For love of the game
Shea’s Ajia plays sport he loves for his mom
PAWTUCKET– Abdul Ajia is a 17-year-old blessed with long limbs, a lightning quick first step, and the ability to jump so high that one wouldn’t be wrong to think it’s possible for him to touch heaven.
“Probably ninth grade,” Ajia said when asked the first time he recalled dunking. “The first time, it was amazing. You elevate your game and people start to respect you as that sort of player.”
Easy exemplifies the relative smoothness the senior at Shea High displays each time out on the basketball floor. What makes the 6-4 (pushing 6-5) Ajia an up-in-the-air marvel is that every time he’s poised to attack the rim, everything always appears in proper alignment – from the angle taken on the court, the position and dexterity of his arms and knees, to the moment of truth, the take-off.
“The first shot I take in practice has to be the same as the last one I take … it has to go in. Every time you lace up your shoes and get in the gym, you have to look to get better.” – Shea senior Abdul Ajia
If you’ve seen his high-wire act this winter, you know exactly why the above description fits. Ajia is the type of hoopster that you can’t take your eyes off for fear you may miss him doing something spectacular. Consider this a helpful hint on what to be on the lookout for as the R.I. boys’ basketball open state tournament shifts to URI’s Ryan Center for the Final Four, where Ajia and his Shea teammates take on St. Raphael Saturday night at 6 o’clock.
Also keep this mind: Ajia swears by the idea that the next dunk will always be better than the previous one, for he’s always seeking to improve. He’s also dead serious that it’s easy for him to hear a familiar voice over the din of screaming and shouting from the crowd – sensations he always seems to generate whenever rocking the rim.
“I do it for the love of basketball, but I also do this thing for her,” Ajia says in a whispering tone after a recent Shea practice.
“Her” is his mother, Floashade. He admits to playing every minute of every single game for her, a relentless drive that also provides Ajia with a strong sense of comfort whenever the time comes to head to the center circle for the game’s opening tip. During home games at “The Cage,” Ajia can take a quick peak over in the corner and expect to see Floashade present and accounted for.
“She’s always giving me that extra inspiration,” he said.
Maybe that comes from knowing and seeing firsthand just how hard Floashade worked at creating a family life her son.
Growing up in Brooklyn, Ajia knew his father – also named Abdul – but didn’t live with him. Ajia was a 10-year-old fourth grader in a private school when a decision that meant the world to him was made.
It was off to Pawtucket, where his father lived. One family living under the same roof, one that included Floashade and the couple’s two boys, Abdul and his older brother Uthman. She didn’t want them to grow up in a one-parent household.
“Huge,” Ajia said. “You have that sense of backbone now. I don’t have to look out for mom all the time.”
Coming to a new state “was tough the first few weeks,” Ajia said, “but it’s pretty easy for me to make friends.”
Again, this is where the example that Floashade set rubbed off on her youngest. Introduced to the Boys & Girls Club of Pawtucket enabled Ajia to forge friendships, both on the sports front and away from the playing surface.
“I learned to connect with all sorts of people from my mom,” Ajia said. “I like to be myself and if you don’t like me as myself, why be somebody different?”
Floashade never pressured Abdul Ajia to play sports – he performed the duties of a linebacker/defensive end/wide receiver for this past fall’s Division II Super Bowl winner at Shea. What she did was impress upon him the importance of doing well in school.
“She pushed school on me,” Ajia said. “I get good grades because of her. She installed a work ethic in me and because of that, school became easier.”
Floashade works as a nursing assistant in Warwick. Her days are typically long – “crazy hours,” was how Ajia put it. She purposely sets up her work schedule so that in the morning, Abdul has a ride to Shea. Then she’ll head off to her job and not return home until roughly 11 at night.
Knowing the support system that’s in place enables Ajia to glide through the day with a firm purpose and a concrete, rinseand-repeat itinerary that suits him. There’s school followed by practice – football in the fall, basketball in the winter. On days when there’s no game on the docket, he’ll head over to the Boys & Girls Club to hoist up more shots before heading home to do homework.
“The first shot I take in practice has to be the same as the last one I take … it has to go in,” Ajia said. “Every time you lace up your shoes and get in the gym, you have to look to get better.”
On an individual level, Ajia has enjoyed a senior year filled with lots of dunks and victories. Two more wins would enable the Raiders to become the first non-Division I team to achieve state title glory since the current format was enacted in 2010. After this weekend? “Hopefully bright things,” Ajia said when asked what’s in store post-high school graduation. He’s looking to go the prep school route, hoping that catches the fancy of the college basketball community.
Going to college is big deal, Ajia says, a vision that his mom, more than anything, wants to see him fulfill. The last thing he wants to do is let his No. 1 fan down, the same fan who figures to make sure the volume on her rooting meter is turned up extra high at the Ryan Center come Saturday evening.
“Just trying to impress my mom,” Ajia said. “If you ask her, I’ve probably already impressed her. But you always want that extra chance of ‘My mom’s proud of me.’”
“I learned to connect with all sorts of people from my mom. I like to be myself and if you don’t like me as myself, why be somebody different?” – Shea senior forward Abdul Ajia