Football, Wrestling, Lacrosse
Favorite athlete: Kyle Dake
Favorite team: The Dallas Cowboys
Favorite memory competing in sports: In preseason summer practices on scout team defense, I would fill the gap against the upperclassmen/starters and would do my best to hold my ground. More often than not I got ran over, but every time I won felt great.
Most embarrassing/funniest thing that has happened while competing in sports: In lacrosse, I went to shoot with a d-pole and sailed it twenty yards over the net.
Music on playlist: I'm almost always listening to classic rock whether relaxing or before a match.
Future plans: I plan to study Mechanical Engineering in college.
Words to live by: “Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.”
One goal before turning 30: I hope to travel to see parts of Asia.
One thing people don’t know about me: I love to go camping.
By GORDON GLANTZ
While it’s true that nobody is perfect, perhaps New Hope Solebury senior Colin Foster is a reasonable work in progress toward that impossible end.
The three-sport athlete (football, wrestling, lacrosse) is class president. His 4.52 GPA had him ranked second when the year commenced.
And, oh yeah, he started off as a Boy Scout and is now an Eagle Scout who likes to get away from it all by camping.
“Is he too good to be true? Absolutely,” said New Hope lacrosse coach Jeff Bruemmer. “He’s just one of a kind. He’s a regular guy, too. There’s no aloofness. The other players respect him. He’s the ultimate boy scout, and yet he is a down to earth kid as well.”
Added wrestling coach Dustin Blevins: “He’s a wonderful young man. He’s a multi-sport athlete, excellent student, hungry to learn, respectful, active in the community and class president. It’s been a pleasure to coach him the last four years. If I had a dozen Colin Fosters, I’d be thrilled.”
Overcoming Adversity
May 15, 2025.
It is a day that will live in infamy for Foster. That’s when he made a wrong cut in a controlled flag football game with incoming freshmen and sustained a horrific ankle injury.
Just when he thought being a fan of the Dallas Cowboys amid Giants and Eagles fans amounted to adverse conditions, he was met with true adversity.
“I was running toward the sideline, made a cut and that’s when it happened,” said Foster. “It was just a non-contact injury. I kind of knew it was serious. I’m told I said some curse words when I went down. My foot was turned to the right. For comparison, the Cam Skattebo injury is exactly what it looked like.”
When his ankle turned the wrong way, Foster could have turned the wrong way and turned his back on the football team.
But that’s not him, or who is.
The son of Amy and Jim Foster, and older brother of freshman softball player Morgan Foster, he made the best of a bad situation.
“It was definitely a huge disappointment, losing my senior year, because I know I’m not going to play football in college,” said the pending mechanical engineering major who was recently accepted to Purdue and is also looking at the likes of Penn State, Georgia Tech and Carnegie Melon. “I still wanted to be involved though because I love the team and love the sport.”
Staying involved equated to becoming a student assistant coach, especially on the defensive side of the ball, where he initially excelled at linebacker before settling in at safety and leading the team in tackles twice.
“I was trying to figure out how I could stay involved, and one of those things was helping to coach and helping practices to run smoothly,” said Foster, who was a Swiss Army knife on offense for the Lions, playing all the skill positions, including snaps at quarterback. “I could help on defense mostly because that’s where I really found my liking. It was great to stay involved. I would have rather played, but I’m so glad that the coaches and the team gave me the opportunity to stay involved.”
Although head football coach Dale Smith never had the chance to coach Foster, he came to appreciate the senior on a deeper level.
“Absolutely,” said Smith. “At practices and games, he was helping our (defensive coordinator) up in the booth. He wore a headset and was relaying what he was seeing to the coach. He essentially became a student coach.”
Comeback Kid
While it was tempting to push his timeline of six months to fully recover and join his treasured teammates on the gridiron, he remained cautious.
“He worked really hard to come back from the dislocated ankle and tibia fracture,” said Smith. “I don’t think he wanted to risk having a setback and risk wrestling season as well. He was running full speed, though. He just starting making cuts in October.”
As far as football is concerned, Foster will rely on the memories, which included making an impact as a freshman in preseason camp and ended up with him in the rotation at linebacker when the season rolled around.
“I had a great time that summer,” said Foster. “Every day, I was put on the scout team defense at linebacker. I was told to just give them the best look that I could. I had a chip on my shoulder, and I just tried to fill the hole the best I could. I got run over more times than I could count, but everyone also saw me going out and getting good hits on the fullback and running back.
“It was just a great time for me. Eventually, I started to learn what plays they were running how they lined up. We weren’t supposed to know what plays they were running. If we screwed up, the offense looks it, so it didn’t really matter. It was just low stakes. You could just fly in there and make a hit.”
Back in Action
All has gone according to plan for Foster, who is back on the mat for the wrestling team, winning 10 of his first 11 matches.
At present, he has been able to shed a brace to support his ankle.
“I’m at full speed,” said Foster. “It feels great. I can still feel it, like something happened there, but it’s not even a thought in my mind at this point.”
His return has been a welcome sight for Blevins, who was always optimistic about Foster’s return.
“He was very forthcoming about his timeline and diligent in his recovery and physical therapy,” said Blevins. “I knew he would do everything possible to get on the mat.”
Beyond wins and losses, there are the intangibles that Foster brings to the wrestling room.
“He’s an excellent leader. He leads by example on the mat and uplifts his teammates at every turn,” said Blevins. “He is the kind of a kid who does everything the right way and his teammates look at him as an example.”
Springing Forward
While he is looking forward to planning the senior class trip and Spirit Week, Foster is also eyeing what will be his last athletic hurrah with the lacrosse team where he is a faceoff specialist and a midfielder.
“I love lacrosse,” said Foster. “We have a great crew in high school, and we have managed to grow the team. In my freshman year, we had 14 players on the team. Now, we have a pretty strong group with like 30 kids. We are really looking forward to this year.”
Despite the severity of the ankle injury, Bruemmer had no doubts that Foster would be back in action.
“Freak injuries happen, that is kind of what they are,” said the lacrosse coach. “Colin works hard to stay in shape. He takes his conditioning very seriously. He is the type of a kid who will do everything he can to make sure he is in shape.”
Foster will be a second-year captain for Bruemmer this spring, leading vocally and by example.
“I’ve known Colin for a long time,” said the seven-year coach. “I coached him at the youth level when he was in like fifth grade.
“He always had skills and leadership, but not to this degree. There is no tailing off with him. He has just kept getting better and better. Even as a freshman, the seniors recognized him as a great player and as a leader.
“He goes 105 percent. There is no low gear for Colin. At times, we have to tell him, ‘Colin, you have to slow it down a little bit.’ His playing ability is an example. The players will say, ‘Put out like Colin does.’ It’s just maximum effort all the time.
“You know you are going to get from him everything that he can give you. There is no taking time off.”
And now that he is a senior, the legend of Colin Foster has only grown.
“Colin is kind of an anomaly,” said Bruemmer. “You don’t get too many Colin Fosters in your lifetime. What you see and what you hear is really the truth.
“He’s an outstanding student. He’s an outstanding athlete – in football, wrestling and lacrosse – and he’s a great leader. And, really, he is a pretty much down to earth guy, too. There is no false pretense to him.
“He is known throughout the school. He’s great kid and he has a great future ahead of him.”
