The following article was sponsored by Millennium Administrators on behalf of the Souderton girls’ basketball team. Tuesday’s Coaches vs. Cancer contest against North Penn has special meaning for the Indians.
By Mary Jane Souder
TW
The white t-shirts with those two letters emblazoned on the front and back might puzzle the casual observer, but to the Souderton girls’ basketball community, they’re deeply personal. They are the initials of former assistant coach Tom Welch, who lost his brief battle with bone cancer on Feb. 20, 2013.
On Tuesday night, the Indians will hold their annual Coaches vs. Cancer game when they take on neighboring North Penn. The evening will bring back a flood of memories of that cold February day when Souderton’s coaches and players came together after receiving word that their beloved coach, on the day of their second round district playoff game against North Penn, had passed away – just after a month after he had received the diagnosis.
“Thinking about the day he passed away is as gutwrenching now as it felt then to think about what we went through as a team that day and remembering the kids that just stepped up big time and how they rallied around one another and the coaches,” coach Lynn Carroll said. “There’s heartbreaking memories and wonderful memories that come along with it, and these games force you to really think and reflect on them, and I’m appreciative of that.
“Tom deserves the recognition, gosh he deserves the recognition. I’m proud to walk into the gym wearing TW bright and bold on my shirt. It’s a neat thing to see the girls doing.”
This year’s seniors were freshmen when Welch passed away.
“When we found out about (coach Welch), it was crazy,” senior Marissa Sandone said. “We knew him for a couple of months before we heard about the diagnosis, and then it was kind of a shock to everybody.
“When he passed away, we all came together as a team. I think it made everybody closer.”
Although it’s been almost three years since Welch has been gone, he is never far from the team’s memory. There’s a seat saved for him during games with a small seat cover bearing his initials, and during the National Anthem, there’s a space reserved for him between the coaches.
“In small ways, he continues to be part of our program,” Carroll said. “The Saturday (of the SOL Challenge) before we left for Council Rock North, we took a big team picture and texted it to (Welch’s wife) Sue, and she showed up at the game with a TW shirt on. He deserves to continue to be honored. It is the absolute least we can do.”
Since the SOL challenge, the team has worn their TW t-shirts – created by 2013 graduate Biance Picard - to every game.
“It’s been kind of nice to have someone to play for our whole four years, a purpose to play and go out each and every game and do it in memory of Mr. Welch,” senior Krista Schneider said.
The t-shirts the players have made for Tuesday’s game will include an additional set of initials – SW. Since June of 2015, Sue Welch has been waging her own battle with cancer, and after a brief remission, she just recently received the news it had returned.
“She’s our biggest fan,” senior Mia Sherer said. “You can always hear her screaming for us in the stands.
“After every game, even when we lose, she comes up to the bench behind us and says, ‘Good job.’ She is 
going through her own battle, and now we get to honor her too.”
“It’s nice having Sue at all our games,” Schneider said. “It’s great to be able to count on that one person to always be cheering us on and supporting us, whether we win or lose. She’s always there at the end of games.”
Welch can be counted on for a positive word, a hug and always a smile.
“In a large way, Tom continues to be part of the program because of Sue’s presence,” Carroll said. “She’s still in touch with the girls who have graduated. She’s one of a kind.”
And the Indians’ one-of-a-kind fan will be on the sidelines Tuesday night when Souderton plays its Coaches vs. Cancer game in memory of a coach whose memory remains a driving force.
*****
The 2015-16 season hasn’t exactly followed the script this year’s Souderton team had hoped. At least not on the court. The Indians are 7-13 (4-8 SOL) with two games remaining, but if it seems as though the players might be simply going through the motions, guess again.
“I can’t say enough about how impressed I am with our girls and the fact that they continue to go out and fight and try to get the next win,” coach Lynn Carroll said. “I think it’s easy to get dejected when you lose a lot of games. We have not won many, and it’s very easy to decide, ‘Let’s just be done with this.’ That’s not in their DNA. That’s not the kind of kids they are. They fight every night.”
The Indians have never lost their passion or determination, and on Monday, they avenged an early season loss to Pennridge. Carroll credited her three seniors – Marissa Sandone, Krista Schneider and Mia Sherer – for setting the tone and making the experience such a positive one.
“This is one of – if not the hardest working group I’ve had in 12 or 13 years,” Carroll said. “Whatever your expectations are as a coach, you need some help.
“You need some help making it an everyday occurrence, whether it be focus or work ethic, and these seniors have helped a great deal. They set an example on and off the court. Last year our off-the-court chemistry was not great. If you don’t have it off the court, it’s challenging to get it on the court, and these three seniors made the decision – and it was obvious – to really try and fix that.
“This is as close of a team as you would want your players to be. They just enjoy each other.”
The seniors point to their camaraderie as significant when the going gets tough.
“I think this is the first year we’ve all literally been best friends in a way, and I think it helps that we’re so close,” Sandone said. “We pick each other up.”
“We’re also a team – if we lose, we don’t care about that the next night,” Schneider said. “Hard work is what gets you the win, and we always earn every win we get.”
Win or lose, the players on this year’s squad communicate.
“After a loss or a good game, we have a team group chat with everyone in it,” Sherer said. “I remember after the Hatboro game, we all started texting and said, ‘We’re going to get the next one.’
“I think that’s why we’re not giving up because we’re all so close and we want to do well together. We’re there for each other.”
The seniors know they are in the final days of a journey they wouldn’t have wanted to miss.
“It’s definitely different because last year it was like, ‘Oh, we always have next year,’” Schneider said. “This is the last time I’ll ever play in a Souderton uniform, and it makes we want to make the most of every single game, every single practice and cherish everything.”
“Everything is our last,” Sherer said. “Our last time playing a team, our last time in a certain away gym.”
“For me, it’s sad, but it’s home here,” Sandone said. “It’s going to be different when I move on doing something else in my life.
“It’s not going to be the same without seeing these girls every day, playing with them on the court for how many months straight.”
The seniors will take with them countless memories, and they won’t be about games they won or lost. They’ll remember the team bonding – their trip to the beach last summer or their dinner together at Grub Burger last week.
And whether it’s the assistant coaches picking up the players and making them laugh after a tough loss or listening to an Eric Thomas motivational speech before games, this team has had a lot of good times together. And perhaps nowhere have they had more fun than on the bus rides to and from games.
“We always play music, laugh and joke around,” Schneider said. “Even if we lose, we still do that. It makes it fun whatever the outcome of the game.”
It’s a safe bet “Sunday Candy” will always evoke memories – the very best kind - of a team that made what could have been a difficult season an enjoyable one for everyone involved.
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