Impact Makers

How does an enlightening sports experience which adds a holistic personal and mental skills to an individual help to better equip one to succeed. The education we talk about in this episode is not the formal education system but rather an experience that teaches and equips one with physical, mental, and moral skills that goes beyond the field of play and can be applied to life in general also.

To succeed at anything in Life you have to get out of your comfort zone.

To impact the world you need to go out of your comfort zone.

Briana William holds a Mercer School record of scoring the highest number of points in a single game with 54pts. Her college basketball journey was not smooth, she joined us to share her journey from high school through to college and also post college. Brianna was raised in a strong christian family with both parents playing basketball, she picked up from were her parents left off and she is the first in her family to graduate from a 4 year college. She has played oversees against some of the best womens basketball players in the US and Europe.

Jemaa Yuori is currently a Ghanaian student-athlete at the Albertus Magnus in the USA. Jemaa is from the Northern Region of Ghana in West Africa and is amongst the few Ghanaian basketball student-athletes that have worked their way from playing basketball in Ghana to playing in the USA. Jemaa has overcome many common challenges faced by young student-athletes in Africa. Jemaa Yuori is also an excellent academic student who was selected in the All-Academic Team for Division 1 basketball in the NCAA at the end of the 2015-2016 academic year.

Jemaa Yuori is currently a Ghanaian student-athlete at the Albertus Magnus in the USA. Jemaa is from the Northern Region of Ghana in West Africa and is amongst the few Ghanaian basketball student-athletes that have worked their way from playing basketball in Ghana to playing in the USA. Jemaa has overcome many common challenges faced by young student-athletes in Africa. Jemaa Yuori is also an excellent academic student who was selected in the All-Academic Team for Division 1 basketball in the NCAA at the end of the 2015-2016 academic year.

Godwin Owinje is the Director of Basketball Operations of Giants of Africa and he shares how basketball helped him to become who he is today. Godwin Owinje is also the co-founder of Giants of Africa, he started from a poor background in Nigeria. Through playing basketball he got a scholarship to continue his education and basketball in the USA at Georgetown University. He is now giving back to what the sport gave him through GOA camps and community outreach programmes.

We had the privilege of sitting down with Masai Ujiri who is the first African to be appointed as the president of an NBA team. Masai Ujiri is also the founder of non-profit Giants of Africa Foundation, he is a Nigerian who got the opportunity to further his education and basketball in the USA and through that opportunity he is now playing a key role in the NBA. Masai has not kept his wealth and experience to himself rather he is giving back to the continent of Africa through his Giants of Africa Foundation. Every year Masai comes back to runs various top level basketball camps for the next generation of basketball student-athletes in Africa. The camps has expanded from one country to six country since it's frist camp in Nigeria in 2003.

After elevating his game from Senegal to the USA Assane Sene became a top ranked high school player and ended up in one of the top colleges in the USA. He was featured in the documentary Elevate which told his story to the world of how basketball had helped him to access opportunities which he could have never dreamt of when he was a child in Senegal. He went on to play at the University of Virginia and after graduating played a few years of professional basketball in europe, retiring after an injury. Assane is now coaching at South Kent School in the USA as an assistant coach and he spends most of his summer holidays travelling back to Africa to inspire and give back to the continent that gave birth to him. Visit the website to view more about Assane's story. 

Patrick Engelbrecht is an accomplished scout currently with the Toronto Raptors in the NBA. He has travelled all around the world scouting and developing young talents both on and off the basketball coutr. He is also the lead Instructor for Giants of Africa founded by Masai Ujiri who is the GM of the Toronto Raptors.Today the GOA Top 50 Camp has developed players at the local, national, international and professional levels. Patrick is from South Africa and understands the African player and knows what is needed to succeed at the next level.

InsideOutCoaching host Coach Isaac sat with Head Coach of the University of Ghana mens basketball team Meme Falconer who is also known as Mr. Basketball in the Ghanaian basketball circles to share some of the lessons he has learnt as a player and coach. Coach Meme led his university team to a record setting season of becoming the first Ghanaian university to ever compete in and win the Federation of Africa University Sports Basketball Championship held in Johannesburge South Africa in July 2016.