BY MARK ZIMMARO
(PHOTOS BY MARK ZIMMARO)
For most of her life, Brooke Forester had been head and shoulders above the rest. This includes her twin brother.
“My brother Chase is 6-4 now but when we were younger, I was always a full head taller than him,” said Forester, a Langhorne resident. “Then he just grew one day. Now I feel short, but I know I’m tall.”
Brooke is listed at 6-foot-1, but it’s not just her height that makes her a standout on the volleyball court. The Conwell-Egan High School senior has all the tools that make her one of the best players in the Philadelphia Catholic League.
“She’s a natural athlete,” first-year Conwell-Egan coach Sori Perez said. “She’s great to be around and she’s a great team leader. She really knows the game.”
Forester has a deep background in the game, playing for the Princeton Volleyball Club which competes in national tournaments. Her knowledge of the game is even deeper, but Forester said it was tough sometimes speaking up, despite most of her Conwell-Egan teammates not having the same background. Most of her teammates primarily played other sports.
Photo by Mark Zimmaro
“It was kind of hard freshman and sophomore year because I didn’t want to speak up,” Forester said. “I didn’t want to seem like a know-it-all. But as I’ve grown up and gotten older and matured, you realize you just want to help everyone. I would just tell people position-wise, maybe to move up and I’ll get the deep ball. Just the little stuff. It’s easy now because everyone knows and everyone has gotten better in the last four years. It’s so great to see how everyone has improved so much.”
Photo by Mark Zimmaro
Conwell-Egan used to be an easy game on opposing teams’ schedules. Not anymore. A program that went a combined 3-33 between 2016-2018 in PCL play is now one of the elite teams in the league.
The Eagles got a taste of playoff action in 2021 after a 5-5 season. In 2022, they went 7-3 and won a quarterfinal playoff match. Last year they put a program-best eight PCL wins in their ledger.
“Every year, I saw them get better and start to compete,” said Perez, who coached previously at PCL rival St. Hubert. “Before Bill (Anderson) took over the program, they really weren’t winning any games but he slowly built a program. They started winning districts. But now I want them to win a PCL.”
After four matches, the Eagles are one of four undefeated teams, along with Archbishop Carroll, Archbishop Wood and Cardinal O’Hara. They defeated defending champ Lansdale Catholic on Sept. 19 in four sets.
“We’ve definitely had an uprising since my freshman year,” Forester said. “It’s all starting to come together and I think now we can use what we have and take it somewhere.”
Forester received Second-Team All-Catholic honors last season, which actually came after a bit of a position change.
“When I started playing volleyball, I got thrown in the middle, because that’s where the tallest player usually goes,” Forester said. “That’s what I’ve always been doing. But going into my junior year, we lost two of our outside hitters so I started playing outside for school but still middle for club.”
Photo by Mark Zimmaro
She’s proved that she can play both positions seamlessly. Forester recently achieved her 500th career kill and her 200th career block in a Conwell-Egan uniform. She has committed to play at West Chester University next year, where she plans to study psychology. Whether in the classroom or on the volleyball court, Forester is always eager to learn.
“She’s been here four years and she knows the game, but she’s still willing to learn,” Perez said. “Whatever we ask, she’s willing to do it, even if it’s something that’s going to change how she plays. She’s willing to do it for her team, which is pretty awesome, because you don’t always get that from seniors. Seniors sometimes think they know it all.”
Forester does know she has a talented team that could be on the verge of something special.
"I think we want to go out and do what we know we can do as a team,” Forester said. “Our coach says we are the team to beat.”
Perez stands confident in her squad.
Photo by Mark Zimmaro
“PCL champs or at least compete for it,” Perez said of the team’s goals. “We have the team, we have the players. I tell them you have to believe in yourself. You’re the best team out there. Believe it. Now everyone is coming for us, which is a good feeling. I stepped into a good situation here and I want to take them to that next level.”
Conwell-Egan volleyball has become the hot squad around campus. Maybe even Forester’s baseball star brother will be in the stands at a match soon.
“I go to his games,” Brooke said. “He really doesn’t come to mine. He’s missing out. I keep telling him.”