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TENNIS C ACH HELPS PLAYERS BUILD STRENGTH FOR LIFE TENNIS CHAMPIONS ARE KNOWN for their mental and physical stamina. For many NCCU men’s tennis athletes, the stamina developed under Coach D. Curtis Lawson has had a profound impact on their academic and professional lives. Large numbers of former tennis team members have gone on to study medicine, law, higher education, athletics, business and many more advanced fields. Among those is Dillon Strepay , who joined the team as a walk-on in 2016 and spent the next three years as a varsity player. “Being a student-athlete was one of the best and most formative experiences of my life, and I received second-to-none mentorship from Coach Lawson,” said Strepay, a 2018 graduate who is now a second-year medical student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Lawson is a true Eagle, earning an undergraduate degree in 1987 and a master’s in 1994. He played tennis as an undergraduate and returned for three separate staff coaching appointments, the latest of which started in 2006. 56 I NCCU NOW I FALL 2020
