{"id":3610,"date":"2022-01-06T18:06:26","date_gmt":"2022-01-06T18:06:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/phoenix.ampsmagazine.com\/?p=3610"},"modified":"2022-01-06T18:36:32","modified_gmt":"2022-01-06T18:36:32","slug":"retired-nba-athlete-jerrod-mustaf","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/phoenix.ampsmagazine.com\/?p=3610","title":{"rendered":"AMPS Magazine Phoenix \u2013 Presents a Look at Athletes in History"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Featuring Retired NBA Athlete Jerrod Mustaf – By Chrystal Allen-O’Jon<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Q&A with Retired NBA Athlete Jerrod Mustaf, Director of Basketball US Elite Basketball LLC – 12138 Central Avenue, Suite 390 Mitchellville, Maryland 20721, http:\/\/jerrodmustaf.com\/index.cfm<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Who inspired you as a young athlete?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a young athlete I was inspired by Muhammad Ali.  He was my greatest sports hero and I fell in love with his story.  I always wanted to stand for a greater cause than myself and to use my platform as an athlete to make a difference in the community and world. I didn’t fully understand what the word sacrifice meant until I learned who Muhammad Ali was. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do you think attitude is a factor in winning? Why?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

You definitely have to have a confident attitude to win.  There are a lot of talented players in every sport, but they may not have the confidence to be a “playmaker” when the game is on the line.  All of the great ones have some intangible that separates them from others. And the beauty about sports is that it mirrors life- you can apply the skills acquired in sports to the workplace and in life.  Any young athlete should set goals to win on the court\/field, in the classroom and in life! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What sacrifices did you find the hardest to make your career in sports?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I knew that my time with friends and family would be limited if I wanted to pursue my goals in sports.  My freedom to own my personal space in the public had to be sacrificed too.  I had to understand that fans of my current team or franchise  would encroach on my personal space at dinner, the movies, while shopping, etc., but that was a sacrifice that all professional athletes had to make.  I had to sacrifice new friendships because it would be difficult to make new friends and relationships without feeling compromised due to my status as a professional athlete. And the earliest sacrifice was my personal time as a teenager who needed hours of training to develop my talent.  I had to sacrifice time at the beach in the summer and socializing with friends because I needed to be locked in a gym training. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do you think being a sportsperson has changed your life?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Playing sports has afforded me an opportunity to see the world and it has broadened my global perspective. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What are your current projects?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I still direct my nonprofit, www.takechargeprogram.org<\/a> . I also started a new basketball platform, www.uselitebasketball.com<\/a>.  I founded another project in my hometown this past summer, www.columbuscountylegends.com<\/a>, I also published my first book in 2021, www.becomingpops.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Featuring Retired NBA Athlete Jerrod Mustaf – By Chrystal Allen-O’Jon Q&A with Retired NBA Athlete Jerrod Mustaf, Director of Basketball US Elite Basketball LLC – 12138 Central Avenue, Suite 390<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3623,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[31,3,32,34],"tags":[188],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/phoenix.ampsmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3610"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/phoenix.ampsmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/phoenix.ampsmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/phoenix.ampsmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/phoenix.ampsmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3610"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/phoenix.ampsmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3610\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3626,"href":"https:\/\/phoenix.ampsmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3610\/revisions\/3626"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/phoenix.ampsmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3623"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/phoenix.ampsmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3610"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/phoenix.ampsmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3610"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/phoenix.ampsmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3610"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}