Blessed Trinity Academy student heads for National Marbles Tournament

Meet the Natural, and she’s quite a bit younger than Robert Redford.

She’s Shaler resident Emilie Lepic, a third-grader at Blessed Trinity Academy, and she’s headed to the 100th-anniversary National Marbles Tournament in Wildwood, N.J., after qualifying through Allegheny County’s tourney.

Her success comes as a surprise — shall we say, naturally — to her mother.

“She’s very new to it,” Amber Lepic said. “She actually just learned about marbles when the county came in to the school.”

Instructors from the county parks department visited Blessed Trinity, on property that straddles the Hampton-Indiana Township line, in early April, as part of a program that was delayed for two years because of the covid-19 pandemic.

“They bring all the classes down and teach them how to do it,” Meredith Kandravy, the school’s admissions/marketing director, said. “They do mini-tournaments, and then whoever wins the mini-tournament gets a letter inviting them to go down and participate at the county tournament.”

Joining Emilie for the May 19-21 festivities at the Allegheny County Courthouse was Blessed Trinity first-grader Lucian Manjerovic of Hampton.

The county Marbles Program is free for all youngsters age 14 and under. Local tournaments are held in the spring — sites also included the Hartwood Acres Amphitheater and North Park Ice Skating Patio — with winners advancing and receiving a “County Champion” T-shirt.

“When I picked her up from school,” Amber said about her daughter, “she had her marble shirt on, and she was so excited. She kept talking about the day when they would be going down to compete.”

The tournament started on a Thursday, during which participants received further instruction. Emilie went on to win all six of her matches on Friday and sport a 10-4 record on Saturday, finishing runner-up in her age group and earning the opportunity to show her skills in Wildwood.

And however she acquired those skills so rapidly, it probably wasn’t from Mom.

“I’ve never played marbles, ever,” Amber said. “In fact, I learned all about it when I was down there on Thursday.”

In preparation for the national tournament, scheduled for June 19-21, Emilie has been practicing three times a week with the folks from the county, in addition to other pursuits.

“She’s not really on electronics much, because we are big sports people. She plays softball right now, and she does basketball in the fall. She loves to be outside,” her mother said. “My goal is to try to get her involved, as long as she’s happy.”