Imoudu Ibrahim doesn't have to look far to find his role models.

"My mother and my father," the UBC Okanagan student says.

Also a member of the UBCO Heat men's basketball team, Ibrahim and his family immigrated to Canada from Nigeria when he was a child. He has almost no memories of life in Africa, save for one.

"I know they wanted a better life for us," said Ibrahim, who has two younger sisters. "We tried Saudi Arabia first, but it's not the best place for women. They wanted to get anywhere in the West—Europe, Canada, the United States.

"They wanted a place where they give us more opportunities to be happy, safe and successful."

They landed first in Winnipeg and it wasn't easy. Ibrahim wasn't a star athlete at that age, he acted and spoke differently than everyone else. His elementary school classmates pointed out all his differences.

"Kids are mean," he says with a rueful smile. "But it's behind me now."

Ibrahim's parents were firm, telling him to ignore the distractions and focus on what was important—his family and his education. He's tried to remain resilient since then. He just tries to work hard and to follow his parents' examples.

Sports were instrumental in helping the family adjust. A growth spurt in Grade 8 nudged Ibrahim toward basketball even though he enjoyed playing everything he could.

"That was when I went through the first bit of my growth spurt," he said, smiling.

Five months later, basketball seemed a lot easier because he was suddenly much taller than most of his schoolmates. But he wasn't convinced it would lead to much of anything.

"For a few years, I was really just playing for fun. There was a point where I was shying away from it because I didn't really see where I could take it."

However, once the family relocated to Calgary when Ibrahim was 15, something changed. He cracked the provincial youth team roster. He was named team captain of his high school squad.

He says the experiences and the accomplishments were instrumental.

"I was kind of feeling myself," he admits. "I thought, okay, I can take this pretty far. That's when I started to take it more seriously."

He was part of Alberta's silver-medal winning team at the Canada Summer Games in 2017.

"It was a good time. We made it further than anyone thought we would. We all just put our head down and did the work. That might be my proudest memory as a basketball player, so far."

The Summer Games were also critical in shaping Ibrahim's future in academics. UBCO Heat men's basketball coach Clay Pottinger was Ibrahim's coach on Team Alberta for the Summer Games. Pottinger took over at UBCO in 2019, and Ibrahim followed him to B.C.

"My parents are academic-first," Ibrahim said. "As soon as I got the offer, they were really happy. … I've often thought you should go where you feel the safest, and that's what UBCO offered."

He's now a third-year Sciences major. Ibrahim has also had success on the court. He's averaging nearly six points and six rebounds per game. Midway through the 2022-23 Canada West season, he set a UBCO team record with six blocked shots in a single game.

Statistics, though, aren't what's important to Ibrahim. He's still following his parents' example, and still focusing on his education first. It's that same advice his tries to give young athletes whenever he can.

"Be a person of high character. There are a lot of talented athletes out in the world, but there aren't enough good people. When coaches are comparing athletes, sometimes it comes down to character and not skill."