Vancouver actor gets ‘Swagger’ on with UBC man’s basketball team | 24CA News
There was a bit little bit of star energy sprinkled on the common drills on the UBC Thunderbirds males’s basketball crew follow Tuesday.
The playoff-bound squad was joined on the court docket by an up-and-coming native actor, who has netted himself a significant position on Swagger, the AppleTV+ present impressed by the lifetime of Phoenix Suns star ahead Kevin Durant.
“The atmosphere just today, you could tell there was a different feel out there,” Thunderbirds captain Brian Wallack advised Global News.
“Guys were a lot more energized, a lot more high fives going on.”
Solomon Irama, 20, performs Phil Marksby, a tricky centre with a coronary heart of gold who performs alongside basketball prodigy Jace Carson, performed by Isaiah Hill.
A Vancouver native, Irama is not any stranger to basketball — he began enjoying at age three and was a member of the Vancouver Point Grey basketball crew in highschool.
“It’s truly amazing, man, it means a lot to me,” he stated, courtside, of the prospect to play with the native college squad.
“It’s definitely next level. A lot more like what I was seeing when I went to the ‘States to film Swagger … Great competition, fun time.”
Irama has movie credit relationship again to when he was only one 12 months outdated, however Swagger is his breakout position.
“It’s really been a journey, man,” he stated of touchdown the position.
“(The show) wants to tackle a lot of world problems … what it stands for, I am very proud to be a part of it.”
Along the best way, he’s had an opportunity to satisfy Durant, who government produces the present.
“He’s a cool guy, a down-to-earth guy,” he stated of the NBA legend.
UBC males’s basketball head coach Kevin Hanson stated he’d began watching Swagger after Irama attended one of many crew’s video games earlier this season, and was happy to get to see him on the court docket.
“One of the things we preach is trying to network with the community and to have someone of his status, being a television series celeb, it’s kind of fun, you can see the smiles on the guys’ faces and to have him interact and joking and have some fun is good,” he stated.
“I was wondering about what his basketball skills were going to be like. He actually is looking to attend university someday.”
Irama, for his half, appears intensely targeted on the place he’s proper now.
And with season two of Swagger within the books, he’s holding a eager eye on whether or not it will get picked up for a 3rd.
“I have to do certain things, keep up my training, keep up my abilities,” he stated.
“There’s definitely differences (between basketball and acting) but there are similarities — for both things, you have to keep up your repetition… you’ve got to keep up the work, and never stop.”
It appears that work is paying off on the display screen, and to listen to the UBC squad inform it, on the court docket as effectively.
“He’s a hooper too, by the way,” Wallack stated.
“He was hitting some hook shots from the foul line, his three-ball was falling too. He moves really well for a big man, we might have to pick him up at some point.”
© 2024 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
