The journey of Adama Sanogo, the boy from Mali who washed cars and became a basketball player in the United States despite fasting

Talk about “March Madness” in the US, or its translation “March Madness”is to talk about the largest and most popular college basketball tournament, a sudden death competition between 68 teams looking for a national champion. It takes place during that month and is one of the favorite annual sporting events of the American public, with massive calls and record ratings. This year the final four was played in Houston NRGa football stadium, and the figure was a boy of Malia young man who until a few years ago earned his living by washing cars.

Adam Sango He was born 21 years ago in Bamako, the capital of this East African nation, which gained independence from France in 1960 but has historically been in political turmoil and mired in poverty. The last decade has not escaped this trend: in 2012 a civil war broke out and since 2021 its president has been a 39-year-old soldier who carried out a coup against the previous government, even de facto, and who had it as vice president .

Despite all this, the idea of ​​a better future for Adama was the same as that of many young people of that land: to exploit their physical virtues, obtain a scholarship to study abroad, generally in France, and graduate.

His first impulse has always been football, a discipline in which he exploited his astonishing height by positioning himself as a central defender and imitating the “idols” of his team, a team marked by defeats, with just three podiums in the Africa Cup of Nations and none worldwide experience. In 2005, Las Águilas remained close to Germany 2006: a last-minute Togo goal left them cupless and set off a spate of incidents across the city.

While dreaming of dribbling and goals, Adama contributed to the family economy by working with his six brothers in the car wash that his parents had set up. In the rainy season they took them to the fields to grow corn. The premise of that house was to work, study and look for another future.

The opportunity of his life ended up coming to him as if it were part of the script for “Garra” that (very beautiful) film by Adam Sandler which is available on Netflix: a talent scout measured his height of 2 meters by kicking a ball, encouraged to play basketball and soon after an uncle got him a place in a high school New York.

So it was that the Malian boy packed his suitcase and went alone to try his luck in the United States, at the age of 14, to stay in a family home. Besides the language Bambara from Mali, spoke French and Arabic but not a word of English. After a difficult first year, as he himself later acknowledged, he managed to adapt and did very well both on the field and with books, being sought out by various universities: the chosen one was UCONN of Connecticutand in his third year as a player for the Huskies he established himself as a great figure and national champion, now making all eyes in the USA rest on his 2.06m tall.

Numbers, that factor that decides everything at these levels of competition, explain a superlative performance by the young African: in the final against San Diego he scored 17 points and 10 rebounds. But in the previous five games, he averaged 20.2 points, 9.8 rebounds and 68% shooting from the field, matching stats from old favorites like Hakeem Olajuwon OR Christian Laettner.

But in addition to playing against other rival teams, Adama had to face one more rival: hunger. The month of Ramadan began on March 22 and both the young basketball player and two other Muslim companions were forced to fast from food and liquids from dawn to dusk. In one of the games, against Miami, he only had 10 minutes to drink coconut water and energy bars. In another knockout stage, against Gonzaga, he only managed to eat bananas and oranges at half-time: his team went from winning 7 to the final with a lead of 28.

“I’ve been doing this since I was 14. I think I play better when I’m fasted,” Sanogo said, adding, “I feel a little lighter without eating anything all day, so I can run a little faster.”

The young man also acknowledged that after the frustrations of the last two tournaments, this year he has seriously considered not giving food benefits and not respecting Ramadan. It helped him investigate the experience of the aforementioned Olajuwon, who was able to do it without lowering his performance: “That’s one of the reasons why I’m doing it. If he did it, why can’t I ?” He explained.

The nutritionists on the team kept a close eye on his health, waking him up at 4am, before dawn, so he ate enough to go 16 hours without eating or drinking. Everyone was amazed at the level of discipline, his good attitude and his physical response. As much or more important than his scoring with baskets, these attributes seem to guarantee a near future in the NBA.

“I owe this success to my family, they are everything to me. All the effort I make is to think about them,” he said after being consecrated and receiving the MOP award (most outstanding player), the version of the MVP in university terms.

Adama is well on his way to becoming an elite athlete and is clear about his goals in professional basketball. On the one hand he wants to improve the quality of life of his family, who continue to live in Africa, on the other he is already working on a project linked to the opening of schools in his country to promote education and sport.

“My mission has always been to lead my team, inspire children to pursue their dreams and give something back to my community,” says the boy from Mali.