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Academy Park’s Jason Vosheski isn’t letting multiple sclerosis stop him from coaching football

Academy Park’s Jason Vosheski isn’t letting multiple sclerosis stop him from coaching football

Jason Vosheski roams football fields these days with the help of a mobility scooter that happens to be the same shiny blue as the helmets worn by the Academy Park High School squad he coaches. Pasted on the front bumper is a silver helmet decal of a sword.
With a headset on and a tattered baseball cap pulled low, Vosheski will park that scooter as far away as possible from the clot of assistant coaches and the reserve players on the sideline during a game. For one thing, he wants an unobstructed view of the field.
“And I don’t want to be worried about kids running me over, or kids getting hurt,” Vosheski said after a recent practice. “So I just kind of stay away.”
The 50-year-old Vosheski, in his 21st year as the Knights’ head coach, has made several concessions over the last five years to multiple sclerosis, a chronic autoimmune disease that affects the central nervous system. There is no cure, but some symptoms can be managed.
He also needs a walker when he teaches his social studies classes at Academy Park, but he says he is not ready to quit teaching or coaching. Other than driving his car (with the scooter in the back) to away games instead of joining his team on a school bus and joining his team at halftime, he can do pretty much everything that other head football coaches do.
Dan Gbeaday, a senior wide receiver at Academy Park, said, “It is pretty hard for him. But he pulls it off. He does it.”
In fact, he does it with the same kind of vigor that his players appreciate. Myles Boone, a junior strong safety and running back who is one of Academy Park’s captains, said of Vosheski, “He’s hard on us, just like every coach would be.”
Another veteran football coach in Delaware County, Strath Haven’s Kevin Clancy, said recently of Vosheski, “He’s an inspiration to me.” But Vosheski is not coaching to do that. He loves the sport and relishes the challenges of coaching.
He also has been good at it for years. His first three teams at Academy Park had losing records, but 15 of his last 17 teams have posted winning records. His 2016 team won 13 games and advanced to the PIAA Class 5A state semifinals, where it lost to Archbishop Wood.
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Academy Park lost in the state quarterfinals to Cheltenham in 2019 before high school sports were curtailed by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Knights had losing seasons in 2022 and 2023 before rebounding to qualify for the playoffs last year. There was also Aug. 27, 2021.
When Vosheski used a golf cart to coach for the first time, a shooting unrelated to the school took place that night outside the Academy Park stadium in Sharon Hill after a 42-0 victory over Pennsbury. Fanta Bility, an 8-year-old, was killed by gunfire into a crowd by police.
Academy Park has yet to resume playing its home football games on Friday nights. Spectators entering the gates for 1 p.m. games near the snack bar (which Vosheski and his brother, Dave, once painted) are “wanded” — checked with a hand-held detection device by security.
Jason Vosheski pushes on. He makes sure to credit those around him: his assistant coaches (one being his brother, the Knights’ offensive coordinator) and, just as important, his wife, Megan, with whom he has a 7-year-old son and a 3-year-old daughter.
They had two stair lifts installed in their home. He keeps another scooter there. MS prohibits him from lifting his left leg, which he wraps with a brace, and he said he has noticed similar symptoms in his right leg, although he does not think about his medical issues much.
“At this point, I’m kind of like, unfortunately, I’m kind of used to it,” he said. “I’m desensitized.”
Vosheski, just 5-feet-7, was a standout wide receiver and infielder at Ridley High School, from which he graduated in 1993. He played baseball with distinction at nearby Widener University before graduating in 1997. Later, he enjoyed playing ice hockey with his brother.
One day, Dave Vosheski said, “He wasn’t able to skate in the third period, he was so stiff.” Surgery was prescribed, but the problem got worse. Eventually, he was diagnosed with MS.
“He gets tired,” said Dave Vosheski, a teacher at Marple-Newtown High School, “but I don’t think he gets tired of football at all.”
They devised a communications system that works. Dave is the offensive coordinator who relays plays to the quarterback, but they are connected by headsets, and Dave said Jason will still call most of the plays.
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Vosheski is somewhat hampered by the fact that Academy Park does not have artificial turf at its home field — just bumpy grass — and when the Knights retreat to their locker room at halftime, Jason stays put, and Dave and the other assistants do the adjusting.
“Our kids don’t necessarily pay any mind,” he said to his affliction.
After a 35-14 loss to Unionville in the second game of the season, Vosheski drove to midfield to shake the hands of the Unionville staff, then gathered his team for a terse analysis. He urged his team to gather for its breakdown, saying, “It’s not easy for anybody.”
Dave Vosheski said, “When he’s there, they listen.”
Asked if he thought the Knights were inspired by his brother’s tenacity in the face of his affliction, Dave said, “I hope they do.”
He added: “This could happen to anybody.”
Jason Vosheski says emphatically that he is not ready to hang it up. He plans to return in 2026, although family life is only getting busier. His son has begun playing youth football — Dave’s 7-year-old son is one of his teammates, and Dave helps coach that team while Jason watches.
Over the summer, the brothers were relaxing at the swimming pool when Jason asked Dave about coaching. “How much longer do you think you’ve got?”
To which Dave replied, “How much longer do you think you’ve got?”
For now, Jason’s answer to anyone who asks about his coaching future is rather simple: “As long as I still love coaching the game,” he said.
“He’s still doing what he’s doing,” Gbeaday added. “He tells us to keep going — to keep going harder. I never got taught as much by anyone as I have by him.”