WEST CHESTER, Pa. — John Bol Ajak stood near mid-court at West Chester University, wearing gray sweatpants and a gray sweatshirt donning a “W” across the front. All he wanted to do was play. Around him, Westtown (Pennsylvania) High School took the court for warm-ups before playing Roman Catholic (Pennsylvania) High School.

For the last six weeks, Ajak, a Syracuse commit, had missed practices and games with a hip injury. He stood at the free throw line as his teammates warmed up, smiling and laughing. Once the game started, Ajak spent more time standing in front of the Westtown bench than sitting in his chair.

Throughout Westtown’s win, Ajak called out screens, coached teammates in timeouts and supported his new friends. In the far corner of the gym, former Syracuse star Billy Owens stopped Ajak near the locker room for a moment after the game.

“I heard you’re going to Syracuse,” Owens said.

Ajak responded, “Yes, sir.”

Owens offered his hand.

“Welcome aboard,” Owens said.

Ajak, 19, is in the midst of his one and only season at Westtown, one filled with more injuries than highlights so far. Unlike most future Division I players, he’s had a limited time with the sport. Born in South Sudan and raised in Kenya, Ajak didn’t discover organized basketball until he moved to the United States four years ago. He’s a Syracuse (12-5, 3-1 Atlantic Coast) basketball commit, set to join the Orange next season. But for now, he’s savoring every moment that he can play basketball after seeing a potential future without it.

When he was just 10 months old, his mother, brother and sister fled the ongoing war in South Sudan and moved to Kenya, Ajak said. They settled in Kakuma, Kenya, in a refugee camp with fellow South Sudanese and Ethiopian refugees. His father stayed back to fight in the war, Ajak said.

In Kenya, Ajak said almost everyone plays soccer. He grew up kicking the soccer ball around with his friends and didn’t discover basketball until his teenage years. He never played for any organized teams in Kenya.

At 14, one of his teachers offered him a chance to move to the U.S. Ajak didn’t believe them. Ajak was connected by his teachers to Sophie Mohammed and Alice St. Catherine, two people who have helped connect African immigrants to U.S. schools in the past.

St. Catherine contacted Todd Landry, who runs Philadelphia 76ers camps every summer and has helped dozens of African players move to the U.S. Ajak sent his transcripts to the admissions office at Church Farm (Pennsylvania) High School, the first boarding school they found.

Throughout the admissions process, he never told his family.

“I was not believing what the teacher was telling me,” he said. “I didn’t want to tell my parents because I didn’t know if it was actually going to happen.”

After accepting admission to Church Farm on a Skype call, Ajak had to tell his parents. He walked into his home in Nairobi, with his mother, sister and brother waiting for him. When he said he was moving to the U.S., his brother and mother didn’t believe him.

“I told them,” Ajak said. “‘I’ve been accepted and they are expecting me to be there.’”

Ajak called his father to tell him he was leaving, and his father helped convince his mother, who was uneasy about her son moving to a different continent.

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Then 15, Ajak arrived at the airport in Philadelphia and received a text from Church Farm basketball coach Marc Turner. Turner described where he would be outside the airport, and that he would be waiting outside of his car.

As Ajak walked past Turner, Turner called his name. But Ajak was confused and walked right past him. Turner had described himself as “black,” in the text.

“Woah, who are you?” Ajak said as Turner tried to stop him.

“I’m Marc Turner, Church Farm basketball coach,” he answered.

Ajak eventually believed him and put his bag and backpack in the car. The two left for his new suburban Philadelphia school.

“I thought you were black,” Ajak said. “Where I’m from, you’re not black.”

His first few days in the U.S., Ajak could count the people he knew on one hand. Nearly 7,000 miles from his home, Ajak tried to be social, but found making friends difficult because his conversational English was still developing.

Four days after arriving at Church Farm, Ajak called his mom, crying. He wanted to come home. He thought he had made a mistake. His teammates grew impatient with his lack of knowledge of the game. After his first few basketball practices, Ajak was lost.

“He could see, physically I was blessed,” Ajak said, “but I didn’t know how to play basketball at all.

“I was terrible.”

Throughout his entire freshman year, Ajak barely played. He appeared off the bench in the state playoffs, receiving a pass in the paint. He didn’t know many post moves at that point, he said, but he tried a pump fake. His defender jumped into the air, and Ajak made the lay-up.

The next possession, he took a charge against the opposing team’s leading scorer. He played seven minutes in that game, the most he had played all season. After Church Farm lost that game, Ajak cried on the court. In a sport he picked up in less than a year, Ajak became committed to fueling his passion and pushing his game even further.

Ajak and his teammate and best friend James Lawton spent every day playing basketball together. Three days a week, they woke up at 5 a.m. and went to complete a basketball workout before school. They ran drills, shot around and played 1-on-1. After school and practice, the pair would prank each other and teammates.

In school, Ajak said his English class helped him make progress. He read books and watched movies and Netflix to supplement his school work. Off the court, he “Americanized” himself. He made new friends, went to the mall and even grew to like cheese, a food he had never eaten before moving to the U.S.

Before his sophomore year, Ajak prepared for the April live period — a two-week window where D I coaches could recruit in-person. But before that, Ajak had to travel home for his brother’s wedding.

After the wedding, Ajak was at the airport in Kenya when he found out that his traveling visa had expired, even though his school visa was good for five years. Ajak was stranded, unsure if he would ever make it back to the U.S.

“I was so devastated,” Ajak said. “I didn’t even get to practice, there are no gyms or stuff like that. You can go to outdoor courts, but they aren’t that safe, and you don’t want to get hurt.”

Ajak applied for a new visa with the U.S. embassy in Kenya. He tried to enjoy his time with his family, all while fearing that all of his friendships and basketball in the U.S. were gone. Back at Church Farm, his teachers and Turner tried to expedite the process. One month later, Ajak boarded the plane back to Philadelphia. He had missed the entire live period.  

That summer, Ajak was playing for Team Final AAU when SU associate head coach Adrian Autry approached him.

“You look good in Orange,” Autry quipped, referring to Ajak’s jersey color.

Autry became the main recruiter for Ajak to Syracuse. Autry remained in frequent contact, calling him every few weeks throughout the process. Ajak was invited to a basketball camp in Syracuse that summer, and after the camp, head coach Jim Boeheim offered him a scholarship.

His junior year, Ajak battled an Achilles injury. The competition he faced at Church Farm, rarely facing players taller than 6-foot-3, led to double and triple teams. He wasn’t improving. Ajak wanted to transfer to Westtown, which has produced Duke’s Cam Reddish and top NBA draft pick Mohamed Bamba. This past spring, Ajak was allowed into a program that rarely accepts one-year players.

The first day of practice, Ajak got the ball in the high post and made a lay-up. Westtown head coach Seth Berger immediately noticed a problem with his footwork.

Berger said: “Bol took about 12 pitty-pat steps to the rim. I said, ‘What the hell was that?’”

Berger showed Ajak how to move to the hoop. He showed Ajak how to take two steps to turn, two to gather and finish at the rim. The next play, Ajak did exactly as he was taught.

At practice on Jan. 10., Ajak stood under the Westtown baseline as Berger introduced a new play. Ajak was supposed to throw a long pass to teammate and University of Connecticut commit Jalen Gaffney. As Gaffney took off toward the opposing hoop, Ajak gathered the ball, rotated his hips and launched the ball.

The pass was intercepted at mid-court by a defender. Berger blew the whistle to try again. The next pass sailed over Gaffney’s head. Again, Berger blew the whistle. This time, the ball hit Gaffney in stride, and he made the lay-up. Ajak threw his hands into the air in celebration.

Two days after being cleared to play basketball again, Ajak was back on the court.

Published on January 16, 2019 at 11:41 pm

Contact Anthony: amdabbun@syr.edu | @AnthonyDabbundo