Basketball, Lacrosse
Favorite athlete: Steph Curry
Favorite team: Virginia Tech Hokies
Favorite memory competing in sports: Winning the league and cutting down the nets after our East vs West game two years in a row
Most embarrassing/funniest thing that has happened while competing in sports: Accidentally scoring on the wrong goal in middle school
Music on playlist: House and summer music
Future plans: Attend Virginia Tech and study Business
Words to live by: “Work hard, stay humble, be kind.”
One goal before turning 30: Travel to Italy and Greece
One thing people don’t know about me: I’ve never broken a bone
By Mary Jane Souder
Natalie Berndt – affectionately known as Nat to some – could safely be called something of an unsung hero. Sounds pretty ordinary until you get to know the Central Bucks East senior, who excels in both basketball and lacrosse.
Berndt was oh-so-close to reaching the elusive 1,000-point plateau, finishing just 30 points shy. Adding the East senior’s name to the banner would certainly have been well-deserved, but Berndt’s legacy is not in the points she scored – although she did score plenty in a stellar four-year varsity career.
Rather, her calling card was on the defensive end, and it was the combination of both that resulted in Berndt earning first team All-SOL Colonial selection by opposing coaches this past winter.
Roll back the calendar to East’s 55-41 win over Downingtown East in a battle of two of District 1 6A’s top-ranked squads on Jan. 24.
“We played at home, and I think we were two in the district (rankings) and they were three or four, and it was a big game for us,” East coach Liz Potash said. “We had her on Charlotte Aldridge, who is one of their top scorers. It was a good matchup for Nat.”
Just how good is evidenced by the fact that Berndt held Aldridge to just six points in East’s double-digit win.
“Ed Holzer did a lot of scouting for us this year, and he scouted Downingtown East,” Potash said of the former Souderton assistant, who previously was the head coach at Gwynedd Mercy Academy. “I thought it would be a lot closer game. Nat just absolutely shut her down, so after the game, Ed came into the hallway outside our locker room and said. ‘Oh man, tell Nat, I just love watching a kid that can defend.’
“I said – ‘You know what – you tell Nat.’ I walked into the locker room and I said, ‘Come back out here. This is Ed – he wanted me to tell you something, but I just want you to hear it from him.’ He just raved about her defense and how much he loves when he sees someone playing defense, how it’s not appreciated. It was awesome. I’m tired of saying it, so it was cool when she heard it from someone else.”
On the lacrosse field, Berndt is yet another player whose numbers do not tell the story – although her numbers are impressive. She recently surpassed the 100-point mark for her career in lacrosse where she is a four-year starter.
“She is a very unselfish player,” East coach Kelly Tait said. “She definitely looks for the assist before she looks for the goal.
“She’s a captain this year, and she’s a great captain. She’s got leadership skills. She’s quiet, so she’s not in your face or a hype-you-up type of person, but she just leads by a great example. She’s respectful, and she’s kind. She’s just the kindest, nicest person you would want to meet.”
Choosing kindness
In an era where it’s easy – when describing someone – to use words like ‘great’ or ‘awesome,’ kind is not a word thrown around a whole lot.
ChatGPT (personal communication) has its own explanation for that: “Calling someone kind is more personal than saying they’re ‘smart’ or funny.’ It signals you’ve paid attention to how they treat people. The irony is that when someone does call a person ‘kind,’ it usually lands stronger precisely because it’s rare and specific.”
Rare but not when Berndt’s high school coaches talk about their senior captain with Potash insisting that even kind ‘doesn’t seem strong enough.’
“What makes Nat truly remarkable is her character,” the East coach said. “She is a selfless teammate, a natural leader, and someone who connects effortlessly with both peers and adults.
“She leads with empathy, shaped by personal challenges she has faced and grown from and consistently demonstrates resilience, respect and integrity. She embodies sportsmanship, dedication and inclusiveness and is an outstanding role model within our school community.”
The East senior has certainly faced her share of challenges, none bigger than when her father, Jon Berndt, lost his courageous battle with cancer Sept. 1, 2021, as she was entering eighth grade. For many years, he had served in the dual role of father and coach, and his influence was profound.
“He definitely set a work hard mindset,” the senior captain said. “He would always say, ‘Work ethic beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard,’ but also being kind to everyone along the way. I feel like that’s definitely something I’ve brought with me.”
Back to the beginning
Berndt grew up in a ‘sports family.’ She briefly played soccer, but basketball – a passion she shared with older brother Kyle – was always at the top of the list.
“Basketball is definitely my first love,” she said. “Just playing in the driveway every day with my brother – just doing drills with him was always my favorite.
“He’s now 6-something, so it was definitely a challenge. I feel as though I learned to just be tough and use my quickness against him.”
Natalie got her start playing intramural basketball in first or second grade with CBAA and joined the travel circuit with her dad as coach in third grade through eighth grade. From there, it was on to the AAU circuit.
Lacrosse entered the picture in middle school, and Berndt was immediately hooked, also joining the club circuit – most recently - with Team 11 Lacrosse.
“I loved to play both sports, and I didn’t really focus on one per se,” she said.
Berndt made an immediate impact in both sports, but Potash knew Berndt long before she stepped onto the court at East.
“She started coming to our basketball camps since she was seven or eight years old,” the East basketball coach said. “She and her dad came to a ton of games, and they would sit across from our bench. He also was (fellow seniors) Emma (Penecale) and Jess (Underwood’s) coach. They all played together from a young age.
“During COVID, we were doing a lot of virtual workouts, and we use some basketball apps, and we invited Nat, and she started doing it also She was a part of the team a year or two even before being officially on the team as a freshman.”
Potash saw not only what she called a ‘ton of skill’ but also a lot of potential.
“As a freshman, she came in as our sixth person, and then there was an injury that had one of our starters out for a while, and she got that spot and never looked back,” the East coach said.
Berndt – a standout shooter from long range - left the program with over 200 made 3-pointers.
“This kid as a freshman shot 45 percent from the 3-point line,” Potash said. “And then every year she just grew her game a little bit more offensively.
“Defensively, coming in as a freshman playing with us, she just hadn’t played a lot of teams that play a switching man. She was very receptive to the coaching piece of how to do it, and she really made a name for herself on the defensive end. She took a lot of pride in it, and we always – probably ad nauseum – would use her as an example on the defensive end of the floor.
“She has good length, and she’s made people’s lives really difficult for many years. She loved those assignments and shutting down those top players. If someone had a big night against her, you know they earned it. Just so much credit to that type of player because it’s not like she’s leading the team in steals or deflections or blocks, but if you are looking at the best scorer on the other team, they’re five to ten points below their average, and that’s Nat.”
Berndt’s value to her basketball team is underscored by the fact that – for the first and only time – she received an award that has always gone to a senior.
“She’s like the heart of the team, and if you know Nat, she’s quiet,” Potash said. “She’s a little more on the reserved side. You’re not going to get rah-rah leadership from her, but she’s so well respected and she’s so positive.
“When a teammate makes the big play, she is the first one cheering for them or pumping her first. She’s been through some really hard things at a young age, and while she’s a really outstanding athlete, I think she has such a healthy balance of taking sports for what it is.
“She wants to compete at a really high level, and she’s an exceptional athlete, but the outcome of a game is not the end of the world because she has experienced things that are obviously more significant than the outcome of a sporting event.”
Berndt has played a key role in East’s back-to-back SOL Colonial Division championships, but that’s not what she will remember most.
“Just the people I’ve played with is the best part, to be honest,” she said. “We’ve been playing together since fourth, fifth grade, so just having a strong connection with them and the team. And even lacrosse – all my best friends are on lacrosse.”
In lacrosse, Berndt, a midfielder, has all surpassed the 100 career draw controls.
“She’s tall, so she definitely just looks graceful running down the field playing,” Tait said. She’s the kid that so many different coaches say, ‘I just like to watch (number) 21 play because she just looks so good playing.’ She just has very natural form.
“She’s everything that’s good about (sports). She’s got a very good head on her shoulders. She’s a great person and a great athlete.”
One constant through Natalie’s high school athletic career has been the unwavering support of her mother, Cyndi Berndt.
“My mom was so helpful – always driving to practice and tournaments while balancing both my brother and my games during his senior year and my freshman year,” she said. “She is our number one supporter and continues to make everything possible for us.”
Looking ahead
Away from sports, Berndt – a strong student - is involved with Morgan’s Message, a club that tries to eliminate the stigma surrounding mental health for student-athletes. She has also been involved with Athletes Helping Athletes.
With the end of her high school athletic career on the horizon, Berndt is looking forward to the next chapter. This fall, she will be enrolling at Virginia Tech – her father’s alma mater - where she will study business.
“It kind of feels like home to me,” she said. “It’s just a very tight-knit community where you have all the D1 sports.”
Natalie – whose brother Kyle is manager of the Rutgers University men’s basketball team - is not ready to give up sports and is looking to compete at the club level.
“I’m going to try and possibly do both,” she said.
Her coaches firmly believe she would be an asset to any team.
“She’s an unbelievable kid,” Potash said. “At the banquet, I used one of my John Wooden quotes, ‘What you are as a person is far more important than what you are as a basketball player,’ and man, she’s a great kid, just a really awesome person.”
