DES MOINES, Iowa — For college athletes across the country, it was already hard enough for parents to see their children play. Try accomplishing it during a pandemic with travel restrictions and the uncertainty of scheduled games going off without a hitch.
"With COVID it's also been kind of different we haven’t gotten the regular college experience,” said Okay Djamgouz, a redshirt sophomore with the Drake Bulldogs men's basketball team.
For the redshirt, it’s been tough two years. An international student from Canada, trying to get home during a pandemic has had its challenge for the basketball player.
"We hadn’t seen him since August, he hadn’t been home since August, and before that may, and before that, it was a very long time because of COVID,” said his father Tevfik Djamgouz.
This past weekend, the Djamgouz family wanted to end that drought, the plan was to see him play, hopefully against Chicago State.
"My wife, my younger son, who's 16 and also plays basketball, my daughter all hopped in a car,” Tevfik said.
But due to COVID complications within the visiting Chicago State, the game was canceled.
"Nothing is predictable, anything can happen on any given night, and this was certainly one of those. Twelve hours before, our game got canceled. They were going to fly here and not even get to see him play,” head coach Darian Devries told Local 5.
The Bulldogs took to social media to find a replacement for the game.
"We were reading Twitter, reading about anything we could to see what games were on, scrolling through and seeing who played who,” Devries said.
They found UT-Martin, and with the game back on, Djamgouz was back on track for some playing time.
"I was just focused on playing as best as I could if my number got called,” Okay said.
His number got called and so did his name by the play-by-play announcer. And by his family roaring up in the stands when he scored his first points.
"He’s not nervous, he goes out there and gets an opportunity, he’s going to let it rip."
Okay finished with 15 points in the game, a career-high for the redshirt sophomore.
"It was special, it was definitely special for all of us, this was my second game watching him live, but first for my wife, my son and my daughter, it was a special moment,” Tevfik said.
From the points score on the court to some important mementos for the family, this game will be remembered for a long time.
"These tickets we're all going to save them and mark them, first career-high, obviously we believe that there is more to come, but we're definitely going to cherish this game, no doubt."
“He usually tells me what I have to improve on, but this time, he was just happy to watch me with the rest of my family, and he was just proud of me,” Okay said.
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