The Hoop and the Harm

Udoka Clendon is a first-year university student and a product of basketball systems that have produced professional players.

From very young, he’s been pushed relentlessly by his family on a troubling pursuit for an athletic scholarship. He is burdened by expectations and self-doubt. Udoka tries to reignite his passion for the game. Now, he’s been given a final opportunity at the city-wide tournament to rediscover his confidence and his sense of purpose—all of which he fears he has lost forever.

With the clarity and poetic style of a seasoned writer, and drawing on his own time as an elite sports prospect, Jawara Pedican shows the trials and traumas of becoming fixated on a dream of sports stardom.