404 Not Found

5-foot-11 Jada Dapaa is full of positive energy. As the length of this interview attests, she is a passionate, intelligent and fun person. When playing for Saint Francis during the 2021-22 NCAA season, she was named the NEC Defensive Player of the Year, NEC Most Improved Player and an All-NEC First Team member. Although she is now sidelined with an injury, she doesn’t plan on ending her basketball career. At least not yet.

How were you recruited, and what made you decide on Saint Francis?

Actually, it’s funny story. I was originally not recruited by anyone to go play basketball. I had no offers. And around the end of my senior year of high school basketball, in around February, I joined an AAU team, or rather, another AAU team; I switched teams. And Coach Joe [Haigh], who was the head coach of Saint Francis at the time, saw me because his daughter was on the AAU team. So I actually met his daughter first on my AAU team, and then that’s how I got to know him. And he saw me play a couple AAU games, and he found out that I was a senior and I wasn’t committed anywhere, doing anything really. And he kind of approached me and said he was interested. We came to the conclusion that I was gonna go to Saint Francis as a walk-on and then kind of figure things out from there because they were already out of scholarships.

And how did you eventually get your scholarship?

So, funny story also. During my freshman year as a walk-on, I ended up getting concussed, and I was out for two months. And then it turned out that Coach Joe had to step away from the team and our athletic director became our head coach. And it was a little bit crazy with all that. So then I came back after two months with a completely different coach and some other new things within the system and stuff like that. I didn’t play and then was deciding if I even wanted to stay at Saint Francis at that point, because everything that I kind of went there for wasn’t there anymore. So then my sophomore year, another coach came in, Coach [Kelia] Whittington. And she gave me my scholarship for the rest of my remaining three years at Saint Francis. And I kind of just told myself, “Well, I’m now on scholarship. I’m getting my school paid for. Like, oh, this is a dream for a lot of people. Why leave and go do something else? And, I still love basketball.” So, kind of, “Just stick it out and do the best I can and try to make the most of it,” was my mindset after my sophomore year.

And what happened before your fourth year at Saint Francis? Because up until then you were sort of, under the radar, slowly improving. And then there’s this big explosion where suddenly people noticed you, noticed your skills, you get more minutes, you get the award for Most Improved and Defensive Player of the Year. So did you work extra during the summer?

Definitely. So my sophomore year was also the COVID year. So that’s when everybody was sent home around March. I indirectly had lost some weight. And, people were telling me, like, “Oh, JD, you look good…blah blah blah.” But I wasn’t trying to. And It wasn’t because of COVID. So I told myself, “Let’s try and go on a diet, and let’s try and work to see how fit I could get while we’re in this lockdown.” And I actually ended up losing about 50 pounds.

Wow.

Yeah. I know. I lost a decent amount of weight. Every day I was working out. I was always doing something. I was thinking about how I can now be the best version of myself. And then going into junior year, I started to get a little bit more playing time. I wanted to make the most kind of the time that I had on the court any way to help the team win. I started watching a lot of basketball as well. Before I’d only ever really watched the NBA, but then I started just becoming obsessed with watching collegiate basketball, any form, men’s or women’s. I ended up becoming obsessed with the WNBA, the NBA, knowing players in and out, stuff like that. I was trying to boost my IQ, trying to make myself the best player I could be.

Why did you decide to transfer to Fordham? Was it supposed to increase your chances of getting drafted? Or what was the thinking behind the move?

Going back, I knew I got that COVID year back. So I knew for sure that I was gonna go do my fifth year and go get my master’s somewhere. And at the beginning of senior year, I kind of told myself, “Saint Francis is a very small private school in the middle of kind of nowhere Pennsylvania.” So I felt like I wasn’t exposed to enough college-wise, outside of basketball, even though we were traveling and doing stuff all the time. We even got to go to Australia. But I think I wanted more, since I didn’t plan to be playing professional basketball after my fifth year. The plan was always to just try and go into work with the degrees that I had. So I think I wanted to not only get my master’s, but also be somewhere just more exposed to the work fields and people who are in the work fields, who could either inspire me or could help me in any way to kind of get the next part of my life, after that fifth year of school. So I ended up talking to a bunch of different schools. I went on a couple visits and then, actually, I ended up choosing Fordham because it kinda just felt right. I like the coach there. It was in New York. What’s a better place to try and get your foot in the door, right? And, one of my old teammates that I played with on Saint Francis, actually her sister was on the Fordham team as well, so that definitely also gave me a little bit more incentive to wanna join.

Business analytics… so you’re a numbers person? One of those Moneyball people?

I guess you could say that. Just don’t call me Brad Pitt. I was originally doing an engineering degree when I started first at Saint Francis, and then I switched over to management information systems, and I absolutely loved it. Fordham didn’t have a master’s in that, so I kinda just went the business analytics way because it’s very similar to the topic. Yeah, I love numbers. I love knowing, for example, the turnover to assist ratio, and trying to understand the game, try to make sense of the game just by reading the stat sheet and reading the numbers. Even though, you know, there’s players out there and stuff that the stat sheet won’t tell you. There’s always different ways that you can understand the game through stat sheet. So I’m definitely a numbers person in that sense.

What made you decide to move to Ireland? Because you said that the plan wasn’t originally to go pro, but you eventually decided to move abroad to Ireland. Its basketball is pretty unknown, even for us in Europe.

I ended up deciding very late in the middle of summer. I wanna say I really didn’t get the ball rolling until almost July, on trying to play pro. Looking at some teams and getting a couple offers, speaking with my agent, I decided to go to Ireland. I think it was just the fact that I again, I didn’t know much about the overseas basketball life and stuff like that like that. I also think it was me just kind of playing it a little bit safe. You know, it’s an English speaking country. I didn’t have to face a language barrier. It felt, you could say, safe to my mom, sending her baby away overseas to go play basketball. When I got there, some of the nicest people I’ve ever met. Irish people are so welcoming, and I have nothing but great things to say about them. The basketball side is definitely trying to make its way up there, I think. But you know, every country’s different when it comes to basketball trying to be the top sport or fit or kind of compete with other sports in their own country.

After three months you go to England, to Newcastle. Was the culture and the team very different?

I ended up there around February, around Valentine’s Day. I decided to go to Newcastle. Funny story, was originally looking at the WBBL (Women’s British Basketball League) before I had even chosen Ireland because I was just interested at looking at teams and leagues that I could possibly play in as a rookie and stuff like that. And nothing ended up coming up in the UK in the first place, and then somehow God just makes his plans work [so] that I ended up there in the second half of my rookie season. Absolutely great people over there. Great program going on over there. Nothing bad to say about Newcastle at all. Some of the most loyal fans I’ve seen in my in my life of basketball.

The Geordies, right? There are certain stereotypes about them. In the US, you’ve got Jersey Shore; in the UK, they have Geordie Shore…

One thing is, I think when they have a team that they set their mind on or they have any type of person, team, club, whatever it is that they’re supporting, you can’t tell them otherwise. I saw adult fans and children, mothers and families travel all over the UK just to watch us play, not knowing if we would get beaten by another team by 30 or make it a tight game and possibly squeeze out a win. From the moment I landed, nothing but just great things to say about them. So supportive, so helpful, very loving and caring as well. I say the Geordies take care of their own. If you’re in their circle, you’re in their group, whatever, you’re taken care of. They take care of their own for sure, and they’re definitely very proud people as well.

Before we will get to the sad ending of the season, what other positives can you mention about your stay in the UK?

It’s been a long time coming just for Newcastle in general, with the basketball team. And then making it to the championship game this season after a lot of people didn’t believe we would was definitely a moment I’ll never forget because throughout my entire collegiate career I won, I believe, only two playoff games. So it was very nice to not only advance past the first round, but then past the second round and stuff. And to get to the championship game and be a part of that was absolutely amazing. And then there was the Caledonia game to send us to the championship game and I actually had food poisoning.

Flu game?

Yeah. It was either food poisoning or a stomach bug. It was one of the twp. But yeah, it was no fun, but all my teammates were trolling me the whole time saying, “flu game, flu game, flu game.” But yeah, that was that was definitely a little bit crazy. Don’t order a salad at a burger place. I had to find that out the hard way.

But that’s not the tragic ending I wanted you to talk about.

So I’ll take you through it a little bit. I played three games with them across three weeks before I had an avulsion fracture on my right ankle during practice. I’ve sprained my ankle so bad that a little piece of bone just ended up coming off with my ankle. I didn’t break it or anything. Just a little tiny flake came off with my ankle. So that had me out a little bit longer than I personally had expected because I’ve never really been injured or had to sit out due to injury for my entire career. So it was definitely new to me. I was in a boot for four and a half weeks. It was supposed to be six, but I was doing kind of all the right things. I got out of the boot early. And then the rehab and all that stuff—getting back and making sure that I was genuinely ready to play—was almost another five weeks.

So I was not playing for almost two months. It was unfortunate, but, you know, the team kept playing. I was definitely supportive there on the sidelines, doing what I could, saying what I could during practice, stuff like that. My teammates definitely helped me get through that, but I did know that I was gonna be able to make a return before the end of the season. So in my mind, I really just cared about playoffs at that point. And then a couple practices after the Caledonia game, I actually ended up tearing my Achilles, rupturing it in practice, unfortunately.

Everyone, including me, was still very hyped and very excited to go to the championship game against London in London at The O2. It was just monumental for the club, everybody in the club, all that stuff. So there was definitely still good vibes going around, and my teammates loved pushing me around in a wheelchair, so I could get to London because I there was no way I was missing that game. I think that while I was there, I was able to contribute in a way that made a difference for the team. And I’m just proud of what the team accomplished still at the end of the season, even though we didn’t get the chip at the end of the end of the season. I think I have no regrets, and I’m absolutely proud of what we did.

And what’s your status now?

I’m just trying to take it day by day. I do intend on playing again. But for now, it’s just time to finally sit down and just chill out. I’m not good at sitting still.

A special thank you to Thomas Prodromou of Flash Agency for arranging the interview.