“How better to create unity other than by sports?”
That the runners-up got the chance to hoist the championship trophy at the Umoja Classic tells you just how much importance was placed on winning the event.
On Feb. 9, NAIT held the basketball game for the first time. Played by roughly two dozen students and staff in recognition of Black History Month, it focused on presence, visibility and representation. The Black, Caribbean and African (BCA) team included players with ties to Ethiopia, Jamaica, Nigeria and more. The World team drew from Latin America, Philippines, Canada and beyond.
Regardless of points of origin, players rallied around the concept of umoja, or unity in Swahili, spoken by more than 150 million people in Africa alone, where it’s the official language of half-a-dozen countries.
“How better to create unity other than by sports?” community and belonging specialist Ola Odanye told fans before the opening jump ball. “It’s going to be fun! Welcome!”
Helped by NAIT Recreation supervisor Tam Rosnau, Odanye led the organizing of the game, which was attended by students and staff, including members of the polytechnic’s executive team.
Unity did not dampen either squad’s will to win. The action on the hardwood played out at a level approaching an Ooks’ game. The pace was brisk, the tension high, and three-pointers were sunk with astonishing frequency. Even the occasional competitor's snarl appeared on the lip of a player striving to deny an opponent a shot.
At the same time, no player falling during a drive to the net was left unaided. Most often, it was a member of the other team extending a hand to help them back to their feet.
In the end, however, a clear winner emerged: BCA sprinted its way to a decisive 57-37 win. The team was the first to raise the golden cup – newly minted for the occasion – before passing it to the World squad following celebrations and photos.
Emmanuel Chukwu (above), a first-year IT Business Analysis student from Nigeria who intends to try out for the Ooks, was the BCA’s top scorer, with 14 points. He’d signed up to play, he said, “just for unity – love, respect for everybody. We are all one. It doesn’t matter the colour.”
Noah Bassil, a NAIT Recreation leader who played with the World, would agree. “It was awesome to be part of the unity of all the different cultures at the school,” he said. Of the outcome, he added, “they were playing tough defense. It was good competition.”
Maybe it was also history in the making. The Umoja Classic trophy includes spaces to engrave names for many years, and Black History Months, to come.
“Everybody wants to play again next year,” says Bassil. “It was a good time.”
