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Transcript

E40: Mu Okonkwo on abandoning soccer for basketball

"I watched Lebron James and I knew I had to move."

One random sunny day in Owerri, Nigeria, Mu’s friends convinced him to follow them to the basketball court. Their pitch? A scout was coming who would take promising prospects to the Ejike Ugboaja annual bootcamp — the biggest basketball camp in Nigeria.

Now, Mu only had eyes for soccer, or football as we call it back in Nigeria.

But a couple of months after that well-timed visit to the basketball court, Mu was actively scheming to move to the United States on a scholarship to play college basketball.

He joined me on The Newcomers Podcast to chat about:

  • Forging his Dad’s signature so the scout could formally keep working with him to secure his college scholarship

  • Getting to the United States and discovering that his little knowledge of basketball was useless

  • Going pro in 2019

  • Adjusting to the social nuances of the American culture, and more.

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