Anonymous
Years ago

Deng Adel secures US high school scholarship

http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2013/08/24/sudanese-refugee-secures-us-sports-scholarship

A young Sudanese refugee, who settled in Australia almost ten years ago, is one step closer to his dream of playing in the NBA, after being offered a $20,000 sports scholarship at a Florida high school.

Not bad for a teenager who only picked up a basketball four years ago.

Seventeen years' old, two-metres tall and leaping into an international basketball career, Melbourne teenager Deng Adel is on the brink of a yet another new life, and he can't wipe the smile off his face.

"I'm extremely excited, I haven't been sleeping properly the last couple of days," Deng says.

A few weeks' ago, Deng caught the eye of a recruiter, who helped set up a $20,000 scholarship for him at a Florida high school.

And it's not hard to see the appeal.

"If you're trying to do really fancy dunks you have to jump but for me, I have really long arms so I don't really have to jump that much to slam dunk the ball," he says.

But basketball wasn't always Deng's sport of choice.

"I used to play soccer (but) one of the factors was my growing spurt, because I kinda grew so I thought, soccer would be a bit tough so I just started playing basketball from there."

Almost 10 years ago Deng fled Sudan, settling in Melbourne with his family.

"When I got here, went to primary school, didn't know much English at all, so hard to fit in, talk to people was really hard."

His father still lives in the African nation but Deng can't imagine life there again.

"So many wars back in Sudan. It wasn't fun, because I was young there was a lot of gun shots and things, we used to have a hiding spot where, if we would like see planes we would run and there and hide from all that violence."

Though his family will miss Deng when he's in the US, they're very proud.

"I feel really good, it's a good opportunity, he deserves that, because he worked really hard for it," says Deng's sister, Monica.

Now Deng hopes he can inspire other youths in the Sudanese community.

"I'm just making sure they know that you can get anywhere by just trying your best and staying focused on it."

Deng leaves for America on Tuesday.

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