The UNC Wilmington men’s golf team had a successful season last year. The Seahawks won four tournaments and captured their first CAA championship trophy since 2005. Their final ranking placed them ahead of larger schools such as UNC Chapel Hill and South Carolina.

The team also dedicated over 300 hours of its time to volunteering collectively, continuously embracing the community. While these achievements are all commendable on their own, they are even more remarkable to the Seahawks’ head coach Matthew Clark. Clark suffered from a brain bleed and was unable to coach the team for almost a month. The fact that they fared so well without him and under those types of circumstances make him that much prouder to be a member of the Seahawk family.

It was a November afternoon when Clark returned home from golf team workouts at UNCW. He was relaxing, enjoying his free time, when he suddenly collapsed and passed out. His wife rushed him to the emergency room where he progressively fell into worse and worse shape.

It was in the emergency room that doctors discovered a bleed in his brain. They suggested he be flown to Duke University Hospital. The surgery to stop the bleeding was successful but doctors were still concerned of possible recurring issues, such as frequent, painful headaches.

“I was very fortunate to not have felt any of the side effects the doctors warned me about,” Clark said. “The doctors said there was no way they could have predicted the brain bleed, but that I was not susceptible to it any more after than I was before.”

After almost a month’s recovery and a lot of medication, Clark was able to return to one of his favorite enjoyments in life: golf. Clark admitted that at first he was not himself. His energy level was low and he had lost a lot of weight.

This led to the team rallying around each other and Clark as well, instead relying on their own intuitive knowledge of the sport and how to improve their game. The team still performed at the high level despite Clark’s condition.

“When you’re an 18- or 19-year-old kid and you get a phone call saying your coach, someone that has tried to offer you everything they know about the sport and has become a friend, is flying to Duke Hospital with a brain bleed…that can’t be easy,” he said. “I was extremely proud of the way they handled themselves during my sickness.

“The maturity they showed not only will help them within the sport of golf, but will definitely pay dividends for them in the future,” said Clark.

With this wave of momentum carrying over from last season, expectations are even higher for the Seahawks this year. “We want to be one of those 30 teams to make the NCAA tournament this year,” Clark said. “We want to tee off for the championship in Las Vegas next June. Additionally, I expect everyone on the team to maintain a minimum 3.25 GPA and, as a team, our goal is to perform 500 hours of community service.”

Some people use sickness or pain as a means to avoid doing work or an excuse to not perform to their highest capability. Matthew Clark is not one of these people. Instead of lying down and taking the whole golf season off due to his sickness, he returned to the sport he loves as soon as the doctors cleared him.

Rather than focus on his comeback story, he prefers to try his best to repay the UNCW community for its collective efforts to push the golf team above and beyond the team’s limits.

“When strangers, not even people you know but complete strangers, are sending you cards and emails with concern and genuine sincerity, it really makes you feel appreciated within your community,” Clark said.

“I just want to extend a big thank you to the Seahawk family. Although the experience was trying, I am even prouder to wear the school colors and to be a member of the UNCW family.”

There are currently 303 Division I men’s golf team in the United States. If the Seahawks were to reach that final 30 that they are aiming for and compete for the national championship in Las Vegas, and they surely have the skill and ability to do so, it would make for one of the better feel good sports moments of the year. But even if they don’t, the Seahawk family has become closer and stronger as a result of Clark’s experience.