Basketball
Favorite athlete: Kobe Bryant
Favorite team: Philadelphia Phillies
Favorite memory competing in sports: Beating Chester my sophomore year in the district playoffs and advancing to the final four at Villanova
Most embarrassing/funniest thing that has happened while competing in sports: In middle school, my baseball team did not win a game and we were 0-21. I think it was a record for worst record in Harleysville Little League.
Music on iPod: J-Cole, Wale, Lupe Fiasco
Future plans: Attend college and major in either business or education
Words to live by: ‘I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.’ Philippians 4:13
One goal before turning 30: Have a successful job that makes me happy and start a family.
One thing people don’t know about me: I am very superstitious.
Mark Wonderling is one of the top basketball players in the SOL Continental Conference, but mention the Souderton senior’s name to his coach, and it takes a while before his basketball skills even enter the conversation.
It turns out that Wonderling, the person, might be even more impressive than Wonderling, the basketball player.
“He’s the most selfless kid I’ve ever seen, both coaching and also as a player when I played high school, college and professionally,” Souderton coach Dennis Stanton said. “He’s the epitome of team first.
“The coaching staff and myself – we just feel so blessed to have him in the program. He’s a wonderful kid.”
Wonderling is held in equally high regard by his classmates, and although he is uncomfortable at the mention of it, he was elected Homecoming King last fall.
“I observe him in the hallways,” Stanton said. “Everybody looks up to him, but he’s very unassuming.
“We joked about it – ‘Vote for Wonderling,’ and he would put his head down. He could care less about it.
“It’s a testament to the person he is. Everybody loves him, he treats everybody with respect, and he’s a man of faith.”
He’s also a gifted basketball player who – despite his selfless play - is capable of putting up big numbers, and Stanton recalls the Indians’ win over Pennridge earlier in the season that saw the senior captain contribute 24 points, six rebounds and six assists while also containing high-scoring Tim Abruzzo on the defensive end.
“I usually talk to him after every single game via text or phone, and it’s always the same thing – I’ll say, ‘Great performance tonight. Way to shoot the ball,’ and he always comes back with, ‘Yeah, it was a great team win, coach,’” Stanton said. “Players and coaches say that stuff to reporters, but this kid is the real thing. He could care less about individual stats, he could care less about accolades, he could care less about any of that. He’s just as happy when he gets six points when we win the game.”
It’s not a coincidence that the Indians, under Wonderling’s leadership, are in the hunt for a conference crown.
“He’s not a get-up-in-your-face, tell-you-what-to-do kind of kid,” Stanton said of his two-year captain. “Sometimes I tell him to be, but his example is enough to inspire others to be that way as well. It’s almost like you don’t want to let Mark Wonderling down.
“In practice every day, he gives 100 percent. Even if he’s beat up, he plays as many minutes as we can give him.”
Wonderling is still nursing a bad hip bruise that he sustained earlier this season, but he has not let that stand in the way of giving an all-out effort on the court.
“It happened a month ago, but he didn’t tell me about it,” Stanton said. “He’s just battling through it, and I throw him into the fire every time and challenge him to guard the best player and to dive for loose balls and to get the rebounds.
“The kid is relentless. He wants to win, and he’ll do anything he can to win. He sets the tone for what we’re trying to accomplish. By him setting the example of team first, by him setting the example that he doesn’t care about points – he just wants to win, then the 11th guy and the 12th guy on the team buy into that as well.”
Wonderling – who grew up playing football, baseball and basketball – came by his love of basketball honestly. His mother, Kristin Wonderling, received a basketball scholarship to the University of Miami.
It was from his mother that Wonderling developed his blue collar mentality on the basketball court.
“She got her scholarship to play basketball solely based on defense,” he said. “She could do other stuff, but she was basically the defender.
“She taught me to put my life into it, and that it’s all about heart and desire.”
Wonderling is sometimes on the receiving end of pointers from his mother.
“I’ll be honest sometimes I don’t want to hear it, especially coming from your mom, but I can take it because I know she knows what she’s talking about,” he said.
It’s hardly surprising that Wonderling’s MO in his early playing days was defense.
“Growing up, all I could do was play defense,” he said. “I really didn’t have that much of an offensive game.”
That is no longer the case.
“In the summer, even back when I was a little kid, I would just shoot for hours and hours outside of my house,” he said. “Last year I was more of a slasher and a driver, but this year I really have put the time in on my jumpshot, and that’s kind of come a long way.”
Wonderling burst onto the scene as a sophomore and earned a spot on a veteran varsity squad that captured the SOL Continental Conference title and advanced to the district semifinals and the PIAA Class AAAA state tournament..
“It was a great experience,” he said. “Back then, I just wanted to contribute – all the little things like hustle and defense. I was really fortunate to be part of such a special group like that.”
Making the experience even more special was the fact that he shared it with his brother and best friend, Sam Wonderling, then a senior.
“He was always a big inspiration and role model to me because he wasn’t able to play,” said Wonderling of his brother, who tore his ACL three times. “I felt bad for him, but he took a good approach to it, and he was always very helpful with the process of (me) starting as a sophomore on varsity.”
Wonderling has grown into a complete player who, according to his coach, can fill a stat sheet.
“He’s had games where he’s had 20 points, but he’s also had games where he’s had eight assists, 11 rebounds, and defensively, he just gets after it,” Stanton said. “It’s so cliché when coaches say, ‘He does everything to win the game,’ but this kid really embodies that in the way he plays the game.
“He hits huge shots, and he’s able to finish around the rim, so he presents match-up problems for other teams because he can shoot three pointers, but he also can get to the rim.”
Stanton acknowledges he can lean into Wonderling and let him know when he did something wrong.
“To be able to do that to your best player creates a healthy environment because a lot of times these 15, 16, 17-year-old kids cannot take constructive criticism,” the Indians’ coach said. “Mark does that better than anybody. We’ll be watching film, and he’ll say, ‘Hey, I missed that screen, I missed that rebound.’ That ‘s rare, and that helps the others to also man up to their mistakes.”
Ask Wonderling what he has enjoyed most about his high school career, and he doesn’t mention the wins or the championships.
“Of course, all the wins that we have is great, but I think I will be friends with a lot of these guys for the rest of my life, and I’ll always look back and remember the great coaches and the great teammates we had,” he said.
Wonderling hopes to continue his basketball career at the collegiate level. He plans to major in education or business and has been accepted at Lebanon Valley, Washington College and Ursinus.
A leader off the court as well, Wonderling is involved in student government as well as the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. He also helps out with Sunday School and Bible study at his church.
“He’s one of a kind,” Stanton said. “We talk about it all the time – I don’t know how you move on without a player like this. We’re going to really miss him. I’m blessed to be able to coach him and have such a great relationship with him.
“I tell my wife all the time – we just got married in August and want to have kids at some point, and I can only hope to have a young man like him. His parents did a great job.”
