NBA’s Precious Achiuwa Hosts Sports and Life Skills Camp for Over 1000 Kids in Nigeria (Exclusive)

NBA’s Precious Achiuwa Hosts Sports and Life Skills Camp for Over 1000 Kids in Nigeria (Exclusive).

When Precious Achiuwa returned to his Nigerian hometown to host a youth camp this offseason, the New York Knicks power forward wanted his young campers to ask themselves one question: What if? 

Achiuwa, 24, tells PEOPLE that question is the inspiration behind his non-profit foundation, What If Unlimited, and was a major theme of the four-day camp he hosted for hundreds of kids at the same school he went to in Port Harcourt, Nigeria. 

“What if I never started playing basketball? What if I had given up? What if I keep going?,” Achiuwa offers as examples in his own life of how “every opportunity matters” – a lesson he hopes his campers took away from the event. 

The New York Knicks continues, “What if I decided to quit after the first day? It was just all those little questions that made me see that every little thing matters. It doesn’t matter how small the opportunity may look.”

Achiuwa encourages the kids in his hometown, and globally, to explore all of their interests, whether academically, athletically or socially.

“Any opportunity or skill could become something, it could be a stepping stone for something that’s really big one day. So that was kind of like what led to the whole ‘what if’ idea, and then I decided to call it What If Unlimited because our whole idea is to try to create unlimited resources and unlimited opportunities,” he explains.

The camp offered attendees various skills programs in sports, life and social skills, something that Achiuwa says will help them achieve their own dreams.

“One of the most important things I thought we did this year was our life skill courses,” says Achiuwa. 

This year, more than one thousand kids attended the camp, and Achiuwa and his team were able to accommodate every camper. “We had over a thousand kids this year, and we were able to split them into teams to work together. We asked them questions and they had a little bit of time to brainstorm on the question, and they picked one or two people to represent the whole group. So the whole idea is just having them work as a team, interact socially and come up with solutions to problems.”

“One kid came up to me and said, ‘Man, I just want to thank you because we did camp this year when school was out of session, and I’m here every day but I could have been doing something I’m not supposed to be doing,’ and that really hit me hard,” Achiuwa tells PEOPLE.

Being back at the same place where he first discovered his own hoop dreams was “surreal” for Achiuwa, who says it was his brother who first inspired him to pick up a basketball. “It’s just so crazy because I’m looking at those kids, and I’m like, ‘Hey, I literally used to be one of y’all. I used to sit here. I used to come here every day and try to play basketball.’”

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Achiuwa says another highlight of the camp was the support from his family who still live in the area. “My brothers are there every day with me trying to make sure everything goes right,” he shares. “My sister at home preparing food for the kids, we feed the kids two times a day.”

The athlete says he made his way to the NBA through lots of hard work and determination, and now he wants to be an example for the kids that look up to him. “There were days where I was in the gym for so long I get kicked out. It’s such a cool moment just being able to go back to where I used to play on and have a positive impact.”

The impact from Achiuwa’s non-profit spans multiple countries, he tells PEOPLE. The foundation has hosted events in Canada, Sweden, and the United States.

Still, Achiuwa says he’s just getting started with What If Unlimited, and is excited that the organization has incorporated an academic scholarship program for next year. He says, “We’re just trying to create as many opportunities as possible for people that are in need. That’s the whole idea of what we do.”

Achiuwa and the Raptors will kick off their season on Oct. 25 when they host the Minnesota Timberwolves in Toronto.