Budding basketball businessman Arize Ifejika didn’t just take over the local hardwood scene overnight—he did it gradually. The former Florida A&M graduate caught his first break in 2007 as the fresh-faced assistant tournament director of Hoop Group, New Jersey’s leading youth basketball organization. From there, Ifejika transferred titles down to Chantilly, Va., home of Hoop Magic, another prep basketball biggie. For the 26-year-old Ifejika, holding such a dominant designation at an early age was both a rite of passage and a pathway to criticism, but it was an experience that would go on to serve him well.
“People began to say, ‘Well, if he can do it and he’s so young then so can I, you don’t need him,’” Ifejika recalls about the behind-the-back bashing that he used to encounter. Fed up with the words and ready for a move closer to home, the Washington, D.C., native spread his wings in 2009 and launched his own hoops haven, More Than Basketball. The name became fitting for Ifejika, who strongly believes that young hoops hopefuls shouldn’t “put all their marbles into becoming a professional basketball player, they should put all their marbles into becoming a professional.”
For the past few years, More Than Basketball has been gaining steam. The program sponsors high school showcases, AAU tournaments and both summer and fall leagues for local high school and area basketball teams. Although the concentration is focused on basketball, the message is always the same: Life is more than basketball. For his latest endeavor, Ifejika recently partnered with local tennis shoe and clothing giant, Downtown Locker Room, for a three-on-three tournament in late March that featured several local high school teams. The tournament concluded as a success with the winning team, D.C.’s Theodore Roosevelt High School, being offered a chance at winning an all-expense-paid trip to this year’s NBA Finals.
Giving back and showing local youths another way to success were the cornerstone concepts on which More Than Basketball was constructed. “For every kid that was going to Duke or Kentucky, there were thousands that weren’t going to school at all and had nothing to fall back on. They put all their into basketball and it started to really get to me. That’s the reason why I left Hoop Magic and started my own company because I wanted to set an example for kids so they can say, ‘If he does it, I definitely can do it.’”
His motives, recent success and own age have turned the college graduate into a walking icon for young adults. But similar to the title name of his company, it doesn’t just rest on the hardwood for Ifejika. He moonlights as a motivational speaker, operates his own clothing line (Swagger and Substance) and even manages a rap artist when he’s not organizing events. Staying true to his company’s name is a breeze; it’s trying to follow in Russell Simmons’ footsteps that presents the greatest challenge for Ifejika. The young entrepreneur has a keen affection for the rap mogul who rose to national acclaim in the music industry without even touching a microphone.
“The thing I like about him is that he never rapped,” says Ifejika. “The same way people look at me and say he never played college or pro basketball and wonder how I’m able to run these great events, I look at Simmons the same way.”
For more on Ifejika, visit www.morethanbasketballmg.net
