Basketball Funding

Over the years, our club the Tokyo Samurai have tried to do whatever we can to help young men reach their basketball dreams. A few years back, I was contacted by a young man from Nigeria who desperately wanted to be a part of our program. This young man had been recruited from Nigeria to play in one of the bigger Japanese high schools. He wanted his chance to play for the Samurai so he could get a chance to play in the US. Because he was on scholarship, his Japanese coach would not allow him to play with us. He recently graduated Japanese high school and still wants to follow his dream of playing in the US. The young man contacted us and we’ve been trying to help him with the process. We’ve been working, like we do with all of our guys to find the best options for him. He’s been offered a full scholarship to a university next fall. Usually this becomes a fairly easy process for most players, but in this case, there are a number of steps he needs to take and fees he has to pay before he can earn the scholarship. Being from Nigeria, he comes from a family where even these fees are quite difficult to pay. While in high school, he also suffered a pretty significant knee injury. Though the school covered the costs for the surgery, they didn’t offer him much in terms of rehabilitation. He was able to get back to play but there are still issues he needs to work through. Through some of our contacts, we were able to get our young player a chance to be able to practice with one of the local pro teams. They have offered to have him practice with them but also help him with some of his rehab. This is a fantastic opportunity for him, however even this is ¥1,000 one way by train to get to the practice facility for him. We have tried to figure a way that he could work to pay for some if his expenses but under his visa, it is complicated. I would like to be able to help this young man fulfill his dream and impact his life in a major way to earn his college degree through basketball. I’m hoping some in our community may be able to help and contribute. We are asking for enough for him to be able to commute back and forth to practice and pay for some of the additional fees he’ll need.