SuburbanOneSports.com recognizes a male and female featured athlete each week. The awards, sponsored by Univest, are given to seniors of good character who are students in good standing that have made significant contributions to their teams. Selections are based on nominations received from coaches, athletic directors and administrators.
Univest’s SuburbanOneSports.com Featured Female Athlete for week of Feb. 4, 2020
Abby Jones is something close to a coach’s dream. Listening to her coaches tell it, the Council Rock North senior is the very definition of a good teammate and captain. “Abby has had her ups and downs this season, but it never affects the way she interacts with people,” North basketball coach Jim Roynan said. “I’ve never seen her yell at a teammate, I’ve never once seen her criticize a teammate. I’ve seen her talk to teammates, but it’s always been in a supportive, positive way. It’s something as a coach you want to instill in your team, but you’re never sure how it’s going to play out because of the different personalities involved, but it’s never been an issue with Abby.”
“Abby is a great role model,” North volleyball coach Michael Adams said. “She is the perfect captain who leads verbally and by example. She makes others around her better just being herself on and off the court.”
Jones, a captain of both her volleyball and basketball squads, had some misgivings entering her final high school basketball season. That’s hardly a surprise considering Jones would be the lone returning senior on a squad that included one other senior who had not played last year, two juniors with the remainder freshmen and sophomores. “I did think to myself – ‘Do I want to do this? This is going to be frustrating,’” Jones said. “Now looking back on it, if I didn’t do it, I would have been mad at myself. I would definitely go back and do it again – 100 percent.”
That’s not to say it’s been easy. Jones, a four-year varsity player, was part of 60 wins and two conference championships during her first three years with the program. This year, the Indians won just five of 22 games, results that were decidedly unexpected to the senior captain. “I just thought we might lose to Pennsbury and Neshaminy,” Jones said of the conference’s top two squads. “Coming in and losing to other teams and we lost all of our games at the (holiday tournament) at the shore – it kind of took my breath away a bit.” Roynan entered his first season at the helm with no illusions. “Council Rock North girls’ basketball has been very successful, and it was really important that she and I get on the same page about what we expected from the season, what I thought Abby’s influence would be for the team and how that would impact not only this year but set a tone for a young team going forward,” the Indians’ coach said. Despite the difficulties, Jones wouldn’t have wanted to miss the experience. “Now that the season is basically over - looking back, I grew so much as a person and I learned so many life lessons outside of basketball,” she said. “It helped me grow and will help me handle situations in the future.”
It’s hardly a surprise that Jones is looking toward a career in teaching. “If you know Abby, it fits her perfectly,” Roynan said. “We had a clinic for the girls from Upper Makefield Basketball, and we probably had 30 or 40 girls. It was a good night. Abby was with the younger girls, and just watching her interact with the younger kids – they really gravitated to her. At the end of the clinic, I brought the girls together and said, ‘Hey, we really had a great time with you and I want to thank all of our players for showing you how to play basketball. By the way, we’re having Senior Night next week, and Abby is our only returning senior. We’re having a big celebration,’ and they all cheered for her. Just in that short period of time, the girls were able to see what kind of person she is, knowing she’s going to be successful because she’s that kind of person.” Jones plans to major in Early Elementary Education/Special Education and is deciding between West Chester and West Virginia.
To read Jones’ complete profile, please click on the following link: https://www.suburbanonesports.com/featured-athletes/female/abby-jones-0089686
Univest’s SuburbanOneSports.com Featured Male Athlete for week of Feb. 4, 2020
When Beau Woollens crumpled to the floor during a Jan. 10 game against Plymouth Whitemarsh, Sean Feeley’s heart immediately sank. Here was the toughest player Feeley had ever coached writhing in pain on the hardwood, a kid so tough that he almost seemed indestructible. Woollens — all 5-foot-6 of him — only knows one speed at which to play the game of basketball, and that is hard and fast. He had avoided major injury before despite some close calls: there was the broken nose Woollens’ sustained his sophomore season against Quakertown, elbowed so hard in the face that Feeley said blood poured from the point guard’s face like a waterfall. Then there was last season against Abington, when Woollens fearlessly tried to take on either Eric Dixon or Lucas Monroe — Feeley can’t remember who — by charging right at one of the much taller players in the lane and ended up going airborne before coming down hard on his shoulder.
Which is what makes what happened during that PW game so hard for Feeley and the Upper Moreland hoops team to swallow. Their hard-nosed, tough as nails point guard with the shoulder-length brown hair always got back up after he fell. Until he didn’t. Woollens had torn multiple ligaments in his right knee on a play like so many others he had run as the team’s point guard and primary ball-handler. With surgery scheduled for later this month, Woollens’ season and basketball career at Upper Moreland vanished in the literal blink of an eye. Woollens is about as gritty and tough as they come, but this cruel twist of fate gutted even him. “It’s been horrible, honestly,” he said. “Right when it happened, it was killing me. I was in so much pain. I was just driving down the court like any other time I drive and it bent in and my leg just folded. I heard the pop, and right away I knew it was bad. I couldn’t even get up to walk off the court.”
Luckily for Upper Moreland, Woollens is as resilient as he is strong, and it didn’t take the senior very long to shift his focus toward turning this horrific occurrence into a positive. Even though his right knee was mangled and broken, he could still be an asset to his team. Feeley gushed about Woollens’ basketball IQ, so the kid could still help the team finish strong, even if he was sitting on the bench instead of standing at center court with the ball in his hands. “You worry about any kid after tearing everything in the knee,” Feeley said. “I couldn’t be happier and prouder of him in how he’s handled things since the injury. It’s about how you respond, and he’s still there every day helping the kids go through their progressions and coaching them up. I’m just so proud of the young man he’s become.” Feeley said Woollens sees the game with such a mature, intelligent eye that the coach often finds himself repeating things Woollens has said on the bench to the rest of the team during a timeout. And much to Woollens and Upper Moreland’s credit, they have not let the devastating knee injury derail their season in the slightest. Since the PW game, the Bears have gone 6-3, with their record sitting at 14-5 overall and 7-5 in SOL American Conference play.
It was Woollens’ goal to play college basketball somewhere before his injury, and that goal remains the same. Feeley said he’s talked to coaches at the Division-III level about Woollens, and the coach has been harping on his star player that he absolutely has what it takes to play on the next level, even post-injury. “I would never count that kid out, even with the injury,” Feeley said. “If he wants to play, it would be no shock to me at all, even after all the rehab he has in front of him.” Woollens also thinks a lot about coaching basketball in the not-too-distant future. He has an insatiable thirst and knowledge for the game, and these last few weeks have proven to him that he might be good at this whole coaching thing.
To read Woollens’ complete profile, please click on the following link: https://www.suburbanonesports.com/featured-athletes/male/beau-woollens-0089684
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