Thanks to our continued partnership with Univest Financial, SuburbanOneSports.com will once again recognize a male and female featured athlete each week. The recognition is given to seniors of high character who are students in good standing that have made significant contributions to their teams or who have overcome adversity. Selections are based on nominations received from coaches, athletic directors and administrators.
Univest’s SuburbanOneSports.com Featured Female Athlete (Week of Jan. 25, 2023)
You get one chance to make a first impression. The saying may be tried but remains true. Such was the case for Janiya Townes-Wakefield when, as an eighth grader, she walked into an open gym workout and caught the eyes of a coaching staff determined to change the culture. “She is just a ball of joy,” said head coach Ben Bowman. “She came in just ready to learn and ready to work and play basketball. You could tell, just from meeting her, that her personality and her energy was infectious. It helped change the culture of the team.” More than displaying a skill set, it was her attitude and willingness to be coached that grabbed their attention. “She came in and just never stopped working, never stopped talking,” said Bowman, now in his fifth season. “We have been teaching defense since we first came in, and she was the first one to talk on defense, the first one to yell, and to just do what we wanted to do. A lot of people weren’t on board right away, but this kind of changed their minds. This young girl comes in and is already on board, hustling her butt off and being willing to do whatever it takes. That was the first impression. For her to come into an open gym and show that kind of an effort and determination, when she was so young, stood out to us because there were some veteran people on that team.”
Since then, she has not disappointed. Injuries, like a broken foot as a freshman and illnesses through to this season have kept Townes-Wakefield from being a regular starter, but she always remained at the epicenter of the team. “She has been through all the ups and downs – the one-win seasons, the tough losses,” said Bowman. “She has seen it all. She has been part of that rebuild that we have been going through, and she is still the same. She keeps trying to pick is up, and it’s not just with the players but with the coaches. She comes in and tells us jokes. She is always trying to pick everybody else up. This season, we’re up and down. We’re a young team. She is one of the few seniors on the team. I feel like she keeps the team together, and it’s been tough for her, too, because has been sick. When she’s not there, the team feels it.”
And, when she is there, the presence is clearly felt. “She is like the team mother,” said Bowman. “She picks everybody up. She will call team meetings. She does the intangible stuff that goes a long way and goes beyond what we can do as coaches. She leads by example. She’s a captain this year, and it’s not only because of what she does, verbally, but also on the court. If we tell her to do something, we know she is going to do it. She will do anything you ask. She may not be the most skilled player but, when you look at everything else she brings to the table, it’s something you just can’t find. We want them to talk on defense, she is the first one talking. She’s the loudest voice in the gym, whether it is in practice or games. Everybody kind of just follows her lead. She will just do whatever it takes. She will do whatever is best for the team, and that we love about her.” Townes-Wakefield, who started playing basketball after giving up gymnastics in sixth grade, explains that she is just being herself. “I just try to be positive all the time, and I just rub off on other people,” she said, kind of giggling at being termed the “team mother” by the coach. “Communication is a big thing for me. I like to make sure everybody is on the same page.”
While basketball takes up a lot of her time, Townes-Wakefield is strong in the classroom as well. She was named Student of the Month in October and carries a weighted GPA of 4.36. She plans to attend Gwynedd Mercy University, which was always her top choice, and follow in the footsteps of her mother, Calisa Townes, and become a Radiation Therapist. While her basketball at Gwynedd Mercy may only be limited to intramural, she will look fondly on all the sport has brought her. “When I first played basketball, I played for my community local league, and then I played AAU and we would go out of state and stay at hotels and see all the teams play and go out to eat and bond more,” she said. “You learn that basketball is like small world unto itself, and I’m grateful to have experienced that.”
To read Townes-Wakefield’s complete profile, please click on the following link: https://www.suburbanonesports.com/featured-athletes/female/janiya-townes-wakefield-00104842
Univest’s SuburbanOneSports.com Featured Male Athlete (Week of Jan. 25, 2023)
There are athletes who tend to flip the proverbial switch when they step onto the athletic fields. Former NFL running back Marshawn Lynch famously popularized the term “Beast Mode” to describe those to reach a level of peak intensity. For as competitive as he is on the hardwood, Upper Dublin senior Seaton Kukla doesn’t quite subscribe to this method. In fact, part of the reason why he’s been so successful this season has been because he is thoroughly enjoying his time on the basketball court. It took a very serious detour during the preseason for Kukla to arrive at this mindset.
Not long after the school year started, Kukla tested positive for Covid. But what was supposed to be a week or so of quarantine and rest became a frightening three-month ordeal. “I was home all week from school with Covid and I woke up one day and my arm swelled up like a balloon and was red,” Kukla said. “I wasn’t sure if it was Covid or something else unrelated. I figured it was probably just fine, but it didn’t go away, and my arm started to hurt. We went to the hospital to get it looked at.” He was seen by a doctor who prescribed blood thinners, but another doctor saw him before he left and insisted Kukla go to CHOP immediately. A blood clot had formed, which led to ATOS (arterial thoracic outlet syndrome), a squeezed artery between the collarbone and ribs. “Every time I raised my right arm above my shoulder, the vein would get pinched between the first rib and my collarbone,” Kukla said.
Two surgeries were required for the blood clot, then two weeks later, Kukla was back in the hospital to have the highest rib on his right side removed. This would resolve the ATOS, but it also required Kukla to be on blood thinners through October and November. And as his senior basketball season rapidly approached, Kukla found himself unable to practice. “It’s funny … you work out every day in the summer, I went to this park by my house, there’s no shade, you’re playing on cement and it’s 95 degrees out and you just want a week off to relax,” Kukla said. “But then you’re off for three months where all I want to do is be out there playing.” A week before the season began, Kukla was cleared to start practicing and playing. But as a senior, a captain, and the only returning player with significant varsity playing time who was not also still playing football, Kukla, a second team all-league selection as a junior, put a mountain of pressure on himself.
It had been so long since the 6-foot-5, 205-pound forward/center had gotten physical on the court, he was a little too aggressive in his first games back. After a poor performance in an early game, Cardinals coach Derek Brooks sat down with Kukla for a quick heart-to-heart. “He wasn’t playing bad in December, but he wanted to play better than he was, and he was really being hard on himself,” the first-year UD coach said. “We had a talk with him after the game. I reminded him that two months earlier - we’d be ecstatic knowing he was playing. He came back two games later with an absolutely awesome game, and he hasn’t looked back since.” The Cardinals went on a 13-game winning streak, and Kukla’s play and his leadership were integral. “Seaton has been huge for us,” Brooks said. “He’s been as committed as you can get. He attends every single thing, even when he wasn’t able to practice, he was going to everything he could. He’s a kid who leads by example, acts the right way, does the right things. We have eight rotation guys, and he’s the only basketball-only guy returning with significant varsity experience. He was our catalyst. He had the experience, and everyone followed his lead.”
While his athletic abilities are without question, Brooks points to Kukla’s maturity and bravery in the face of such a daunting offseason as proof that he’s also the unquestioned leader of this squad. “The rest of the team, they see all the work he puts in, but because the season started so quickly, I don’t think we really talked about it enough, how remarkable it was for him to come back from that,” the Cardinals coach said. “We eased him in practice-wise, then it was ‘all systems go.’ Once that happened, we forgot about everything he went through, but to be 17, 18 years old and having to have three surgeries, get a rib removed, having no idea if you’ll ever be able to play again … that’s scary. That’s got to take a big mental toll on you. But Seaton comes out and he’s not bothered by anything, and he doesn’t let it show. He just knew he wanted to be there for his team. He’s all about the team.” Come next year, Kukla will be there for a different team. He recently committed to attend and play basketball at Juniata College in central Pennsylvania.
To read Kukla’s complete profile, please click on the following link: https://www.suburbanonesports.com/featured-athletes/male/seaton-kukla-00104838
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