"Playing Basketball In A Place Where No One Cared About It Shaped Me To Become The Player I Am Today"... The Basketball Journey Of Otas Iyekekpolor.
In the last few months, the world took a dramatic shift as people socialization, and companies were forced to shut down. With COVID-19 still occurring across the globe, many of us find it challenging to stay poise due to the restrictions that are forced upon us for our safety. However, one of the things that brought humanity hope this summer was the return of sports like NBA, NHL, and CEBL. These sports provided society with a positive form of entertainment and involvement as most people are encouraged to remain at home to keep their loved ones safe.
Even though sport has proven to be a vessel of positive change and growth for youth and professionals worldwide, the aspect that isn’t as encouraged in pursuing sports is understanding the importance of education. When the next generation of athletes witness LeBron James make a flashy dunk or Stephen Curry hitting a deep three, most of these young athletes only look towards making it to the big leagues and disregard the importance of being educated in society. Basketball and sport may not last forever as no one knows what could happen tomorrow. This pandemic illustrated that dark thought as sport was suspended for a long time with no time table for making a return. Many NBA players such as CJ McCullom have been a crucial activist about this topic as he believes that education shouldn’t be something thrown on the side when pursuing sports and instead should be one of the most important goals.
Not too long ago, I was given the opportunity and honour to interview Otas Iyekekpolor, a player that was highly skilled in scoring while being an excellent and hard-working student. His journey towards the game was a very inspiring one for me to write about and should be an example for many young athletes that want to pursue basketball the right way. However, where did his passion for the game begin?
Born on June 20, 1996, in Edmonton Alberta, Otas Iyekekpolor was blessed to be born in Canada with two very hard-working parents. Growing up, both his parents encouraged Otas and his other siblings the importance of education and hard work. His father worked on getting his Ph.D. while his mother completed her masters when they both moved from Nigeria to Canada.
From the moment that Otas was born, his parents strongly encouraged and pushed him to do well in school. However, sports caught his attention as a young kid, as he was passionate about physical activity. From soccer to basketball, Otas was a very active kid and wanted to play every sport his school offered. But basketball was Iyekekpolor’s favourite sport as he instantly fell in love with every aspect of the game.
“I really love playing basketball from day one. Speaking to you is very humbling for me to see where I have come from and bring out my natural love for the game, I just love everything about the game. It’s a lot of hard work and discipline but it’s never an inconvenience or a burden to me.”
Otas developed a unique love for the game through his older brother. Growing up, he would always witness his brother playing basketball and would travel with his family to watch him play in tournaments. Even though Otas loved the game for other reasons, his role model when pursuing the game was his older brother. However, if Otas could dedicate his entire basketball career to anyone, it would be his parents due to how supportive they were about his dream while encouraging academics at a young age. Having a parental figure that supports you and encourages you to strive for the best is a massive factor in a child’s success. Otas managed to become a pro-athlete while finishing his program in just three years instead of the usual four! His dedication and persistence created his success in both the academic world and the athletic world due to his parent’s fundamental teachings. His parents always encouraged him to get the best grades because education shapes society and provides you with meaning. Pursuing university isn’t meant for finding a job, but instead is a place where you find yourself and what your passions and purposes are. For Otas, he discovered his passion a long time ago, which was basketball, but, human anatomy is something that he plans to pursue once he calls it a career. He uses basketball as a funnel to continue his academic goals, which is incredibly inspiring.
Otas Iyekekpolar’s parents made it clear how important education is, but they also supported his basketball dream and provided him with everything he needed to succeed in the game. From purchasing sneakers to installing a basketball hoop in front of his house, Otas had a strict routine but was always encouraged to be the best that he possibly can be. In elementary, Otas was one of the best athletes in his school, but it wasn’t until high school where his basketball skills started to sky-rocket!
Suppose a person wanted to pursue professional athletics. In that case, the first thing that is encouraged for any athlete to do is to play multiple sports, which is precisely what Otas did growing up. His goal was to be on every single team he could be on. In high school, his schedule for the year was always studying while shifting from sport to sport. Playing basketball was the most exciting part of the school year, but while he would wait for the season, he would join other sports such as Volleyball, Soccer, Badminton, Cross Country, Track and Field and any other physical activities he would find. His work ethic was beyond comprehension, as he never gave up. The only problem for him was the school he played for when entering high school.
“Playing basketball in Edmonton was very different when I was coming up and out of high school. I went to a school called Lillian Osborne, and I remember the first year that I was there was the first year where they had all three grades. I never went to the top athletic-based schools like Harry Ainley or Strathcona, so I was a trailblazer in my regard in a sense where I had to make my own path to make it to Division 1 which was not traditional at the time.”
The moment that Otas picked up a basketball, his dream was to play for a Division 1 school. However, playing basketball in Edmonton, Alberta, at a school where athletics was scarce at the time was problematic at the surface level. For some people. It would have been disheartening to play your favourite sport in a place where no one cares about it. But for Otas, he used his situation as motivation and would consistently work on his game every day until he graduated.
“Playing basketball in a place where it wasn’t that big at the time was an interesting experience for me but a good one. I had to set myself accountable when I didn’t work hard. I had to make sure that I was putting the time in even to get a shot to get noticed because if I missed a day of work, it was like missing a week of classes.”
The aspect that makes iyekekpolar’s story so inspiring is that he never gave up despite basketball not being popular when he played. In the present day, every kid wants to play basketball as it is slowly evolving to the number sport in all of Canada! Otas’s situation would end up being the best thing that ever happened to him in his career as he would average 28 points and 17 rebounds granting him the best basketball player in Edmonton at the time! His production was so impactful that division 1 schools in the United States started to gain interest in signing him. Many schools expressed interest in Otas, but he ended up settling with the University of Central Arkansas as they were the only school that offered him a contract right away! Otas would play four years in Arkansas and then transfer to a Division 2 school where he would play his best college basketball season averaging 10 points, 6 rebounds, and a block a game! Once his college career would come to an end, he decided to join the CEBL in 2019 as a member of the Fraser Valley Bandits, where his professional career began something that he never expected to achieve!
Iyekekpolor’s journey to the pros is one of the most unique stories I have ever written about due to how hard it is to make it to a Division 1 school while playing in Edmonton Alberta, a place where hockey is more popular than anything else. The fact that Otas received interest from various schools in the United States should give you an idea of how great he played in Lillian Osborne. As good as he was in basketball, he received so many offers due to his hard work and his dedication towards his academics. Basketball granted him entry to various schools and took it upon himself to finish his degree as quickly and efficiently.
The lesson that can be learned about Otas Iyekekpolar’s journey to basketball is that sometimes you might be placed in difficult situations to pursue your dream or goals. However, your situation doesn’t define you, it’s what you do afterwards to work around it that does. For Otas, he could have accepted his situation in playing for a small school in Edmonton where basketball was not even popular, but instead, he worked around it as his dreams out-weight his struggle by a vast margin. Today, Otas is an accomplished professional basketball player with many years left in the tank while having a degree under his belt. As accomplished as he is, basketball will forever be his number one passion as it is much more than just a ball bouncing on a hardwood floor!
“With basketball, I find that you can never be perfect in the game, and instead, it is something you have to work towards constantly. If you don’t work on your handles consistently, they’re going to suck. If you don’t work on your shot, your shot will suck; if you’re out of shape and have dreams of becoming a professional athlete, you have to work towards it because it’s your responsibility to get in shape. The best thing about basketball is, you can pick up a ball, put on some shoes, and always play the game. Even in quarantine, you can still train your body and work, making it an everlasting goal. That’s what makes basketball so special and valuable to me”
