Cross Country, Swimming, Track & Field
Favorite athlete: Michael Phelps
Favorite team: Philadelphia Eagles
Favorite memory competing in sports: Having my teammates step up, come together supporting one another, and together overcoming the odds of that wild day to win the SOL division championship this year.
Most embarrassing/funniest thing that has happened while competing in sports: Going through the muddiest run of my life previewing the Hershey course at States, and telling everyone “Guys be careful don’t slip it’s really muddy here” and then I proceeded to completely wipe out.
Music on Playlist: Barmitzvah Party Hits, EDM, Rap, Hip-Hop, Pop, and lots of 2016 Summer Bops
Future plans: I hope to continue running in my future whether it be at a collegiate level or club, and I plan to pursue a career in Finance/Business Analytics.
Words to live by: “If not me, then who” - Travis Manion
“Success is not final; failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” - Winston Churchill
One goal before turning 30: I want to compete in the Kona Ironman Championships
One thing people don’t know about me: English isn’t my first language.
By GORDON GLANTZ
For some, success is measured by the ability to see the forest through the trees.
For others, there are no trees.
Just the forest.
And they have the enhanced wisdom to absorb and enjoy the view.
Take, for example, Council Rock South four-sport – repeat, four-sport -- athlete Andrew Belder.
Sitting atop the entire senior class with the maximum GPA, not much has been able to slow down the runner/swimmer.
Not growing up in a house where only Russian was spoken, as he considers it a blessing it – not a curse -- to be bilingual.
Not having asthma, putting him at a higher risk in the COVID era.
Not dealing with a mudslide at the PIAA state cross-country meet and coming away laughing about the havoc it wreaked.
And not even collapsing near the finish line of this year’s SOL division meet, and having to crawl to a fifth-place finish after always finishing first.
“I hadn’t lost to anyone, individually, up until that point,” recalled Belder. “I ended up collapsing about 10 meters before the finish line and crawling across the finish line. I either overly exerted myself, or had an off day, but I physically collapsed.”
When he awakened from being unconscious, he cared less about not finishing first, and more about costing the team.
He was never more proud to learn that his teammates still captured the flag.
“When I was brought back to consciousness, I thought I cost us the chance to win the league,” he said, adding that there is a YouTube video of the ordeal. “It ended up that our team was able to rally. We ended up still winning. Everyone else really stepped up.”
What made Belder most gratified was that his teammates were digging down deeper for him.
“They were all saying they really wanted to race for me, as a senior who was always pushing them,” he said. “They were so happy that they were able to come together and support me and get me a third league championship.
“I was incredibly proud of my teammates for being able to step up. That’s the mentality that I was always trying to foster – being there, and bringing each other up, no matter what the circumstances are.”
Leadership and Optimism
When it comes to leadership, Belder considers leading his team just as important as leading the pack in a race.
“I love to think of myself as a leader,” he said. “I think I have done that throughout my life. I think it’s comes naturally to me, and I’m thankful for that as well.”
For Belder’s coach, Paul Wilson, it was all a snapshot of who Belder is and what he has meant to the highly successful program.
Beyond his success -- a cross country career in which Belder was a SOL three-time first team performer and a two-time PIAA State qualifier, not to mention an important member of three league champion teams and teams that finished seventh in 2018 and eighth in 2019 at the PIAA State Championship meet – there is the leadership factor.
When the ugly head of COVID-19 was reared, it was Belder rallying the troops.
“Most significantly Andrew began preparing himself and the returning CR South cross country runners for the 2020 season shortly after last year's track season was canceled,” said Wilson, adding that this was long before the CRSD school board made the decision to support a return to extra-curricular activities, before the PIAA, District I and the SOL had decided to support a fall sports season.
Wilson added: “That to me is the definition of two extremely important characteristics of Andrew; leadership and optimism. Andrew convinced his team to practice while allowing them to believe that there would be a season to prepare for.”
Inspired to Swim
Diagnosed with asthma at a young age, Belder’s parents – Lev and Irene, both of whom came to the U.S. after the fall of the Iron Curtain and met at George Washington High School in Northeast Philadelphia – had him start swimming (same for his brothers, Josh and Steven, who also have it).
“At the age of 7, and my older brother, at 9, we started swimming,” said Belder, who added that his father had played just about every sport under the moon except running or swimming.
In the meantime, Belder found an idol in an Olympic hero, Michael Phelps.
“I idolized him from a young age,” said Belder, who hopes to compete in top-level Triathlons one day. “He really made swimming popular. He won all those medals back in the day. I remember watching him in the Olympics, winning all those medals in 2008 and 2012. I had a big picture of him on my wall. I just thought what he accomplished was incredible. I strive to work hard and achieve incredible heights.”
Swimming turned into more than just something to do build up wind.
When cross country season ended, he hit the natatorium for the school swim team while also running indoor track. In the spring, of course, he will be on the outdoor track team.
How does he fit it all in? When does he sleep?
“It’s definitely tough, schedule-wise,” said Belder, who has been a DJ, when possible, at Bar Mitzvahs and some weddings before COVID came into play. “It all takes up a lot of time. It’s important that I get enough rest, particularly on the weekends.”
As for his mental breaks, Belder has carved out an interesting niche that would make Allen Iverson cringe: Practice.
“Practice is really a fun time for me,” said Belder, who wanted to thank all his friends, teammates or not, for supporting him. “It’s my time to spend with friends and to relax for a little bit away from my studies.”
“I feel like I have reached a good balance now between studying and taking good care of my body.”
The Next Leg
Just as Belder feels like he is competing against himself to get better in athletics, the same is true in the classroom.
“I don’t focus on the competition or anything,” said Belder, who is always willing to help a friend, teammate or just a fellow student, with schoolwork. “That’s not how I am. I just focus on being the best person I can be.
“I just try to do my best and be my best.”
As for the next level, as far as running is concerned, there are many options.
“It depends where I go to school,” he said about competing at the next level. “I may try to walk on.”
His No. 1 choice is M.I.T., which competes at the Division III but has a notoriously strong track program.
Penn’s Wharton School, NYU and Temple’s Fox Business School are all under serious consideration.
“Once I hear back, I’ll have some decisions to make,” said Belder, who expressed gratitude to all his beloved grandparents, three of which are still living, for making their way to America for a better life. “I really love technology and math. I’m really a nerdy guy. Going to M.I.T. would really be a dream come true.”
And it would be a dream well-earned with hard work.
“Academics have always been my first priority, even before sports,” said Belder. “Even though I’m super involved with sports and really love sports and sports are such an integral part of my life, school has still been the priority. That means that, if I have to take a day off from practice to study for test, I’ll do that.”
Belder currently takes five AP classes. He took four as a junior and several as a sophomore.
“Sometimes I look back and wonder how I do it,” he said. “I really don’t have much free time. I just enjoy the grind – making the most out of every minute and getting the next thing done.”
Not Just Words
Belder said he was moved to action the by sister of Travis Manion, an area student-athlete from La Salle High School who was killed in Iraq, when she came to visit his grade school. He was inspired by, and has tried to live by, Manion's motto of “If not me, then who?” ever since.
“I heard that first in sixth grade,” he recalled of the same year a gym teacher told him try running in a 5K. “She told us a story, and I still remember it. Before he went out for his last mission, he said, 'It could either be me or it could be someone who is less experienced.'"
Belder said he took that as his “calling.”
He added: “If I’m not the one to help a friend, if I’m not the one to uplift the people around me, If I’m not the one to pick up this piece of trash … then someone else may not do it as well or may not even do it all. The people around me won’t get better if I don’t step up and take action. It’s been the driving force in my life.”
Belder, it goes without saying, is heavily involved in the Travis Manion Foundation (www.travismanion.org).
That translated to involvement in a 5K run, with 100 runners, that raised $3,500.
“It’s a nonprofit organization that I put a lot of time into to help,” he said. “It means a lot to me that they are veterans who sacrificed so much. I’m inspired by them, and I want to share their inspiration with others.”
Belder’s outside activities don’t end there.
He’s now the vice president of the school’s Future Business Leaders of America chapter, Mathletes (team captain) and a wildly lauded Robotics team.
“You can always achieve more,” he said. “Success is not final. Just because you accomplish something, it doesn’t mean there is not something more left to accomplish. Just because you’ve conquered one mountain, it doesn’t mean that there isn’t a bigger mountain to conquer.”
One example would be when he beat his own trainer, Eric Bofinger, in a local 5K.
“I’m a perfectionist,” said Belder, “but I seek excellence and keep trying to improve myself and get better and better.”
