Who we are:

DeenUP Athletics' basketball programs serve youths from at-risk neighbourhoods since 2012, training players aiming for elite ranks beyond Canada. Our student-athletes thrive because we are very much a family.

Our Mission:

Our mission is #BiggerThanBasketball -- to unleash the hidden talent of youths from marginalized communities in Canada with quality coaching, devoted mentorship, and genuine support.

Figure 1. Kashmiri Coach Adeel Sahibzada, himself a Scholarship athlete, attended and played for the University of Guelph as well as the University of New Brunswick and the University of Waterloo. After retiring as a player, he co-founded DeenUP and coached the Men's team at Ryerson University.

Our Signature Program:

The Toronto Basketball Academy (TBA) is DeenUP Athletics' signature program, currently housed at John Polanyi Collegiate Institute (JPCI) in Lawrence Heights, attracts talented scholarship recruits.

Figure 2. Presented by the National Film Board of Canada, Cordell Veira was featured in Red Bull's "True North" by Ryan Sidhoo in a docu-series that captures the raw emotion of navigating high-performance basketball.

Our Impact:

All of our Academy athletes earned elite post-secondary scholarships in Canada and the United States, o ur very best performers are Division 1 players in U-Sports, the NJCAA, and the elite NCAA. To date, we have sent almost two dozen high-performance student-athletes on full-scholarships to play at the very top just under professional ranks.

Figure 3. South Sudanese from Alberta, Calgarian Diew Moses graduated to go on and play for Southeastern CC on a full-scholarship in Iowa.

What we do:

We scout top talent from across Canada to give marginalized youths an opportunity to be their very best. We recruited players from two-centuries-old communities like Black Nova Scotians and from among First Nations indigenous reserves like the Ojibway Atikameksheng Anishnawbek. 

Nationally-respected, we now participate in sporting activities beyond North America.

Figure 4. Although sharing office space in a priority neighbourhood like Regent Park, we have been fortunate in recent years to represent Canada overseas as far as Europe and China.

A Success Story: Ahmed Ali (aka. "Mr 103")

Since our inception, we worked with incredibly talented youth and believed in them. Our dedication to youth programming empowers them to live up to their full potential.

Figure 5.  Ahmed Ali is one such youth, the second Canadian to ever score +100 points in a single league regulated game .

Figure 6. Rapper/Popstar  Drake wore a jersey to honour Ahmed Ali during a live performance in Florida. Ahmed's accomplishments received international media coverage. 

Figure 7. Proud Somali Torontonian, Ahmed Ali plays for Washington State University.

Why we need your support?

The best of basketball talent is often drawn from among racialized and underprivileged communities, young players with stories of tragedy and triumph. Most of our youth are drawn from lower-income marginalized households from disadvantaged at-risk neighbourhoods. Poverty and the effects of racism compound the challenges they face.

Together with our youths, we go above and beyond. With few resources and chronic underfunding, we have accomplished more than anyone could have hoped for. We deliver far more with what little we have because we believe that this is #BiggerThanBasketball.

Our student-athletes become community champions, leaders in their own right. They unify neighbourhood youths to coalesce around greater goals, to achieve more together.

How can you help?

Our objective is to develop confident youths who excel both on and off the basketball court. We center our community efforts around the responsible allocation of limited resources. To this end, we need to address player and programming needs.

Here is how your funds support our work:

It’s that simple. Please Donate now.

With your support, we can continue to change lives and be  #BiggerThanBasketball.