By Owen McCue
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Sitting in the Daskalakis Athletic Center in University City last November, Kam Waters didn’t know yet he’d be suiting up for one of the teams on the floor a season later.
Waters and his Springside Chestnut Hill Academy team went and watched a Drexel home game against Georgian Court on Nov. 4 — about a month and a half before the Lions’ staff began to recruit him.
Six months later on April 28, Waters announced his commitment to Georgian Court, where he will play on full athletic/academic scholarship.
“It kind of like came back all around together,” Waters said.
Kam Waters (above) committed to D-II Georgian Court earlier this spring. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)
Waters is a wiry 6-foot-3 guard with bounce who has used his athleticism to make highlight plays on both ends of the floor during his career at SCHA, as well as help the Blue Devils win a lot of games.
He averaged 10.3 ppg and 4.8 rpg this season to earn second team All-Inter-Ac honores. His long wingspan also contributed to four deflections per game.
Georgian Court second-year head coach Dave Fedor and his staff foresee Waters as a key piece moving forward as they try to improve on a 6-21 campaign in his debut season.
“They were kind of in a rebuilding process, last year because last year was his first year as the head coach there,” Waters said. “It wasn’t really like a pitch, but it was if you become a part of this team, we can see how you will build around this team and allow us to get better.”
Georgian Court first started to pursue Waters after a holiday tournament in Atlantic City this December when the Blue Devils picked up wins over Williamstown (N.J.), St. Michael the Archangel (Va.), and Atlantic Christian (N.J.).
Lions’ assistant Tyreek Montgomery was in attendance for all three games and told Waters he liked the way he impacted the game on and off the court. Montgomery continued to stay in touch.
Waters saw Georgian Court in person for the second time during a visit in February. His last visit came April 27.
After touring the campus, he took part in a camp on the same day, playing against a few other transfer portal kids and unsigned seniors. As soon as the runs ended, one of the Lions’ assistants told Waters’ mother a scholarship offer was soon to come.
Despite interest from a handful of other Division II programs like Cal U, Chestnut Hill and West Chester and other communication with programs at the JUCO and NAIA levels, it was an easy decision to commit to Georgian Court a day later.
“It was kind of one of those surreal feelings,” Waters said. “They believed in what I can do off the first 30 minutes to an hour (they saw me play). If they can see me in their program doing something to help them, then obviously I would make a change.”
"We are so proud of Kam," SCH coach Julian McFadden told CoBL. "In a time that is tough for high school recruits, Kam continued to work hard and consistently outplay guys around him. Special, special kid who is going to have an awesome career."
Waters wasn’t sure of the details yet, but expected to get to campus in July and is ready to get to work right away.
“As every coach has said to me, just building muscle, getting stronger, trying to keep your frame but get a little more muscle in your frame because I’m still a little lanky,” Waters said were the Lions’ staff’s goals for him. “They were obviously like, ‘Your athleticism is there. We’re going to increase your athleticism, but we’re going to get you stronger, increase your shot making. (I’m focused on) becoming more of a stronger guard too because at this level I’m going to play the ‘1’ or the ‘2’.”
While Waters made his name known over the last two years both with SCHA during the winter and BW Elite in the spring and summer, there was a time when he had some doubt about his future in basketball.
He entered his sophomore season at SCHA expecting to crack the varsity rotation before a broken foot cost him his season.
“That was probably one of the hardest times as far as where my future was going to head to as far as basketball,” Waters said. “When you’re a kid, you always want to play college basketball and then play professionally later. With that bump in the road, I was like, ‘I don't know what’s going to happen.’”
Looking back now ready to take the step in his basketball career, Waters reflects on the experience as a huge reason as to why he is the player he is today.
“I tell everybody it was a blessing and a curse at the same time,” said Waters, who plans to study business at Georgian Court.
“It hurt a lot because I didn’t get to play, but it was a blessing because I got to visualize what I needed to work on, what I needed to do, and how I needed to impact that team in order to become a scholarship player.”
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