Wrestling
Favorite athlete: Ray Lewis
Favorite team: Eagles
Favorite memory competing in sports: The team bonding session the last night of wrestling team camp when we pulled an all-nighter (summer going into my senior year)
Most embarrassing/funniest thing that has happened while competing in sports: Going into the third period of a dual meet match at home, my opponent chose down, and as I was getting on top of him, I burped up a little bit of throw-up on my opponent and had to stop the match with an injury timeout.
Music on iPod: Classical rock and rap
Future plans: Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania
Favorite motto: "If you're going through hell, keep going." -Winston Churchill
One goal before turning 30: Speak at graduation
One thing people don't know about me: I like to take mirror pictures with my shirt off while I am dieting for wrestling and in great shape!
By GORDON GLANTZ
The Abington School District has a saying:
"Excellence is Our Standard
Achievement is the Result"
If there is a student-athlete who exemplifies that, it is 132-pound wrestler Zach Levy, the Univest Male Athlete of the Week.
“Zach is a great student, a dedicated and hard-working wrestler both during the season and in the off-season, and an all-around outstanding young man,” said his coach, John Gillespie. “This past offseason Zach played a key role in organizing lifting and conditioning workouts with a core group of wrestlers which helped to build team unity.
“He has demonstrated great enthusiasm and leadership that you just have to love as a coach and that you wish all your athletes possessed. As a coach, I feel very fortunate to have had the opportunity to work with Zach over the past four years.”
In addition to battling it out on the mat as a four-year member of the varsity squad, Levy ranks fourth in his graduating class and was recently accepted to the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
While the ink is barely dry on Levy’s official acceptance letter, the reality is beginning to sink in for him.
“I was ecstatic,” he said. “That’s been my goal, basically, ever since seventh grade. Just about everything I’ve done has been to achieve that dream.”
When Levy was a freshman at Abington, he wrestled at 106 pounds. As a sophomore, it was at 120 pounds. Last year, it was at 126.
Maintaining those weights, as growing lad, has been the lone drawback to any otherwise fulfilling experience as a scholastic grappler.
“I’ve always been in a low weight class, so it has always been part of the sport for me,” said Levy, whose older brother, Jason, also wrestled for Abington. “Sometimes it gets hard, when you see other kids eating cookies and drinking hot chocolate and stuff like that. But I also feel like it has made me stronger, physically and mentally.”
Levy says Penn has “an incredible program” for wrestling, and realizes that wrestling at the club level, as opposed to trying to walk on to the squad, might be the more “normal” route to take next year.
While he has been wrestling year-round since ninth grade, he is prepared to keep it all perspective.
“The one thing I’m not going to miss is the dieting,” explained Levy. “Plus, I know there is going to be a lot more on my plate, academically, next year.”
Levy enters his senior season with the goal of reaching districts, as sectionals has been as far as he had gotten in his first three years.
So far, against some stiff early-season competition, he has lost some close matches but gained experience that will help him later on in the season.
In the interim, he and the team’s other veterans – namely fellow senior Jake Ritter and junior Alex Winshel – have taken on leadership roles while maintaining a healthy level of “friendly competitiveness” to push each other to excel.
"It's been a tough year, but it's also been a good year," he said. "We have a young team. We have been able to take on leadership roles. We have been acting almost like coaches. They look up to us, which makes us want to do our best when we compete.
"Myself and the other seniors have organized senior practices, like when it has snowed. They are not mandatory or anything, but we have gotten a good turnout."
While wrestling is the ideal sport for a self-starter like Levy, his non-stop motor reveals itself in a myriad of other activities.
While he says he plans to major in finance and eventually delve into the oft-unforgiving business landscape, Levy also wants to "do something good in the world."
Judging by Levy's track record, it would appear his aim is true.
He volunteers on Sundays to work with Jewish children with disabilities and at the Manna food kitchen in Philadelphia.
The only other sport Levy ever considered was cross country. Because of wrestling’s year-round commitment, he didn’t pursue it. However, he can be found at many charity 5K runs – as a participant and a volunteer – around the area.
Putting in 200 hours of community service along with 100 hours of physical fitness has earned him the Congressional Award.
"I enjoy it because I like staying busy," said Levy, who is also the treasurer of his senior class and is also in the school's Key Club and the Red Cross Club, which raises awareness about drinking and driving around prom season. "I don't like sitting around. I like giving back to the community.
"For me, wrestling is a part of that. That's why I love the sport."
Another reason he loves the sport is his coach.
"(Gillespie) has been so supportive," said Levy. "He brought me into the sport. He is more interested in us, as people, and teaches us to just enjoy the sport."
Levy calls volunteer assistant Rich Delgado "the perfect compliment" to Gillespie.
"He is just so involved," said Levy. "He is always willing to work with you. I would say those two coaches provide a great blend of enjoying and learning the sport."
