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It\u2019s a bold statement considering Long Beach State is a distinguished Division 1 program. Yes, the team, which plays its final game of the regular season Wednesday against UC Riverside, has a losing record overall (13-18) and in the Big West Conference (7-8), but any Division 1 program is chock-full of elite talented players, nearly all of whom were recruited as the best player at their high school.<\/p>\n
Okenwa, who didn\u2019t pick up a basketball until the summer before his senior year at Leuzinger High, isn\u2019t what one would call \u201cgreat\u201d at basketball. To be honest, he really isn\u2019t very good, certainly not Division 1 good. As his high school coach succinctly put it: \u201cBenjie, you have no talent.\u201d<\/p>\n
Of course, this is completely beside the point for Okenwa. For him, anything is possible if one puts their mind to it. And his mind is always thinking about basketball. It has been ever since the day a friend dragged him along to watch their high school varsity team practice. Okenwa didn\u2019t want to go because he found the high school players arrogant and intimidating.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was so scared. The team was sponsored by Jordan.\u201d He says he was always \u201cmore like a book person than a basketball person.\u201d<\/p>\n
But his friend who first succeeded in drawing Okenwa to the practice, then dared him to step on the court when practice had concluded.<\/p>\n
\u201cI came down from the bleacher, took the basketball in my hands; I fell in love. I fell in love<\/i>!\u201d<\/p>\n
Immediately, Okenwa sought out the basketball coaches, begging to play. He says that he begged to play even on the freshman or junior varsity teams, but one of the assistant coaches said that it was not possible for him to play on a team; any<\/i> team. Okenwa didn\u2019t take no for an answer. He went to practice with the varsity team and served as a team manager.<\/p>\n
\u201cBeing on the team, watching them practice, it was heaven and earth for me,\u201d he recalls. All he did was get water for the players and rack the basketballs. For most people, there is no glamour in this position, but for Okenwa, this was an honor. \u201cI loved it I loved it! It was a privilege! It was amazing, I saw the beauty in the game.\u201d<\/p>\n
Okenwa would continue to show up to practices and serve the team, practicing with the team when he had the opportunity and on his own when he did not.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was with the team every single time. After practice, we\u2019d do drills and stuff. Then I\u2019d go home and practice. I recorded the practice and I would go back and study it.\u201d<\/p>\n
But his persistence did not lead to time on the court. All he wanted to do was play for the team, but he didn\u2019t bother the coach with requests to do so, because \u201che\u2019s the head coach and I have huge respect for him.\u201d But finally, after all his hard work and persistence, he had to know what the coach thought of him.<\/p>\n
Telling himself that the coach liked him, loved<\/i> him, Okenwa asked: \u201cCoach, what makes a good player? Am I that type of player?\u201d<\/p>\n
Okenwa says Leuzinger head coach Arturo Jones told him: \u201cBenjie, you have no skill. You have no talent. Basketball is not for you.\u201d<\/p>\n
The words would be crushing to most, but Okenwa used them as motivation; in addition to assisting with team practices, he remembers working out at his local gym and dribbling in his backyard every day.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery day I came back. Every day I was working,\u201d he says. \u201cI believe I was made for basketball because it comes naturally to me. It came naturally to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Okenwa is athletic. He is over six feet tall and has the long arms of a basketball player. But his shot is awkward, his movements can look uncoordinated and his eyes look at the floor while dribbling. Still, somehow, by the end of the season, he had earned himself a game jersey at Leuzinger, the school that produced NBA superstar, Russell Westbrook.<\/p>\n With a big smile on his face, he remembers, \u201cI wore my jersey. They were clapping for me. They took a picture of me. The same coach who said I couldn\u2019t do it took a picture of me.\u201d<\/p>\n In the final game of the season, Okenwa\u2019s team was playing for a league championship and that same coach put him in the game. He didn\u2019t score, but he finished the game and, in his mind, he was a part of a team victory and a league title, a moment he says he foresaw: \u201cI just trusted my love for the game, my passion for the game, to take me through.\u201d<\/p>\n Okenwa\u2019s story had a happy ending at Leuzinger, but a year later the next chapter of his career has him starting from the bottom again, wiping sweat and racking balls for the Long Beach State team. Although he is not currently playing for Long Beach State, Head Coach Dan Monson recognizes his importance to the team.<\/p>\n \u201cManagers are very necessary,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s like a point guard for your big man, someone has to pass them the ball.\u201d<\/p>\n Okenwa\u2019s service to the team is recognized by the players themselves as well.<\/p>\n “First he came in kinda shy,\u201d teammate Deishaun Booker said, \u201cBut we got him to open up. Now he always brings a smile and good energy.\u201d<\/p>\n He says his drive has roots in his Nigerian upbringing.<\/p>\n \u201cAfrican culture is doing things the right way,\u201d he says. \u201cAfrican culture is \u2018do it yourself.\u2019 Survival. When nothing is working, do it yourself.<\/p>\n \u201cI feel like God called me to this game. I feel like the universe called me to this game. God made me play basketball because I never wanted to play basketball. And since he brought me to play, he\u2019s going to see me through it.\u201d<\/p>\n When asked what it would take for Okenwa to make the team, Monson emphasized that only two or three non-recruited students had ever walked onto his Long Beach team in 12 years. Monson noted that even when the rare position is available, it will at times be a guard-specific spot and at other times a forward-specific spot, and \u201che\u2019s got to be the best of those because there\u2019s obviously a lot of students that want to be a part of that.\u201d<\/p>\n And then Monson was blunt about Okenwa\u2019s chances of ever seeing the court: \u201cIf I was him, I wouldn\u2019t plan on it.\u201d<\/p>\n Then again, \u00a0just last Friday, Cal State Fullerton manager Sammy Jones became an internet sensation after scoring an And-1 (basket while being fouled) in the final seconds of a game between Fullerton and Cal Poly.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think I\u2019ve smiled that big in a long time,\u201d Jones said after the game.<\/p>\n One can only imagine the smile Okenwa will flash if, in his remaining years in college, his hoop dreams come true.<\/p>\n \u201cI work hard,\u201d he says. \u201cI go to\u00a0the gym every day. I work hard. Because I made it before, I\u2019ll make it again. History repeats itself. I see my hard work, my dedication to the game. I\u2019ll make it.\u201d<\/p>\n And when he does, he already knows what number he will wear.<\/p>\n \u201cNumber 32, it\u2019s Magic Johnson,\u201d he says, smiling. \u201cFlip it over and it\u2019s Michael Jordan.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Benjamin Okenwa may be quiet, but internally he has no doubts: \u201cI will be a college basketball player.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":241,"featured_media":16405,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","inline_featured_image":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":"","_":"","_author_alias":"","cap-aim":"","cap-description":"","cap-display_name":"","cap-first_name":"","cap-jabber":"","cap-last_name":"","cap-linked_account":"","cap-newspack_employer":"","cap-newspack_job_title":"","cap-newspack_phone_number":"","cap-newspack_role":"","cap-user_email":"","cap-user_login":"","cap-website":"","cap-yahooim":"","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_email_html":"","newspack_email_type":"","newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_hide_page_title":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_show_share_buttons":"","newspack_sponsor_byline_prefix":"","newspack_sponsor_disclaimer_override":"","newspack_sponsor_flag_override":"","newspack_sponsor_only_direct":"","newspack_sponsor_url":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[5,4],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-33","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-instagram","tag-lbsu-athletics","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/241"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16405"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=33"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=33"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Benjie.jpg\")