Swimming
Favorite athlete: Missy Franklin
Favorite team: My team (The Hatters)
Most embarrassing/funniest thing that has happened while competing in sports: Sophomore year when I was swimming a 500, I was really circle swimming so my coach held up a hula hoop to correct me.
Music on playlist: I listen to a lot of different types of music but right now my favorite song to listen to before races is “Enter Sandman” by Metallica.
Future plans: Next fall I will be attending Bloomsburg University to major in Early Childhood Education and continue swimming.
Words to live by: “It is not about being the best, it’s about being better than you were yesterday” - Jigoro Kan
One goal before turning 30: Become an elementary school teacher and continue my love for swimming by becoming a swim coach.
One thing people don’t know about me: I love binge watching my favorite shows like Gilmore Girls and Grey’s Anatomy.
By GORDON GLANTZ
Some athletes are born, and others are made.
Hatboro Horsham senior swimmer Megan Luddecke is in the latter group, and she is proud to admit it.
“As a freshman, when I first came to the team, I barely made districts,” said Luddecke. “I think I was seeded last or second last.”
She will now go into districts seeded first in an event, the 200 freestyle.
“It’s crazy that I’m seeded first in something this year,” said Luddecke, who didn’t join the Hatters as a club team superstar, instead coming up through the YMCA system, but she was quickly accepted by her high school teammates.
Now, instead of the Eagles or the Phillies, the Hatters will live forever in her heart as her favorite team.
“When I came onto the team in my freshman year, everyone else on the team already kind of knew each other,” she recalled. “They swam for the same club team, while I swam for the Y. I didn’t really know anyone, but it wasn’t really hard for me to get to know people. Everyone was really friendly, and they became my friends really quickly.”
Among Luddecke’s biggest fans is her coach, Kip Emig.
“She has been our team since she was freshman, and she has just blossomed,” he said. “She’s just a hard worker and a good kid. She is one of those kids who you see in sports who just took to the training. She works hard and wants to get better. She puts all of her effort into it and it’s great. It’s been great to watch.”
Leadership Skills
Luddecke, a captain, has shared her unique work ethic with her teammates. She is generally the first in the pool for the practice and the last out of it.
“She’s a leader by example,” said Emig. “She’s not that much of an outspoken kind of a kid. She is quiet and semi-introverted, but her work ethic is just out of sight. She’s always putting the work in, and I think she maybe gets a little bit frustrated when other kids don’t work.”
The proof is in several state gold medals in relays to her credit, after first making states in one relay as a freshman.
“Everything she has gotten, she has earned for herself, which is kind of cool,” said Emig. “She’s a dedicated swimmer. She was always staying after practice and asking questions, and going back in the pool. She was constantly showing up early and staying late. She was really good with that kind of stuff.”
Luddecke added that being a captain is a role she has taken seriously.
“This year, I have been trying to get really good at - even if I didn’t have the best race, I’m still trying to encourage other people to have the best race they can instead of thinking about what I could have done better,” she explained. “It encourages me in my own events, too.
“We will have pep talks and stuff at the beginning of meets with (Emig), and usually the seniors will chime in and say stuff and try to give something they learned throughout the years for them to relate to.”
Back to the Future
Primarily a backstroke specialist, Luddecke has shown her versatility by adding the 100 and 200 freestyle for the postseason, in addition to a pair of relays.
She is geared up for districts next weekend and states in the middle of March.
“She has gotten that good,” said Emig. “If things go right, she can be an interesting kind of a swimmer. She can do it all. She switched up her events for her senior year. I think she was a little bit nervous about it at first, but we talked about it and she is going to do those two different events – along with the other events.
“It’s nice to coach a kid who is so versatile. I can put her anywhere in the lineup.”
If there was any apprehension at first, it appears to be gone, as Luddecke is up to the challenge.
“We thought this year that I would have a better chance in 100 free than in the backstroke,” she said.
Setting Goals
Luddecke’s mother (Tricia Luddecke) and grandmother are educators and she longs to follow in their footsteps and go into elementary education.
“I wanted to be a teacher ever since I was little, because my mom used to be a college professor and now she works at an elementary school near our house,” said Luddecke, who also wanted to thank her dad, Kurt, and younger brother, Jared, a freshman on the HH team.
“I would go to my mom’s classes when I was little. I would watch her teach, and it was cool to see the impression she made on her students”
Emig – and some other HH coaches (Michael McBryan, Dan McBryan and Belinda Hedden) – have had such a positive impact on Luddecke that she also aspires to being a swim coach herself.
“(Emig) has made the biggest impression on me,” she said. “He really shows you that he cares, which is a big deal. If you can see that someone really believes in you and really cares, then you can start believing in yourself more.”
Luddecke will pursue her goals, including as a swimmer, at Bloomsburg University.
“I knew that I wanted to stay close to home for college,” said Luddecke, who gets solid grades with a lot of honors classes. “I started to reach out to a couple of schools that I could talk to about being on their team.
“They have a really good program. It is developing nicely and getting better. The team atmosphere, and the coaching staff, is really great, too. I just felt that was a good place to go.”
She made the decision in October, prior to the season, and is glad she got it out of the way.
“It has been really helpful,” said Luddecke. “I had been talking to Bloomsburg for a while. In the beginning of the school year, I went on my visit. Being able to pick it before my season got up and running has been really helpful because I didn’t have to stress and worry about where I was gonna go.”
While he believes Luddecke has Division I talent, Emig likes her future at Bloomsburg.
“I’m looking forward to seeing what she does in college,” said Emig. “She is the kind of a kid who is going to go to college and just get even better.
“She is kind of a late bloomer. She has done some pretty incredible things, but she has really taken off this year. Her times are putting her into that D1 category, so it will be interesting to see what she does at Bloomsburg.”
Lueddecke sees herself blossoming at the college level as well.
“Considering the growth that I have had this year mentally, it will just get better from here on out,” she said.
After coaching her for four years, Emig admits that it is going to be a strange feeling not coaching Luddecke next year.
“I’m definitely going to miss her,” he said. “She wasn’t the most talented kid growing up. She has earned it all.
“She has earned my trust over the years, too, and I’m pretty sure that I earned hers.”
