Lake George - The Journey

MEQUON, Wis. – On Tuesday, February 25th, the Concordia Wisconsin Men's Basketball team will begin their 2019-20 Northern Athletic Collegiate Conference playoff run. For senior captain Olalekan "Lake" George, it will be his final playoff run as a Falcon. As his time at Concordia Wisconsin comes to a close, Lake is able to look back at how his CUW journey all started and reflect on how much he has grown.

Lake's story started in Milwaukee as the second-born child of Nigerian immigrants. His grandmother and eldest uncle were the first of his family to move to America. They emigrated in the mid-1980s, and his father and mother later joined them in Milwaukee where Lake was eventually born and raised. Growing up in a family with strong ties to their Nigerian culture, Lake's experience growing up was rather different from the average American kid.

"It was super interesting," said Lake. "I didn't live the average American lifestyle, I didn't really eat a lot of American foods growing up. The most American thing my mom made, which wasn't really even America, was spaghetti. Our home had a bunch of Nigerian stuff around the whole house. It was definitely different having my friends over. That's when we would try to make it a little more Americanized by ordering pizza, cooking burgers, and stuff like that. We tried to help out my friends whenever they came over because we didn't know if they would like our Nigerian food. When I started high school, they started to eat more of our food. They would come to Nigerian parties where they would try the food and they liked it. It was a lot of fun having my friends from high school embracing our culture. It was very interesting because I never would have thought they would like it so much."

As Lake progressed through high school, his talent on the basketball court started to get the attention of college coaches. He had multiple opportunities, among them Concordia Wisconsin, and along with those options came the difficult process of deciding where he wanted to spend the next four years of his life.

"The selection process was a little tough just because I didn't know where I wanted to go. I didn't know if I wanted to leave the state or stay close to home," said Lake. "My mom and I sat in a room together just debating on if Concordia was right for me. At first, I didn't know if I wanted to come here just because it was so close to home."

Ultimately, Lake committed to CUW. While the decision was not easy for him, Concordia Wisconsin head coach Shawn Cassidy was glad to have him join the program.

"Being at Milwaukee Lutheran and playing for Jason Moesch, who was a teammate of mine, he was on our radar for a long time," said coach Cassidy. "I had the chance to watch him at a lot of Milwaukee Lutheran games throughout his high school career. Constantly talking with the coaching staff between Jason, Billy Bynum, Josh Atkinson, all former Concordia players, they spoke very highly of Lake and his potential. By the time he got to be a senior, we got to see some growth in him and willingness to talk and explore Concordia as a possibility, and the more you are around him the more you just get to like him as a person and root for him, so we are fortunate that he decided to come to Concordia."

Starting out at a new school with new friends and teammates, Lake faced the same social worries as he had in grade school regarding his Nigerian culture. Once again though, he found that his friends fully embraced him and his cultural background, and they particularly loved the food.

"I used to try my best not to go home that much my freshman year," said Lake. "Every Sunday I would go home, and what my mom would do is cook me two big plates of Nigerian food. Some of my friends like Isaiah Tenette, Jordan Edwards, and Michael Campbell would come in my room and be nosy, going in my fridge and be like 'What's this?' and I'd be like 'Ehhhhh'. I didn't know how they'd take it, but they tried it and they liked it so much that whenever I went home they would ask 'Hey Lake, did mom cook that food?' and I'd be like 'Maybe'." Laughing, he joked, "I try not to share since I like it so much."

While the cultural and social transition to college went smoothly, the transition to collegiate athletics was another matter. Lake quickly found that while he had been a big shot in high school, that reputation doesn't carry over into the next level.

"The transition was definitely difficult. When I came in, I was probably like anyone when they come in thinking I'm going to be the man, start right away, and that didn't happen," said Lake. "I was a little upset I had to play JV my freshman year and I just felt like I was better than what I was. Now that I look back at the film, if I'm being completely honest, I was not that good. I had a bad attitude problem because I thought I was better than I actually was."

Faced with the reality of being a bench player, Lake knew he needed to make a change. I pivotal first step in his growth was his commitment to working hard in the gym.

"What really changed was my freshman year I was like, 'next year there's got to be times I play'," said Lake. "I like celebrating and cheering for my team but I wanted to be the reason why we celebrate.  My sophomore year is when I started to get a little bigger. I used to go up to my high school every day in the summer to work out at 6:00 AM and Coach Barth, my coach from high school, told me, 'This is college basketball. There are guys that think they're putting in all of this work but there's going to be somebody that's working even harder than you'. So I'm thinking like 'Ok, whoa, I've got to put in even more work to fit that criteria of a college basketball player'."

Lake's work off the court paid off as he took a massive leap forward on the court in his sophomore year, averaging 10.2 minutes per game off the bench and shooting 55.7 percent from the floor. His upward trajectory continued going into his junior year as he got his first collegiate start on November 16th, 2018, against No. 10 UW-Platteville in the Falcon's second game of that season. He proceeded to start in 10 consecutive games, but his play declined as opposing teams started to figure him out. By January 5^th, he was no longer in the starting lineup and played off the bench for the remainder of the season.

Being demoted back to the bench was a difficult experience for Lake, but he found support from his teammates, in particular the seniors.

"Especially during that time, that's when our four seniors Jake, Andrew, Josh, and Noah would always pick me up," said Lake. "They'd tell me not to worry about it and just play my game. Especially Josh Hau. He was really cool about lifting me up at certain times. Josh wasn't our senior captain but he still was a leader on the court. He would always tell me don't worry about it, you'll be fine, and stuff like that, which helped."

While being benched as a junior was extremely difficult, the experience Lake gained from the process helped him grow into the leader he is today. At the onset of his senior season, Lake was selected by the team and coaches to serve as captain. Though he was initially hesitant to accept the responsibility, Lake has excelled in the role. As a team leader, he works to support the younger players the same way he was supported by his seniors when he was facing challenges as an underclassman.

"I just tell them to keep their heads up, not to worry about what's going on. You guys have three years left after this, so even if you're not playing right now just keep working hard. At this point we've got our rotations figured out for the most part. We still got a lot of freshman that are really good that could play, but we have older players that are more experienced in crunch time and other in-game situations. Usually, I just tell them not to worry about it. If a freshman gets frustrated during practice, I usually just tell them 'you're fine', 'you got it', 'next play mentality', just try to keep their heads up."

This spring, Lake will be graduating with a Bachelor's in Sports Entertainment Business. Academics were a weakness of his early on in his time at Concordia, but just as with basketball, his performance in the classroom has excelled due to the hard work he has put in.

"My freshman year I came in undecided just because I really didn't know what to major in," said Lake. "At first I was thinking about JPP, Criminal Justice, and stuff like that. Then a lot of my friends were in the Sports Hospitality and Sports Entertainment Business majors, so I just looked into it and found them pretty interesting. Ultimately what I want to do in the long run is be a Director of Fan Experience for a major or minor league sports team, just depending on how the chips fall. Academic wise I wasn't always the best student, but as I got older things started to make more sense and I started to put more time into it and that helped out a lot."

As the postseason of his final year at Concordia Wisconsin is about to begin, the reality that his time playing college basketball is nearly over has started to really sink in. At the same time, Lake is able to reflect back and appreciate how he has grown both on and, more importantly, off the court in his time at CUW.

"I'm starting to think about it a little more like 'Whoa, it's really coming to an end'," said Lake. "That's why I've got to play every game like it's my last. The transition just from my freshman to senior year, coach Cassidy tells me all the time that I'm not the same person that I was, not even player but just person as I was from my freshman to senior year. I definitely think that I have grown a lot just because I have been through a lot of stuff throughout these years. I'm really actually proud of the person I am now just because I've grown from what I was my freshman year into a better player and a better man. It's definitely been a very rocky four years, but I'm glad God put me through it all just because he shaped me into somebody that I'm going to be proud of looking back when I get older."

Having had the opportunity to see his development first hand over the years, coach Cassidy is proud of the man Lake has become.

"Absolutely, and it has nothing to do with basketball, it has everything to do with him as a person," said coach Cassidy. "The growth that he has shown, especially over the last year and a half. He went to the National Youth Gathering to represent Concordia in front of thousands of youth and he spoke to them about his faith and his experience. That's what makes me most proud. Everyone came back and said how much fun he was, what a great speaker he was, that he was a great representative. And to see him in the locker room as the captain, as a leader on the floor, and his ability to grow and motivate. Just even in this past year, he's gone from a starter to a bench player to a starter again and it hasn't phased him. I know he's disappointed by it but he hasn't shown it. He goes out and performs and works. He's so much fun to be around as a person that it's infectious to the team. I'm just so proud of his growth as a young man, as a leader, as a basketball player, but even more so for what he's doing off the floor with his responsibilities and his accepting of challenges, that's what makes me excited about Lake and his future."

If he could go back and sit down with his younger self, there are a few things that Lake would have to say to himself as a freshman coming into the program for the first time.

"I'd definitely just tell him to keep his head on straight, it's going to be a long four years but it's also going to go by really quick," said Lake. "You just gotta experience anything when it happens and try not to make anything happen that you can't control. I always live by the motto to control what you can control. So I'd just tell him not to rush into anything that you're not ready for, just be ready for the challenges that God's going to bring, because He's going to bring you challenges. He's going to make you question a lot of things, but not to worry about it because, all in all, God's got you at the end of the day."

Lake's faith has been a foundation for him throughout his eventful collegiate career. As the curtain closes on his basketball career and the new world of life beyond college readily approaches, Lake's trust in God will continue to guide him as he moves on to his next challenge.

"Just knowing that God's got me throughout anything that I'm going through, it means a lot, just because I've been through a lot in my life," said Lake. "I don't have to worry. Things might not be going well right now but I just know that God's going to be there at the end and is going to help me out with whatever I'm going through. If its basketball, school, family, just any kind of troubles or anything, just pray to him. He's going to always come through. He might not be there when you want, but He's always right on time."