Ashton Uwamaliya decided a few years ago to see just how far he could take his relatively newfound love of basketball.
Now, it's bringing him from the West Coast to Winnipeg.
Uwamaliya, a 6-foot-5 guard out of Burnaby Central Secondary and UPrep Basketball, has committed to head coach Mike Raimbault and the Winnipeg Wesmen men's program in the Class of 2024.
Uwamaliya (OO-wah-mah-LEE-uh) was born in Ottawa and raised in Vancouver, and was originally a youth soccer player before finding his love for basketball in his early teens.
"I was always a basketball fan … and I really only made the serious switch around Eighth Grade or Ninth Grade and decided to take it seriously," he said.
"A big component to me sticking it through and deciding to keep going and see if I could play university, even though I started pretty late, was my competitiveness. Even though a lot of people started when they were younger, I took it as a challenge in a sense of I wanted to be way better than them."
Uwamaliya played at Burnaby for head coach Gabe Gibbs and at the UPrep academy for Dwayne Selby, both coaches who he credits greatly for his development into being a post-secondary talent.
But make no mistake, he also dedicated himself to his own growth.
"Grade 7, I was like 'I really like this sport.' But in Grade 8 was when I wanted to see how great I can be at this sport and that's when I was going (to the gym) every single day," he said. "I was playing every single day, multiple times a day. It was like you're not going to find me anywhere else."
Uwamaliya was brought in on an official visit this off-season and gelled with players and staff. Raimbault and assistant coach Josh Reddy both made an impression on him on his visit.
"To me, it was just I'm going to go to the best place that I can go to and the best place that's for me," Uwamaliya said.
"… I feel like Coach Raimbault and Coach Josh Reddy they've embraced me with open arms and it's something that felt like a no-brainer to me. What I took away from it is just how hard these guys work from the coaches to the players."
Uwamaliya said he enjoyed the hard-work-first vibe of the Wesmen program.
"That's just something that aligns with me and I could instantly tell that from the coaches, from the players. These guys know what they do. They're passionate, everything that they do, these people genuinely care about you and care about the sport. Especially from the coaching staff, these are people who just want to see you be the best human you can be at the end of the day. The basketball stuff, that's what they love and want to see you excel at, but at the end of the day it's how did I affect you as a human being? And that's something I really respect."
Raimbault likes the versatility of Uwamaliya, who describes himself as a pass-first, defensive-minded guard.
"Ashton's ability to guard multiple positions, his rebounding tenacity, and his ability to create his own shot or shots for teammates are just a few of his strengths that sets him apart from others in his class," Raimbault said. "We think he will be a good student and teammate for the Wesmen in the years ahead."
Now Uwamaliya is excited to take on the next step in his growth.
"I'm just completely grateful and thankful for this opportunity to play at UW, to play U Sports in general, and it's definitely something that I'm going to make the most of it," he said. "I feel like UW's a great program at building basketball players and building young men in this community." |
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