Coleman defies the odds for Carolina

Justin Coleman has been playing basketball since the age of five and is now a senior member of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s varsity men’s basketball team.

However, his road to success was not like most other Division I basketball players.

During an AAU game in his sophomore year of high school, Coleman attempted to dunk and slid into a wall head rst, breaking three vertebrae in his neck— an injury that frequently leads to paralysis.

“The doctors still don’t know why I’m not paralyzed,” Coleman said.

The injury left him with 10 screws and two plates inside him, and the doctors said he would never play sports again. Coleman, though, was determined to defy his doctor’s prognosis.

“I always had a hunch,” Coleman said. “I don’t know if it was denial, but somehow I had a feeling I was going to play again.”

A conference held by his surgeons during his junior year of high school gave him the answer he had known all along: he could start playing basketball again.

“Some of the doctors said, ‘Why would you let this kid play again?’ And others said, ‘Well, why would you not? He loves basketball, and it’s what he wants to do,’” Coleman said.

Coleman offered advice to teenagers who are going through physical and emotional troubles. “Stay busy,” he said. “If you can deal with it, deal with [it] in a positive way. If you sit back and let it take over, it can.”

It was too late for Coleman to play for his junior season at Broughton High School in Raleigh, so he began preparing for his senior season, which turned out to be a success.

It was during his senior year that he found out he had been accepted to the school of his dreams: the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC).

His freshman and sophomore years at UNC were spent hooping for the men’s JV basketball team, an experience Coleman is extremely thankful for.

“It’s always in the back of every JV player’s mind—that they want to play varsity—but JV was such a good experience,” he said.

In his junior year, his dream came true. Coleman was promoted to the varsity team.

“It was something else. I mean, it was one of those situations where I couldn’t even feel my body,” Coleman said. “I was just so awestruck; I was so thankful; it was just amazing,”

Coleman said joining the nationally ranked varsity team was not as intimidating or as diffcult as one might think.

“They’re my brothers,” Coleman said of his teammates. He added that the scholarship players treated the walk-ons equally upon their call-up.

“They treat me the same way; the coaches are very great to me. At a lot of schools, you get different experiences, but I know for a fact that Carolina treats me with the utmost respect,” he said.

Being coached by Roy Williams is a dream for many young players, Coleman included.

“It’s truly amazing; it really is. Basically, I look at him as a father figure,” Coleman stated. “I mean, I can’t ask for anything better. He’s just the best coach that I’ve ever had.”

Coleman’s main goal is to win a championship. Although this is a tough task, Coleman has never been one to back down from a challenge.

When asked to describe his time playing for UNC in one word, he paused for a moment and then responded, “Fantasy.”

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