Mustafa Canbas '24 Recruiting Profile

My name is Mustafa, and I was born in April 2006 as a baby with big hands and feet. Like any other parents, my mom and dad began making plans for my future from the moment I was born.
The first thought was that a child with such large hands could potentially become a successful goalkeeper or basketball player in the future. However, I had already made my choice at the age of five months by grabbing a toy basketball in my hands.
To start playing basketball consciously, I had to wait until I was 10 years old. Until then, I explored other sports like gymnastics, soccer, and taekwondo, but none of them sparked enough enthusiasm in me to pursue further.

Perhaps the turning point was when, on my first day of basketball training, my coach showed interest on me, calling me over and seeing a talent in me that others haven’t seen yet. Since that day, basketball has truly become a passion for me. In February 2017, my team and I participated in our first tournament in Antalya city in Turkey. It was the first time I spent time away from my family. Sharing a room with teammates going to bed and waking up on time, being awakened by the coach like a father figure when we overslept, having breakfast with the team, going to practice, playing to win, all these moments were beautiful experiences that brought me to where I am today. During this tournament, I was selected for the All-Star team and won my first medal. It was an incredible achievement in such a short time.

I had to take a break from my basketball journey in March 2017 when I had to leave our country. In PREVIEW a new country, where I didn`t know the language, culture, or where I was, my refugee journey in the Netherlands opened a new chapter.

Until we moved to our own house, in every refugee camp I stayed, I played basketball every day on concrete floors with security guards, much older than me and from countries I had never heard of. When we moved to a long-term camp, I joined a basketball club in a small city. I cycled alone for half an hour to get there three days a week, and all these efforts were fueled by my passion for basketball.

After two years, my family took me to tryouts in bigger cities to improve myself further. The last tryouts I attended were interrupted due to the pandemic. When I returned about a year later, I went there as a very different person – taller and heavier. I attracted the attention of two coaches there who were coaches for u16 (Division 1) and u18 (Division 1). My family and I decided to continue with the offer from the u18 coach. The only problem was the 2 hours train journey after school to get there 5 days a week. However, my passion for basketball overcame this challenge. Although leaving home at 5 in the morning and returning at 11 at night was exhausting, I persevered without giving up until the end of the season.

After playing in the u18 team, me and my family decided to get to the next level, which is coming to Spire Academy in United States. Since this summer I have been training hard with the most professional coaches I have had yet. This period has had me get used to the college training schedules, which is I believe is going to get me ready for the future.