December 22, 2024
Standing at seven feet tall, the reigning Big South Defensive Player of the Year and Big South Freshman of the Year, Juslin Bodo Bodo, stands out amongst everyone else on High Point University’s campus.
It is extremely difficult for the basketball star to go anywhere on campus without students stopping him for a photo on his way to class or stopping him to chat on his way to a workout. What is even more difficult is to imagine that Bodo’s journey to finding a basketball started less than six years ago.
Bodo’s adventure from spontaneously finding his way on a basketball court at 14 years old to moving to the United States in 2021 without being able to speak or understand any English to try to further his opportunity in the sport of basketball to eventually finding his home as a High Point Panther, and succeeding in just one year at the school has been nothing short of remarkable.
The 29.5-inch, 20–22-ounce, orange-colored ball that Bodo refused to play at first has allowed him to travel all across the world, seeing places he otherwise would not have been able to see with his two eyes, but more importantly, has empowered him to find and fulfill his purpose in life: helping people in need.
This past summer, Bodo traveled back to his hometown of Yaoundé, Cameroon which is an over 6,000-mile trip from High Point, North Carolina. It was only Bodo’s second time in the last three years that he was able to travel back to his Central African country and visit his family, friends and coaches who got him to the point he is at now in his basketball journey. However, this trip back home was different and more special for Bodo.
With the help of his family and coaches, Bodo was able to start up his own foundation, the Juslin Bodo Foundation, in his effort to help support young athletes in Cameroon by providing them with the necessary sporting equipment such as shoes, socks and basketballs.
“My foundation started with what I learned from my dad and my mom. They always told me if I get something and you see someone who does not have food, just take the piece you have, cut it in two pieces and give them one piece and you have one piece,” said Bodo. “They always taught me the value to share and that is how I started thinking about a foundation.”
“The first time I went home, I came back with no clothes. I came back here with only one pair of clothes, the pair of clothes I wore at the airport. I went home, I had like two suitcases and I shared everything. I started with my family and then went outside. I gave my jacket to my friend, I gave socks over there and over there, and I left with just one pair of clothes,” said Bodo.
Six years ago, a foundation of his own would have been unthinkable to Bodo considering he had never even thought about picking up a basketball until the age of 14. Growing up, Bodo along with the majority of kids in Cameroon played and had a deep-rooted love for soccer.
“Basketball in my country is starting to grow. It is not much like soccer. It is starting to build a little bit with teams, but it is not popular like soccer is,” said Bodo. “Everyone loves to play soccer. When you are young, the first thing your parents give to you is a soccer ball.”
Basketball had never even crossed Bodo’s mind despite him being visibly much taller than all of his friends growing up. However, one day Bodo’s friend called him to see if he would want to fill in the missing roster spot in an outdoor, four versus four, tournament basketball game.
“I had nothing to do that day, so I went with them,” said Bodo. “I did not know how to play basketball. They used me because I am tall, and I can get rebounds. So, when they were shooting, I was just getting rebounds. When they were wanting to score, I would just put my hands up and get some stops. I do not even know how I was getting stops.”
The referee of the tournament basketball game just so happened to be the head coach of the Africans Can Play Basketball Academy, Roger Dassi. The academy serves as a development program for younger athletes looking to enhance their basketball skills and overall game. The academy has helped develop current and former NBA players such as Joel Embiid, Pascal Siakam and Luc Mbah a Moute.
Despite the lack of experience Bodo had in playing basketball, Dassi was intrigued by the tall, lengthy and skinny 14-year-old.
“He did not recruit me. He tried to but I was like no because I did not want to. He said I was not leaving until I gave him my parent’s phone number. So, I had to give him my parent’s phone number for me to go home,” said Bodo. “He called my parents the next day. He explained to my parents how he met me and then booked a meeting with my parents, so they had to talk. Then two to three weeks later I was with him, and he was teaching me how to play.”
During those two to three weeks before Bodo started training with Dassi, there was a lot of convincing that had to be done by Dassi and Bodo’s family to even get Bodo to want to learn how to play basketball because Bodo’s first and only love up to that point had always been soccer.
“My mom and my dad were like ‘you have to go to the training’ so I had no choice and that is how I started practicing. Sometimes they say even if you hate something in the beginning but when you get used to doing it every day, every day you start liking it so now I love basketball,” said Bodo.
“It is a different culture in Africa,” said Bodo. “When your parents tell you to do something you do not have to argue about it, you just go and do it so when my parents said to go see your coach today, I just went. You do not have to argue. No arguing.”
For Bodo to further his basketball skills to the best ability, he and his family agreed on a very difficult decision. Bodo moved away from his family and lived with Dassi in his home.
The sacrifice of moving away from his family allowed Bodo to fully cement himself into his newfound love for basketball, with Dassi by his side, for the next couple of years.
It did not take long for Bodo to realize that moving in with Dassi was the best possible decision for his future. Less than two years later Bodo was offered an opportunity to pursue his dreams of playing basketball in France. However, shortly after the offer was put on the table, the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the world almost entirely, restricting travel and pushing the opportunity to play in France completely out of the window.
Fortunately for Bodo, it would not be the last opportunity he would receive to play basketball on a stage where the world could watch his talent. Shortly after the offer to play in France, he received an opportunity to go to the United States, the biggest market for basketball in the world, to play the sport that he began three years prior and has worked endlessly towards improving upon.
Not everyone close to Bodo was pleased with the thought of him traveling across the world to a foreign land and leaving the place he had been accustomed to his entire life, his home and the country of Africa.
“My mom was not saying okay, she was saying no. My dad was saying ‘let him go, you will grow and know it is not easy to live alone. You will start living like an adult. Going to classes, no one will talk to you, so you have to make your own decisions,’” said Bodo.
“My mom did not know that when you play basketball you have to do school too. She was thinking I was just going to play, play, play,” said Bodo. “That is how she was thinking and what she was saying until I explained it to her.”
Education is a key principle amongst Bodo’s parents and his eight siblings, and once his mom and dad were certain that Bodo would be receiving a high-class education and that he would not just be playing basketball in the United States, they agreed to let their second to youngest son’s basketball journey continue across the waters.
The destination Bodo landed at was Southern California Academy in Castaic, California, an over 8,000-mile trip from his home in Cameroon.
Moving to the United States was going to be a challenge for him as Bodo was traveling to an unfamiliar territory without being able to speak or comprehend the country’s primary language, English, but Bodo had faced many challenges before on this basketball journey and this was just another challenge that he would have to overcome with the help from a Japanese television cartoon.
“My English was terrible. I could not even read English. I remember when I came here for the first time, I tried to get my baggage, but I could not find it because I could not read English,” said Bodo. “I was watching a lot of anime. I put the subtitles in English. I listened and then I knew how to learn.”
As Bodo was in the process of learning English off the court through watching anime, reading books and taking mandatory English classes, he played an integral part in Southern California Academy’s success during his time spent there on the court as he contributed by averaging 7 points and 8 rebounds per game during his junior and senior years at the academy.
After graduating high school, Bodo had numerous collegiate scholarships offers on the table, and a major decision that loomed over him: weighing and narrowing down his options to one that he was going to take his talents to and spend at least the next year playing at.
Ironically enough, Bodo was not considering High Point at all when thinking about which college to attend, especially since the Panthers had not even offered him a scholarship until a familiar face of Bodo’s suggested he take a visit to High Point, North Carolina. This trip would change Bodo’s entire mindset in the commitment process.
“My high school coach (Martynas Rubikas) came here to High Point. The season finished in California, and he left and got a job here at High Point… He was with me in California for two years… We have a great relationship; I have known him for two years. He was like, ‘hey Bodo I know you want to go to a big school but visit High Point first,’ said Bodo. “I came here, I visited and because I have known my coach for two years, I know him well and I was like, you know what I will commit. When I came on my visit, the next day I committed. At that visit, I did not have an offer.”
With Bodo committing as late as he did, in May of 2023, he got off to a late start to the team workouts with his new coaching staff and teammates. Bodo was faced with another challenge: he had to catch up on the time he missed leading into his freshman season with the Panthers.
As the season got underway and advanced throughout the summer and into the fall months, it looked as if Bodo had not missed any time with the team at all as he dominated his freshman season, averaging 7.1 points, 1.8 blocks, and a team and Big South conference high in rebounds at 9.6 a game in 24.1 minutes of play during the 36 games the Panthers played.
After the incredible season Bodo displayed to the entire country, he made it a priority to honor his country, and the family and coaches that helped him get to the point he is at today.
“I went home, and I gave him (Dassi) all my trophies, and he was so proud. He was very happy. He told me to keep working, keep going, and keep dreaming. And I sat down and talked to the youth, the young, the next generation, and told them to just believe and to keep working because I was in the same position like you,” said Bodo.
The accolades that Bodo earned during his freshman season which included the Big South Defensive Player of the Year, National Freshman All-American, and many other awards do not mean anything to Bodo as he heads into his sophomore season with a new set of challenges that he is aiming to attack and conquer.
“I already reset my mind so what happened last year, stayed last year so now I refreshed my mind. I have nothing, now it is like, in my mind, I do not have anything. I left everything back,” said Bodo. “I like to do challenges. That is my challenge for this year is to get Player of the Year. Do more than last year. Every year I am trying to do more, more and more.”
It is the challenges that Bodo has already faced during his journey to success in basketball that have shaped him into the person that he is today and will allow him to never quit until he accomplishes what he sets his mind toward.
“My dad tells me to never give up and to finish what I started. Now I know I have to finish what I started. Even if I am tired, I will finish. I do not care about the time it will take, if you give me something and you are like, you have to finish this, I will finish it. I will make sure to finish it,” said Bodo.
“I always remembered where I came from, and I always remembered my mom. I want to give them a better life. I was like if you quit now, you will be a loser and you will be back in Cameroon. Imagine how people would see you. Imagine how your mom would see you. She would not be happy, she would be like, no way you went to another country and came back like that,” said Bodo.
That determination and willingness to never give up is clearly evident in why Bodo plays basketball: to accomplish the future goals he has for the country that taught him the most valuable lessons in life.
“I want to build a really big academy. I do not only want people from Cameroon, I want people from all around the world. I want to build an academy with school and basketball,” said Bodo.
Bodo looks at the basketball prodigies, that have already accomplished the dream that millions of kids around the world dream about and millions fall short of, the Siakam’s, the Mbah A Moute’s, and the Embiid’s for inspiration on why he could become the next NBA player from the country of Cameroon where over 23% of people live below the international poverty line (US $2.15 per persons per day) according to the UN World Food Programme.
“They come from Cameroon like me. They definitely had ups and downs like me, maybe more. We have family issues. We always have something that tries to stop you from completing your goals, so you have to be strong and finish it. They make me want to finish and work hard to get there,” said Bodo.
Less than six years ago, Bodo picked up a basketball for the first time in his life. His late start to the sport that he would eventually fall in love with required countless hours of hard work, relentless determination, and most of all countless difficult sacrifices that paved the course for Bodo’s incredible journey that has allowed him to achieve great accomplishments thus far, but most of all has allowed him to help pave a way for Cameroon basketball by influencing the younger generation.
“Some kid was like telling me one day he wants to be like me. I had that feeling like I did something good. If somebody ever tries to copy you, that means you are doing something good,” said Bodo. “Nobody wants to really copy somebody if you are not doing something good.”
Bodo is looking to continue doing something good on and off the court as he heads into year two under head coach Alan Huss and the Panthers after helping lead High Point to a 27-9 record last season, the most wins in the Panthers’ NCAA Division 1 era. This year’s team is a much different look than last year’s team as High Point brought in 12 newcomers, but Bodo is hoping to bring leadership to all the new faces on the roster, so they are all in alignment in striving towards the common goal of making it to the NCAA tournament.