Justin Alliman The glory behind his story

BY SIMONE J. SMITH

“Everyone has a glory story. Nobody’s glory is the same.”

You know that saying, “Sometimes you think you have it bad, until you hear someone else’s story!” Imagine if you can, finding out at the age of four that your parents have been murdered. Having to grapple with the fact that you will never experience the love of a parent. Having to go through post-traumatic stress therapy with your siblings to deal with what you experienced at such a young age. Being told time and time again, “It’s going to be tough for you to become successful. It is going to be tough for you to make it out of this.” Being told that your odds of success are slim, and that you will either end up in jail, or end up dead.

How about losing your hearing, being pulled out of school and failing grade three because you couldn’t hear anything. I am going to preface with this; our Classic Man’s story is destined to be a lifetime movie series. This feature will only be able to capture a microscopic section of this courageous man’s journey. I recommend that after reading this feature, you go and pick up his book “Before My Glory” which highlights his successes, lessons, triumphs, tribulations, and personal gems that he has never told anyone. I am proud to present to the Toronto Caribbean community, Mr Justin Alliman.

Justin Alliman is a Global Basketball Development Coordinator, and he runs an international basketball organization called Dream Chaserzzz. He is also the Mentor Coach for the Raptors 905. His work keeps him busy. He has opened up seven basketball academies around the world, and has utilized basketball as a way to give back to his community.

His love for basketball began the day he started playing it. He views basketball as a tool that helps him connect with people, especially young people. His true passion is helping others, and he is able to do so by going into elementary and high schools and sharing his experience, knowledge, and wisdom, to help young people achieve their greatness.

“I feel like I am a regular guy,” Justin explains. “I was a point guard in university, and I was also studying business. My coach was the one who asked me to train kids, and at the same time, I was trying to figure out what type of business I wanted to get into. Now here I am, training youths and athletes in the NBA, and WNBA. I wasn’t used to things going my way, and I realized that I had to take control of my life, regardless of the difficulties that I had faced.”

During his mentoring and training sessions, he focuses on all the things that people don’t consider when it comes to basketball. “Getting on the court is the easiest part. There is the: organization, planning, strategy implementation, and strength/weakness analysis. You have to have your head on your shoulders in order to be successful in your game, and this is what I help my mentees with.”

It also helps that Justin is an excellent role model. His work ethic, sense of community and down-to-earth nature is what inspires many of the young people that he works with. His down-to-earth nature is what allowed me to feel comfortable about asking him about one of the craziest moments in his life.

“I was selling cars when I started my business as my side hustle. I was actually doing so well, with my business that I decided to quit selling cars. I figured I would focus on the business. Well, that didn’t go very well. I realize now that it was because of my business model, but hindsight is 20/20. I lost the beautiful condo I lived in, my Mercedes, everything. I had to make a choice. The car dealership told me that I could come back, and I was tempted, but I knew that I couldn’t. I had to stick to what I was doing and follow through.

I used to work out at L.A.Fitness, and one of my workout buddies introduced me to the idea of working in the Adult Entertainment Industry. I was reluctant at first, but eventually I gave into the idea, and that is how I ended up at the House of Lancaster.”

Justin stopped at this part of the story and chuckled.

“I haven’t spoken with anyone about this because it was so ridiculous. I decided to check out what this was all about. When I got to the House of Lancaster, I went up to the bar, and the manager told me that I could start as a shooter guy. I was asked if I was comfortable being on stage, and I instantly said no. As I looked around I realized that women are savages. I was kind of disgusted to be honest. After looking around for a while and taking in the scene, I decided that this was not for me. I told the manager at the time that I had to get something out of my car. I left the bar and peeled off. I give myself that. Not everyone is willing to go to the extremes to become successful. I have gone to certain extremes, but at some point you have to draw the line.”

With consistency, dedication, and a better business model, Justin’s life got better, but just as everything was beginning to look up, his brother passed away.

“My brother’s death defeated me. He was like a father to me, and we were the closest. He was the one that I turned to if I needed: money, a kick in the right direction, or fatherly advice and support. Losing him felt like the end of me, and it is something that I deal with to this very day. When you lose someone that you are really close to, it is life changing. At the time I didn’t want to believe it was happening. It was like a bad dream.”

“I had to take a step back and take a look at how I was going to get out of this crisis. I knew that I had to finish ‘Before My Glory.” I had started writing the book when my brother was still alive. He had been the one to advise me to go for it and write about whatever I wanted too.

What I can say right now is that regardless of your situation, where you come from, or how you were raised, you can do something exceptional with your life. If you get a chance to read my book, recognize that you have the power to shape your lives. Forget about what people tell you. Think about what you want to be and create that life for yourself.”