Cookie Consent by Free Privacy Policy website World team player Deandre Ayton set to dominate nike hoop summit
aprile 13, 2016 - Nike

World team player Deandre Ayton set to dominate nike hoop summit

Comunicato Stampa disponibile solo in lingua originale. 

Press release available only in original language. 

Four years ago, #deandreayton left his friends, family and hometown in the Bahamas and moved 2,500 miles to San Diego, California, to pursue his basketball dream. The move came just one year after Ayton began taking the game seriously at the age of 12, when he already stood at 6 feet 8 inches.

“To me it wasn’t a tough decision. I was ready to go,” says Ayton, who is now 17 and seven feet tall. “But for my mom and dad, it was tough to let me go so young. I never got homesick, never wanted to come home. But it was pretty hard making friends at first.”

The challenge can be partially attributed to Ayton’s rigid schedule upon arrival in San Diego. “It was very hard,” he recalls. “Sometimes, I would go to bed late, have to get up and do homework before I went to school. I was in the gym two or three hours a day, twice a day, in the morning and after school. It was a big commitment.”

Then there were the difficulties that come with changing cultures — and general teenage growing pains. “The Bahamas dialect and accent is very different so the other kids were always making fun of me, and for two years I just wasn’t that good [at basketball]. I wasn’t coordinated and the other kids started calling me TFN: Tall for nothing!”

The ends soon justified the means, however, as Ayton, whose only previous sporting experience had been as a soccer goalkeeper, began to make huge strides and getting attention — a YouTube channel even produced a highlights video that declared Ayton to be the “best eighth grader in the world.

“Around the eighth grade, that’s when I started thinking I was getting good, when I saw the video,” confirms Ayton, who transferred to Hillcrest Hoops Prep Academy in Phoenix, Arizona, prior to his junior year. “I saw it, watched it over and over, saw all the other kids on there and wondered where I was and I was finally on it. That’s when I started thinking I might be good. I was pretty happy, I called my mom, told her about it and she said, ‘That’s what you get when you work hard.'”

Today, Ayton may spend his off-court time chilling, relaxing and playing video games, but his commitment to the game has remained steadfast since he agreed to attend the famous Jeff Rodgers Basketball Camp in the Bahamas in 2011.

“Everyone was saying I should try basketball so my mom put me in the Jeff Rodgers Camp, even though I knew I wasn’t any good. But I think that’s when my competitiveness just took over; I wanted to be better than everybody else, better than the coaches and teachers even. Whatever the sessions — dribbling, lay-up lines, handling the ball — I wanted to be better than everybody else in my age group. So I watched everybody closely, watched the coaches and then tried to do my best. That’s what competitiveness means and that’s how I got better and fell in love with the game.”

This work ethic can be directly traced to Ayton’s mother and stepfather, who raised him and his four siblings in Nassau, the capital of the Bahamas. “Growing up there I was not exactly fortunate,” explains Ayton. “My parents tried to show us a little bit of the good life and they worked very hard to get us what we wanted, mostly, and what we needed, so I got a good childhood. But at a young age I knew what my parents were going through and knew what life was about. They talked to me and knew what I wanted in life, what I wanted to accomplish. That’s when I fell in love with basketball. I started getting older, doing more in basketball, being more mature and went off to school in the States.”

The return on that early decision can be seen in Ayton’s selection to the World Select Team at 2016 #nike Hoop Summit. Beyond the summit, a college basketball scholarship and a place in the NBA appear likely next steps in his eventful basketball journey. “I want the opportunity to go to college,” he affirms. “I really want to win a national championship with college and be part of March Madness, then, hopefully, go on to the next level and be successful in the right way and always keep working.”

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