Mobolaji Akiode

Mobolaji Akiode (born May 12, 1982) is an American-born Nigerian women's basketball player.

Early Life

Born in New Jersey, her family relocated to Nigeria shortly thereafter. Akiode moved back to the United States when she was Nine.[1] She was bullied for her height, but excelled academically and athletically and led Columbia High School to the 1998 state championship.[2] Akiode earned a scholarship to play college basketball at Fordham University. At Fordham, Akiode won all-conference honors in her senior year and was the eighth Fordham player to record 1,000 points and 500 rebounds in her career. She also earned a tryout with the WNBA's Detroit Shock following her collegiate career.[3]

International Career

She was member of the Nigeria women's national basketball team at the 2004 Summer Olympics[4] and 2006 Commonwealth Games. She graduated from Fordham with a degree in accounting. After graduation, she landed a job to work for ESPN. She moved back to Nigeria in 2010 to start a basketball camp.[2] In 2014, she was named one of ESPNW's Impact 25.[5]

Basketball camp

She organizes a annual basketball camp called the Hope for girls basketball camp which seeks to develop and mentor girls in the knowledge of basketball. She has created opportunities to some ladies to play basketball and study outside Nigeria.[6]

References

  1. ↑ http://hope4girlsafrica.org/news/914/
  2. 1 2 Huckshorn, Kristin (April 4, 2010). "Nigerian basketball star gives back". ESPN. Retrieved March 11, 2014.
  3. ↑ Fordham's Mobolaji Akiode receives tryout with the WNBA's Detroit Shock Fordhamsports.com. 1 May 2003
  4. ↑ "2004 Olympic women's basketball" (PDF). retrieved March 10, 2014
  5. ↑ http://espn.go.com/espnw/news-commentary/impact25/slideshow/12020053/23/mobolaji-akiode-32-hope-4-girls-africa-founder
  6. ↑ https://www.dailytrust.com.ng/hope4girls-africa-empowers-160-girls-at-basketball-camp-in-lagos.html


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