FROM A DC LIVING ROOM TO CONTINENTAL COURTS: SITTING DOWN WITH COACH OBJ & WHY AFRICAN SPORTS ARE ENTERING THEIR MOMENT
LEAD
Today I had the privilege of sitting down with Coach OBJ — a Washington, D.C. native who left the comfort of home decades ago and poured his life into building basketball in Nigeria. What began as a “quick visit” turned into hours of storytelling, archives spread across the couch, and a living blueprint for how sport can calm conflict, grow community, and unlock talent where no formal pathway exists. His journey is a signal: Africa isn’t waiting for the global sports industry to arrive. It’s building from the ground up — and Preps.com is here to help document, connect, and scale it.
WHY THIS MEETING MATTERS
In every emerging sports market there’s a generation that did the hard building before cameras showed up. Coach OBJ is one of those people. He believed in the power of the game when there were more dirt surfaces than hardwood, more doubt than funding, and more conflict than organized leagues. Sitting with him isn’t nostalgia; it’s strategy. The lessons from his work are exactly what we need now as African youth populations explode, scouting globalizes, and federations, clubs, schools, and private groups scramble to build real development systems.
WHO IS COACH OBJ? (FAST FACTS)
Born and raised in Washington, D.C.
Relocated to Nigeria decades ago to grow the game of basketball at the grassroots level.
Helped transform informal community courts into organized teaching hubs.
Used basketball activations in areas touched by violence or sectarian tension — getting kids competing together instead of across lines of conflict.
Advocate for coach education: taught fundamentals, progression by age, and structured development before “player pathway” was a buzzword.
Collaborated in programs and outreach connected to Nigerian basketball greats, including the inspiration chain that runs through Hakeem Olajuwon’s global success. That visibility lit fires under countless young players across the country.
Documented the movement. Authored and distributed Grassroots Basketball Development guides so coaches in remote or under-resourced areas had curriculum, drills, and community-building frameworks.
Chronicled his journey in memoir/biographical works such as The Man 80-80: An Adventurous Life, preserving the early history of organized hoops growth in Nigeria.
Still active as a mentor, historian, and connector — handing over playbooks, print guides, and lived experience to the next generation of builders.
BASKETBALL AS A PEACE TOOL
One of the most powerful threads in Coach OBJ’s story is how the game became neutral ground. In communities where youth were being pulled toward unrest, he and local partners staged mixed-team tournaments, open-skill clinics, and “play-don’t-fight” days that required shared uniforms, shared benches, and shared celebration. When rival neighborhoods huddle under one rim, the conversation changes. Sport won’t solve every structural problem — but it can slow escalation, create communication channels, and reframe what winning looks like for a community.
THE HAKEEM EFFECT — BELIEF IS CONTAGIOUS
Ask almost any Nigerian hoop head of a certain era and the name Hakeem Olajuwon isn’t just NBA greatness; it’s proof of concept. Coach OBJ leaned into that moment. By pointing to a Nigerian who became an NBA champion and global icon, he recruited belief. That belief justified clinics, justified pushing fundamentals, justified parents letting kids travel to play. When young bigs saw someone “from where we’re from” dominate the world stage, the idea of structured development stopped sounding like fantasy.
DOCUMENTATION = INFRASTRUCTURE
Courts matter. Coaches matter. But documentation is what lets the work scale. Coach OBJ’s grassroots manuals took the knowledge in his head and put it in the hands of teachers, youth leaders, and community organizers far from major cities. That’s infrastructure. Written drills. Age-band teaching points. How to lay out a court when you don’t have regulation lines. How to run a local jamboree. How to tie sport to school attendance or health messaging. In emerging systems, paper can be as important as pavement.
WHY AFRICA’S SPORTS MOMENT IS NOW
Youth Surge: Africa holds the world’s youngest population. Participation demand is rising faster than facilities. Whoever helps organize that curve will shape the next 25 years of global sport.
Scouting Has Globalized: European clubs, MLS academies, NBA Africa, WNBA talent ID, and private combines are all looking outward. Data + video + verified biometrics = opportunity.
Diaspora Capital & Knowledge: Coaches, trainers, technologists, and former athletes across the U.S., UK, and Europe are re-engaging with home countries. Coach OBJ did this before it was fashionable; now the network effect is real.
Digital Tracking Changes Everything: Once player data lives in a structured, searchable environment (hello Preps database), the “unknown” athlete becomes visible. Visibility attracts investment.
Multi-Sport Crossover: Basketball frameworks — coach ed, small-sided reps, teaching space, conflict mediation — translate directly into soccer, volleyball, rugby sevens, and track development models.
HOW PREPS.COM IS BUILDING ON THIS LEGACY
Our work at Preps.com (with partners across L.I.G Sports, Blue Chip curriculum, and a widening Nigerian network) is about turning scattered brilliance into connected systems.
What we’re doing:
National Youth Athlete Registry (Pilot: Nigeria): Aggregating player info U15–U20 and younger — starting with soccer and expanding to basketball — so scouts, schools, clubs, and development programs can see the landscape, not just their zip code.
Coach & Curriculum Exchange: Adapting proven development frameworks (including lessons learned from Coach OBJ’s manuals) into modern, mobile-friendly teaching packets for academies, school programs, and community courts.
Video + Data Capture Pipelines: Simple upload-to-profile flows so a village tournament can end up in front of a pro scout, college recruiter, or development NGO without losing fidelity.
Peace-Linked Programming: Packaging “sport + community outcomes” modules — attendance incentives, health screenings, conflict mediation roundtables — modeled on the approaches pioneers like Coach OBJ deployed.
Story Archive: Recording oral histories and scanning physical materials (books, flyers, manuals, photos) so the first generation of builders doesn’t disappear into memory. The photos from my visit are the start of that archive.
LESSONS FROM COACH OBJ THAT APPLY ACROSS SPORTS
Start where kids already gather, not where funding wishes they gathered.
Teach the teachers; coach education produces exponential impact.
Don’t wait for perfect facilities — mark lines, improvise goals, start reps.
Tie sport to school, health, or civic participation; it deepens community buy-in.
Document everything: rosters, drills, schedules, outcomes, photos, costs. Data attracts partners.
Celebrate local success stories — they are the recruiting engine for the next class.
Bridge diaspora expertise back home; global to local is a two-way street.
WHAT’S NEXT
Our conversation didn’t end with nostalgia. We sketched next steps:
Digitizing Coach OBJ’s Grassroots Basketball Development materials so any community in Nigeria can download and implement sessions.
Filming a multi-part sit-down on the history of Nigerian grassroots hoops — lessons other sports can steal today.
Mapping crossover programming where basketball courts become multi-sport hubs after hours.
Connecting peace-focused youth sport initiatives in conflict-sensitive regions with data capture so outcomes can be measured and funded.