2022 Daily Chronicle Female Athlete of the Year: Sycamore’s Faith Feuerbach

From a volleyball season that earned her all-area honors, a basketball season that went far into the post season and included an individual Class 3A 3-point shootout championship, to her final season in track, her family’s legacy sport, Faith Feuerbach had a busy, standout senior year for Sycamore.

Because of her accomplishments and ability Feuerbach was named the 2022 Daily Chronicle Female Athlete of the Year.

“I think it went the best it could have,” Feuerbach said. “We had a great volleyball team. I know we lost in the regional championship, but we took second in conference and played really well together. Basketball-wise, obviously, we won sectionals and went really far in the postseason. That team was just really, really special. That was just something else. Track is more individual I guess, but as a team we did well, and it was really fun to be able to PR a few times and set new goals for myself.”

Feuerbach averaged 15.7 points per game and shot 41.1% from 3-point range to help the Spartans reach the round of eight in the Class 3A girls basketball playoffs. She also won a 3-point shootout title and was named the Daily Chronicle’s 2022 Girls Basketball Player of the Year.

She committed to play basketball at St. Thomas (Minnesota) in its first year as an NCAA Division I program. Even with her future on the court, she said she never thought about giving up the other two sports.

“Basketball is my main focus, that’s what I’m playing in [college], and that’s what I enjoy,” Feuerbach said. “But volleyball is just fun for me to play. The girls on the team make it fun, and the game itself is enjoyable. Same with track. It’s fun to work at. So it never crossed my mind to just do one sport.”

Sycamore track coach Joe McCormick called it the end of an era for him, saying he’s had a Feuerbach on his team for the better part of a decade. Feuerbach comes from a family throwers that includes an Olympian in Al Feuerbach, and the family has a throwing pit at their house.

McCormick said he was grateful for the chance to coach her.

“She’s a fantastic thrower, fantastic athlete, fantastic young lady,” McCormick said. “She’s really motivated, strong, coachable. The whole package. What more is there to say really?”

Volleyball coach Jennifer Charles said Feuerbach came into the program and wanted to be a setter to be more involved in the team’s offense. And over her four years she did become a big piece of the puzzle.

“It was unreal. I don’t know how else to explain it,” Feuerbach said. “It was something so special. I think our relationship off the court is what set us apart from other teams. Other teams are close, but we just meshed well and got along well off the court, and that just kind of transported onto the court. And you could tell by the way we played we knew what each other brought and what our roles were.”

Charles said Feuerbach was a great role model.

“We always teased Faith that if she ever got tired of playing basketball, she could definitely go somewhere and play volleyball and do really well for any team she would play for,” Charles said. “Just because her determination to do well – she was never the player who just wanted to play the sport. She wanted to play the sport and do well at the sport.”

Sycamore girls basketball coach Adam Wickness said Feuerbach recently spoke to some incoming freshman about variety of topics, including what it takes to be a three-sport athlete, time management and other topics.

Not even a couple weeks removed from graduating high school and having that level of introspection, Wickness said, shows exactly how special an athlete Feuerbach is.

“One of the things she talked about was somehow being a threat, whether it’s a threat to score, a threat to get a rebound, a threat to make a play on defense,” Wickness said. “When you step on the floor you always want to be a threat, and I thought that was a great message for our freshmen to hear. It’s awesome to see someone that young to have that kind of perspective where she can already reflect on the things she learned from her high school experience.”

So even though parts of her sophomore and most of her junior year were interrupted by COVID-19 mitigations, she really enjoyed her career as a Spartan.

“I had a very positive experience here,” Feuerbach said. “I’m definitely going to miss it. Obviously, I’m excited for college, but I really enjoyed my time here. Yeah, the COVID years were really weird, but I’m glad I was able to have a really normal senior year. That was probably the one year I wanted most normal, and that was what I got. So that was really nice.”