Walter Lum spends the summer with UPB before his final season at Whitman College

August 04, 2022

By Madisen Carter

Once Player Development Intern, Walter Lum, stepped onto the basketball court in the second grade, he knew that basketball would be the sport he would be committed to for life. His parents put him in an eight week long basketball camp at the Olympic Club in Downtown San Francisco where he learned the skills and fundamentals of the sport, and that sparked his interest to keep learning and developing in his game. Now Lum is headed into his final season at Whitman College, and with all of the experience he has so far in his basketball career, he hopes to make this his best season yet. 

Lum graduated from Lick-Wilmerding High School as a four-year Varsity player in 2018. He spent one year at Skyline Community College before transferring to Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington. In his first year, Lum played in nine games and averaged a Whitman team-high 15 points, as well as 4.8 assists and 3.9 rebounds. In his junior season, Lum averaged 13.5 points and 4 assists per game in the 26 games that he played in. He scored a season-high 25 points while shooting 56.3% from the field and hit five three-pointers against Caltech. 

Last season, the Whitman basketball team was only one game shy from going to the NCAA tournament, so for this next season, Lum’s biggest goals for the team are to win the Northwest Conference and to finally make it to the big tournament. Personally, Lum just wants to do all that he can in order for the team to be successful. 

“A personal goal [I have is] just to have the best season I can possibly have to end my time at Whitman. I think for me personally, I'm more just about winning,” Lum said. ”I could be fine with [whatever] my stats [are]... but as long as we're winning, that's all I care about.”

In his last two seasons at Whitman, Lum has learned to be a leader on the court through all of the different personalities that are on his team. He said building his leadership skills will help with the upcoming season because he will be able to pick up on his teammates' habits and be able to mold them to have a better team chemistry. 

Lum has been with Unlimited Potential Basketball since May, and throughout his time training a variety of athletes, that has also helped Lum develop his leadership skills. He has been able to pick up on the client’s personalities and work ethics to be able to figure out a way to push them towards their goals. He said learning from the other player development coaches at UPB has helped prepare him for a successful upcoming season as well. 

“Training with Packie and with the other trainers has been a really good experience just learning new things from them… Especially training with Packie has taught me a lot in terms of just how he goes about training his pros all the way down to the younger kids and breaking stuff down to the very basics," Lum said.

In the last three months at UPB, Lum has enjoyed his time not only on court but off of the court as well. Lum said his favorite part about his time at UPB has been building relationships with the other trainers and being a part of the team bonding events. He said he has enjoyed hearing the other trainer’s experiences and comparing them to his own experiences in the basketball world. 

Next week will be Lum’s final full week at UPB, and then he will head back to Walla Walla to start his final college basketball season at Whitman. We have enjoyed having him on the UPB Team, and we wish him the best of luck in his future endeavors!