Varsity swimmer and water polo player, PAC swim team coach, and lifeguard, Myla Matusek is one of those people who is good at everything she touches, but not by chance. Matusek has the type of positive mindset that makes her an asset to any team, club, or organization she joins. As a junior in high school, Matusek has been a full varsity water polo player for two of the three years she’s played and has been one of the high point scorers on the swim team for both seasons she’s completed. Matusek made Honorable-Mention All-Conference team as a sophomore and 3rd Team All-Conference as a junior. Both years she has been on the highest team of any junior on the team. Second by one goal to a senior who has had a full season more than her, Matusek has the second most career goals on the team. These accomplishments paint the picture of the type of success Myla has as an athlete, but she brings so much more to her teams than her skill in the pool.
Outside of the pool, Matusek brings positivity and laughter everywhere she goes. Her boyfriend and teammate Henry Hufnagle says, “one of my favorite things about Myla is her personality. It makes her a good athlete and a better teammate.” Matusek herself said, “giving up never helped anyone win, so I never give up.” Matusek is willing to put the effort in to get herself where she wants to be, and it shows. She has a work ethic that makes her stand out as an athlete, and does her best to encourage her team to work just as hard. “One person can’t win for an entire team. It doesn’t matter how good our strongest player is if the rest of the team doesn’t care, which is why Pennridge has been able to have success. We all care,” Matusek said. Hufnagle remembered a moment where Matusek’s personality showed, “Myla is actually really really good at Just Dance. She knows half the dances and sometimes just breaks out into them before games or during weight room. Every single time, the entire team is laughing and smiling because she has this energy to her that makes it impossible not to.” Matusek keeps the morale of the team high, even when her times aren’t what she wants them to be or the score doesn’t reflect what she wants to see. Hufnagle said, “I remember one time I was watching the girls team from the bench and they were down by five at half-time against North Penn. Myla swam in to the wall and turned to the team, most of them disheartened or frustrated, and said ‘we’re down by five. So what? Being down doesn’t mean we stop trying. We need to keep our heads high’ and the entire team went into the second half with their chins up.” Matusek knows how to persevere even when its hard. Matusek’s weight room coach, Coach Henry Hufnagle, said, “Myla isn’t a slacker. She never skips a set, she never skips stretching, she just always puts her full effort into anything she does.” During her swim season, Matusek took seconds off her 100-yard freestyle over the course of her sophomore season, which is wildly impressive when her time was fast to start with. “Myla cares so much which is a really good thing to mix with the talent and work ethic she has. It’s led to a lot of success,” Coach Hufnagle said. Matusek hopes to keep her current trajectory going for swim season this year and her last waterpolo and swim seasons next year. Outside of sports, Matusek shines coaching the younger swimmers on PAC Club swim team. Hufnagle said, “sometimes we’ll be walking around at a meet and like eight of them [the kids] will come running up to her to hug her. When they have a bad race she’s the first person they go to. She’s a natural role model and it really shows when she’s coaching.” Matusek is the kind of influence that makes everyone she is around want to be their best self.
Matusek has character that allows her to continue to succeed and push others to success and for that reason, there are no doubts that she will continue on her current trajectory. She plans to continue to set high goals for herself and hold herself and her team to a high standard. Myla Matusek is not only a stand-out athlete, but also a force on her teams that helps show the value of hard work and a positive mindset. She has and continues to show that success is not only an individual achievement, but a team effort that she leads by example.
