{"id":8478,"date":"2016-02-19T22:19:12","date_gmt":"2016-02-19T22:19:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/pegasus\/?p=8478&post_type=story"},"modified":"2020-06-26T20:50:14","modified_gmt":"2020-06-26T20:50:14","slug":"mastering-the-rebound","status":"publish","type":"story","link":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/pegasus\/mastering-the-rebound\/","title":{"rendered":"Tacko Fall – Mastering the Rebound"},"content":{"rendered":"
Spring 2016\u00a0| By Peter Kerasotis<\/em><\/p>\n [lead]Tacko Fall was 16 when he boarded a plane in Dakar, Senegal, for America. His only companion was another Senegalese teenage basketball player, Ange Badji. It was the first time Fall had ever taken a flight, and he had left his mother and younger brother behind. Wearing taped-up eyeglasses, Fall carried a single suitcase, holding clothes that barely fit him. On his feet were the only shoes he owned \u2014 sandals made by a neighborhood friend.[\/lead]<\/p>\n <\/p>\n He spoke Wolof, his native language, as well as French, but very little English. He was moving to a country he\u2019d never visited and a state where he knew no one.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Fall and Badji arrived in Houston with dreams of making it big as basketball players, a game Fall had never played. Fall was already over 7 feet tall and would grow to be 7 feet, 6 inches by the time he arrived on the court at UCF.<\/p>\n [photo id=”8679″ title=”Pegasus_inset_tackoheight” alt=”Pegasus_inset_tackoheight” position=”center” width=”100%”][\/photo]<\/p>\n [callout background=”#ffcc00″ css_class=”give-callout” affix=”true”]<\/p>\n [sidebar background=”#ffcc00″ position=”right”]\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tGive Now<\/span>\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t[\/sidebar]<\/p>\n Your contribution of any amount can make all the difference for deserving students like Tacko, both in the classroom and on the court.<\/span><\/p>\n [\/callout]<\/p>\n But back then, he arrived in America with little more than the hope of receiving a better education, and if he was lucky, of being able to provide for his mother and brother. Basketball would be his shot at a bigger life, but there would be some misses along the way.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The first setback was in Houston, where the sports academy he and Badji were to attend folded shortly after they arrived.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Fall experienced enough there, however, to believe that if he worked hard, his future could change. He met Hakeem Olajuwon, the former Houston Rockets superstar and fellow African, who showed Fall footwork techniques for big men. He went to a Rockets NBA game against the Los Angeles Clippers, and during the national anthem, he noticed 6-foot-10 forward Blake Griffin nudge his teammate, 6-foot-11 center DeAndre Jordan, and point to where Fall was standing. They smiled and gave him an approving nod.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n It was the encouragement he needed. Fall hoped to move permanently to Cincinnati, where his father lives. But that fell through. Another miss.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Instead, Fall, a devout Muslim who prays five times daily, ended up at Liberty Christian Prep in Tavares, Florida. Mandy Wettstein, who does public relations for the school, and her family took in both him and Badji, a fortuitous rebound.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cThere was not a lot of trust there when I met him, not a lot of self-confidence,\u201d Wettstein recalls. She treated them like any of her other children. \u201cNobody cares if you\u2019re tall,\u201d she\u2019d tell Fall, \u201cyou still have to take out the garbage.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n At Liberty, in addition to learning to play basketball, Fall pursued his passion for math and science and anything that had to do with computers and technology. When he daydreamed, he thought not of dunks, but of mathematical equations, testing himself to see how fast his mind could process multiplication formulas.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n He decided on a goal of one day becoming an engineer, and he graduated from high school with a 3.6 GPA. He also adopted a personal motto that would provide him the insight to rebound on his own: \u201cYour athleticism will fade one day, but your knowledge will last forever.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n While at Liberty Christian Prep, he focused his energies on the classroom and the court, his brains and his brawn. He was learning new techniques to bring his dream to fruition.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cAll he wants to do is help his little brother and his family,\u201d Wettstein says. \u201cHe has such an appreciation for what people do for him. He doesn\u2019t think he\u2019s owed anything.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Early on, Fall would text Wettstein asking if he could have something to eat. He wouldn\u2019t open the refrigerator door without her permission.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cOne day, I came home from work, took him over to the refrigerator and told him, \u2018Stop asking. You don\u2019t have to ask. You can have anything in here. Anytime.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n She laughs now at how her words backfired on her. \u201cBoy, that kid can eat,\u201d she says. North of 7,000 calories a day, to be exact.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Fall grew to be not only 7-feet-6-inches tall but also 295 pounds, with an 8-foot wingspan and the ability to circle his fingers around a basketball rim while standing flat-footed. But would the gentle giant grow into a basketball player? Tony Atkins, Liberty Christian Prep\u2019s basketball coach, wondered.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n What Atkins discovered is that Fall \u201cis like a sponge. Everything you give him, he soaks in. \u2026 You tell him to work on something, he works on it. I told him he had to get stronger, and it wasn\u2019t long before he went from being able to do only four pushups to 35.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Fall continued to grow \u2014 mentally, emotionally and physically. \u201cMost big guys like him can\u2019t move well, but Tacko can really move,\u201d Atkins says. \u201cHis agility was a real surprise.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Overcoming his gentle nature, at least on the court, took some doing. But Fall\u2019s competitive side emerged naturally, surprising Atkins at how passionate he became about winning.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Atkins said in Fall\u2019s ear, his mantra providing encouragement for mental rebounds: \u201cTacko, you can dominate! Tacko, you can dominate! Tacko, you can dominate!\u201d<\/p>\n UCF head coach Donnie Jones took notice. Less than four years ago, he went to Liberty Christian Prep to see Fall. Jones kept an eye on Fall\u2019s progression on the court, and his loyalty paid off. When a trickle of interested schools grew into dozens, including Georgia Tech, Georgetown and Purdue, Fall hardly waivered from his desire to go to UCF. He felt comfortable with Jones and the Knights\u2019 coaching staff, and he knew the quality of UCF\u2019s engineering program<\/a>. \u201cUCF used to be called Florida Technological University,\u201d he says. \u201cIt has that reputation, that history.\u201d<\/p>\n [photo id=”8678″ title=”Pegasus_inset_tackowithcoach” alt=”Pegasus_inset_tackowithcoach” position=”center” width=”100%”][\/photo]<\/p>\n Fall also wanted to stay close to the Wettsteins. After visiting other Florida colleges, he announced to family and friends that, in his opinion, none were better than UCF.<\/p>\n <\/p>\nSupport student-athletes<\/span><\/h2>\n