so much.”
Hofstaedter’s affinity for passing may have something to do with the fact that she excels in that area.
“She has great court vision – she sees the floor very well,” Stolic said. “She gets the ball out in transition, and she’s so unselfish.”
Hofstaedter cannot talk about basketball without mentioning the profound impact her team’s involvement with Athletes Helping Athletes has had on her life. It was during an AHA clinic at Parkwood Youth Organization in Northeast Philadelphia last year that Hofstaedter was touched to the core when one of the special needs athletes – with tears in his eyes – told the senior captain and her teammates that it would be an honor and privilege to be the team’s honorary captain.
That young man traveled with the Golden Hawks through their magical run to the state quarterfinals.
“That has impacted me so much, and it really opened my eyes,” she said. “I see they’re like us, and they have their own personalities. When times are rough, you see them and some of the things they go through are harder than anything we go through, and it opens up your mind.”
As a result of her involvement with AHA, Hofstaedter is seriously considering pursuing a career in special education.
Next fall, Hofstaedter will major in elementary education when she enrolls at the College of William & Mary. Last November, the then junior made a verbal commitment to accept a basketball scholarship to the prestigious academic institution. She chose William & Mary from a final list that included West Point and Sacred Heart.
“I knew when I stepped on the campus for the first time that it was the right place for me,” she said.
Hofstaedter’s journey to playing collegiate basketball began when she was five years old and already showed a penchant for dribbling the basketball. She says she inherited her love for the sport from her father, Ed Hofstaedter.
“My dad lived in Northeast Philly, and he would always go up to the courts,” Hofstaedter said. “He just loved basketball so much.
“He got my brothers into playing basketball, and I followed after them. My brothers would play CYO, and whenever there was a water break or no one was on the court, I would be dribbling and shooting.”
At the age of six, Hofstaedter began playing CYO basketball, and a year later, she joined the AAU circuit with the Bucks County Wildcats. In sixth grade, she took her talents to the Philadelphia Belles.
Through middle school, Hofstaedter also dabbled in other sports and, at one point, thought her future was on the soccer field.
“When I was younger, I always had the dream of playing professional soccer,” she said. “That’s what I thought I’d play in college. I wasn’t really good at it, but I just loved it.”
In seventh grade, soccer fell by the wayside, and basketball moved into the forefront. Hofstaedter was inspired by players like University of Connecticut point guard Caroline Doty and Vanderbilt’s Stephanie Holzer.
“I would watch them and say, ‘I want to be like them and play in college,’” Hofstaedter said. “Growing up, I didn’t know exactly where I was level-wise, but as the years went on, I realized I’m not one of those top D-1 players, and I kind of found my fit and looked at the colleges that would be best for me.”
Hofstaedter was a perfect fit in the Golden Hawks’ backcourt the moment she set foot on the court in ninth grade. Something she admits she didn’t quite envision when she tried out for the squad.
“We had a team meeting, and the seniors were going around asking questions of everyone on the team,” she said. “I said, ‘I just hope I make the varsity.’”
She did much better than just make the varsity. Hofstaedter has started every game since she was a freshman.
“I didn’t realize I would actually play as a freshman,” she said. “I was in shock because out of all these other girls that had been here a while and worked hard – I wasn’t expecting to start.
“At first, I was nervous. I remember my first game I was shaking during the national anthem, but as the year went on, I got used to it.”
Stolic admits that Hofstaedter caught her eye from the outset.
“When she was in seventh grade, she was a camper at my basketball camp,” the Golden Hawks’ coach said. “She was small, but she could hit shots from beyond the three-point line. She had such range for a seventh grader. She had the strength to shoot from 21-22 feet.”
Hofstaedter was named ‘Camper of the Week,’ and she certainly has lived up to her billing. The senior captain is a quiet leader of a Golden Hawk squad that is finishing the season strong.
“She relates well with the other girls, but she doesn’t get involved in the drama,” Stolic said.
Hofstaedter recently was at the Wells Fargo Center when former Neshaminy star Ryan Archidiacono hit a buzzer beater to propel Villanova into overtime and an eventual win over No. 3 Syracuse.
“Just watching him play – I want to be in his shoes and have that opportunity,” Hofstaedter said. “Once the season ends, I want to work out every day and work as hard as I can.”
“She does it because she loves it,” Stolic said. “It’s not like, ‘My dad is making me do this.’ She really enjoys it.”
And that love of the game has propelled the unassuming Hofstaedter to a record-breaking career.
