A-C Valley’s Maddy Dehart Taps Plenty of Sources to Power Her Early Success in Sports

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PARKER, Pa. (EYT/D9) — When Maddy Dehart is feeling down or unsure of herself or is reeling from a particularly hard-to-deal-with defeat, she thinks of a quote from her favorite movie.

The Lion King.

“The past can hurt. The way I see it, you can either run from it, or learn from it.”

Dehart has always chose to learn from it.

(Pictured above, Maddy Dehart/submitted photos)

Dehart burst into the limelight at A-C Valley last year as a freshman and burgeoning star in three sports: volleyball, basketball and softball.

She had strong seasons in all three.

Redbank Valley, Keystone, and Union/A-C Valley sports coverage on Explore and D9Sports.com is brought to you by Heeter Lumber.

With her size — Dehart is 5-foot-9 — she was a valuable part of a rotation at the net for the Falcons.

On the basketball court for a young team that had a thin roster, Dehart averaged 7.8 points and 5.9 rebounds per game.

On the softball diamond this spring, Dehart batted .463 and showed a good eye at the plate.

Dehart also has a secret that has helped her succeed.

To get pumped up for games, she thinks of all the things that irk her and channels that anger and frustration to take it out on her unwitting opponents.

She doesn’t have to dig too deep to find fuel for that fire.

Her younger brother, Dawson, tends to provide her with plenty of material.

As with most siblings, Dawson frequently gets under Maddy’s skin. That’s an ample source of fire for her fury.

“I think about when my brother makes me super mad,” Dehart said, laughing.

Dehart doesn’t just rely on her brother’s bothersome antics to get her motivated for games.

Music does that for her, too.

But not the typical music for a high school sophomore these days.

No Taylor Swift here. Dehart is no Swiftie. No Justin Bieber, either. She’s not a Belieber. No hip-hop or rap, either.

Nope. It’s more throwback fare.

Rock n’ roll from the 1980s and 90s. The heavier the better.

Stuff like Metallica. AC/DC.

When Dehart listens to Metallica’s “Enter Sandman,” she can’t help but get fired up.

“It gets me so pumped up for games,” she said. “I’ve always loved the 80s and 90s. I’ve always loved watching movies from that time and listening to music from that time. I loved their music so much. I just feel like I was born in the wrong era.”

THE DEHART FILE

NAME: Maddy Dehart

SCHOOL: A-C Valley

YEAR: Sophomore

SPORTS: Volleyball, basketball and softball

2022-23 HIGHLIGHTS: Emerged as a burgeoning star in all three sports; turned in a strong softball campaign for the Falcons.

Q: What is the most valuable less you’ve learned while playing sports?

A: From playing three sports, (I’ve learned) how to succeed by overcoming failure while learning from my mistakes.

Q: Is there another athlete who has mentored you and what was the biggest thing he/she taught you?

A: ACV graduate Cami McNany is my biggest role model. For my favorite sport, softball, she was a catcher and inspired me to be one. She taught me how to bat, and we worked on catching drills all the time. To this day, I still look up to her and someday hope to be just like her as a softball player.

Q: What’s the biggest thing you learned from her?

A: Everything. I learned my batting form from her. How to catch a softball from her. We used to do drills all the time. She definitely made me the softball player I am today, I think.

Q: What are your goals in sports?

A: To improve after every game and make memories doing it.

Q: If you could be another player for a week, who would you be and why?

A: (Recent Keystone graduate and softball standout) Natalie Bowser because she is an amazing person and player. I think all athletes should look up to her.

Q: What’s your favorite movie and why?

A: (Chuckling) Grown Ups 1 and 2.

Q: Really? That’s different.

A: I could watch those two movies a million times and never get sick of it. I just love all the actors in it and it just never fails to make me laugh.

Q: Obviously you also like Disney movies since you use a quote from The Lion King as a mantra?

A: Yes, I watch The Lion King a lot. Disney movies are definitely one of my favorite things. That quote is a good rule to live by.

Redbank Valley, Keystone, and Union/A-C Valley sports coverage on Explore and D9Sports.com is brought to you by Heeter Lumber.