What’s next for seniors

Jillian Cruser | Staff Writer

UNC Wilmington senior men’s basketball players Ahmad Grant, Darryl Felder and Chad Tomko are officially finished with their careers as Seahawk basketball players. Each player has a different story of how they got into UNCW, their athletic careers and now they are each looking towards the future while reflecting on their college experiences.

One thing that they all have in common was undergoing the transition of coaches this past year with playing under former UNCW coach Benny Moss and learning new techniques with coach Buzz Peterson.

“I’ve always let the seniors be more proactive than everyone else,” said Peterson. “I usually let them pick out a place to eat, set their own curfew times and I listen to them a lot more than everybody else. I always let the seniors go first.”

Grant and Tomko both agreed that transitioning to a different coaching style was difficult to do at first, but it only benefitted the team in the end. Grant said, “At first it was weird because his coaching style was different. I had to be mentally prepared every day to do what I had to do. It was just hard mentally because I had to allow myself to be coached.”

California native Felder is not foreign to adapting to new coaching styles as he played for five different coaches in high school. In his freshman year at UNCW, Felder led the team with a career-high 15 points against Tennessee in the NIT preseason tournament. He considers this game and another against Belmont to be his biggest accomplishments.

Being redshirted his sophomore year, Felder had to overcome many obstacles. “Each year, I have dealt with a different obstacle and have learned how to tackle situations that present themselves from coming back from back surgery to dealing with coaching changes,” said Felder.

According to Peterson, Felder has also improved on other aspects of the game. “He has gotten a whole lot better with a whole lot of confidence. He has become really aggressive offensively,” said Peterson.

Felder is not the only senior who had to overcome challenges over his five years at UNCW. College student, varsity basketball player and young father, Grant faced many challenges as well.

“Being a consistent leader was my biggest challenge,” said Grant, “also transitioning from game to game defensively.”

Grant transferred from Olney Central Junior College to play at UNCW for two years. His role model A.J. Guyton is one of the main reasons why he entered junior college in the first place. Grant said, “He was the guy who took a chance on me and motivated me to do well.”

Some of Grant’s accomplishments include high-scoring performances against Hofstra when he led the team with 23 points and another game at William & Mary when he scored 17 points. It may come as a surprise to many that even though he has been playing basketball his whole life, he has played organized basketball for only two seasons.

“There has been a lot of teaching for him, but he has been very coachable and had accepted the teaching,” Peterson said. “He is a very raw, talented player.”

Even though it has been a challenging last two seasons for the Seahawks, each senior has looked for different ways to stay motivated.

“What motivates me is my son, daughter, mother and brother,” said Grant, who only gets the chance to see his family on university breaks.

Tomko finds his motivation by looking forward to the future. “What motivates me is getting to the NBA and hopefully playing,” said Tomko.

The Charlotte native has been recently named to this year’s Second Team All- Conference and is also the 20th player in UNCW history to reach 1,000 points.

Peterson praised Tomko for being such an important part of the team. “He is the biggest thing that has helped our team,” said Peterson. “He started trusting everybody on his team, and his trust in his teammates brought on our success.”

All three seniors have made sure that they succeed on the court, but they make sure they succeed off the court as well.

“I still try to get somewhat ahead in my classes, because I know I will be missing so much,” said Felder. “I am not just using basketball as a way to get out of class.”

Felder has not only dedicated his time at UNCW to playing basketball and his academics, but has also been involved in the Student Athlete Advisory Committee and other volunteer activities such as participating in various blood drives and Relay for Life.

Tomko, Grant and Felder all plan to keep playing by getting involved with teams overseas. But since they all have gained their different degrees at UNCW, they still anticipate utilizing their degrees.

If playing after college does not work out, Tomko plans to use his Psychology degree to coach basketball while Grant will use the same degree to become a school guidance counselor. Felder plans to continue his education in Business and Accounting by going to graduate school and perhaps earning a position at an accounting firm.

With graduation quickly approaching, the three seniors reflect on what they love and are going to miss when they leave UNCW.

“I’m going to miss the fans and just putting on a UNCW jersey,” said Tomko, “and playing in front of thousands in Trask.”

Felder agrees that playing in front of the Wilmington community is what he is going to miss the most. He said, “They have been extremely supportive of me over my career here.”