A total of five student-athletes – four from C.I. Gibson Senior High School – received an opportunity to continue their education and basketball careers after they signed to play for Northeast Community College (NECC) in Norfolk, Nebraska, in the fall of 2021.
The four from the C.I. Gibson Rattlers are Charles Joseph, Saheed Sanusi, Emaniel Alexandre and Jaden Strachan. The fifth player is Colin Stuart who plays with the quartet on the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) circuit.
Head Coach of the Rattlers basketball team, Kevin “KJ” Johnson, said the players were seen by the coach at NECC while they were playing in the United States last year.
“We traveled during the pandemic under the right protocols. America was open and they were allowing tournaments and stuff like that to go on so I took advantage of that and a lot of college coaches took advantage of that also. They had four or five options to go elsewhere but they wanted to stick together and the opportunity came up where they could all go to the same school and they jumped on it. It will be good for them so that they could work with each other, push each other and help each other along the way,” Johnson said.
Joseph, a center for the Rattlers, said it was a dream come true, to get an opportunity to play college basketball.
“While signing, I couldn’t believe that I got a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to play at the next level. It has always been a dream of mine to play college basketball so for this to be happening I am in awe. I am appreciative to NECC and also satisfied with myself for putting in the hard work that got me to this point,” Joseph said.
Sanusi, a nifty point guard, will be looking to get a degree in sports management. He is happy to have received an opportunity to play college basketball. Sanusi is looking to learn more about the game he loves.
“In the collegiate level, I’m looking forward to improving, take my ability to control the floor, and my leadership skills to NECC. Also, after I complete my associates degree, the main goal will be to get to a four-year division one school to finish off my bachelor’s degree in sports management, which I know won’t be easy but with relentless work and God on my side, I know I will make it through,” Sanusi said.
The NECC Hawks finished the 2020-2021 season with a 3-20 win/loss season, ending the season on an 11-game losing streak. They play in the Iowa Community College Athletic Conference and finished with a 3-19 record in conference play. Alexandre, a combo guard, said he will be looking to help the Hawks turn that season around.
“I’m looking to put this college back on the map next season because they just had a horrible season and most of the players left. Now the five of us are going there, and ball like we never did before to give the school the name they had before,” Alexandre stated. “I am very happy to receive this opportunity. I want to thank God for blessing me to get this opportunity to continue my basketball career and get an education through basketball. I also realize that hard work pays off because for the past three years at C.I. Gibson, I have worked hard on and off the basketball court being a student-athlete. I knew that this day and time was going to come and I want to thank God for blessing me with this opportunity.”
The last time the Rattlers played as a team was in February 2020 when they lost the Government Secondary Schools Sports Association (GSSSA) Championship to the Doris Johnson Mystic Marlins two games to one. The COVID-19 pandemic forced sports to be shut down in the school system after that. Strachan, a shooting guard, said that it was disappointing to not play in his senior season, but he was grateful to Johnson for the opportunity to play on the AAU circuit.
“It was disappointing and hard that I did not get to play basketball in my senior year but I was blessed that Coach Johnson took us away to Orlando, Florida and Phoenix, Arizona to play in big tournaments. It was a great experience but it was very tough that we could not play here, but God knows best,” Strachan said.
Strachan will also be studying sports management. The guard said that getting this opportunity shows that hard work on and off the basketball court as a student-athlete pays off.
The pandemic had a silver lining for Sanusi as he fractured his shin right before the pandemic, and the time off allowed him to heal.
Johnson said he had his players engaged and they were active during the pandemic.
“It has been very difficult during the pandemic for us, but we were doing a lot of training at home,” said Johnson. “We sent out personal workouts to ensure they were working hard at home. They stayed current and in shape until time for us to travel and we were able to compete and secure scholarships.”
Johnson said there are more signings to come for both Rattlers boys and girls athletes in the coming weeks.
The post Rattlers set to go off to school appeared first on The Nassau Guardian.
source https://thenassauguardian.com/rattlers-set-to-go-off-to-school/
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