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By Xavier Sanchez
Correspondent
While some people are leaving Illinois in search of opportunities elsewhere, some are coming to the state and creating their own opportunities for themselves and others.
Mustafa Sulaiman, a native of Philadelphia who now lives in south suburban Matteson, is trying to help pave the way to college for student-athletes across Illinois. Sulaiman is the founder of XposureRuns, which aims to help high school basketball players get exposure to college programs.
When sports began taking a backseat due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Mustafa Sulaiman had just started hosting basketball workouts that would move into more gameplay as the months went on. A goal of these events was to help athletes grow as basketball players and get them exposure. That includes his son, Xavier Sulaiman, who played basketball at Marist and Oak Lawn and is a sophomore at Indiana Tech in Fort Wayne.
“Xavier was unranked,” Mustafa said. “Nobody really knew who he was because we are not home-growns.”
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Mustafa Sulaiman gives instructions to start the morning at his XposureRuns unsigned seniors event held in March. Photo by Xavier Sanchez
The effort helped grow exposure for Xavier, and Mustafa realized there were other players who were talented enough to play in college but were not getting the exposure they needed.
So he started XposureRuns, a platform that started as a social media page. He began by sharing details about his events and, over time, evolved to share highlights and statistics of players across Illinois.
One attendee of Sulaiman’s events was Hinsdale native and Chicago Bulls 2024 first-round pick Matas Buzelis, who participated in a first-run event in 2020.
Now, XposureRuns hosts two events at the popular 167 Green Street Gym in Chicago, including an unsigned seniors event that was held in March. Mustafa teamed up with Ryan Foran to host the events at the building at Green Street and Halsted Avenue.
Foran works in the building as the senior vice president of Cresa, and reached out to Sulaiman about using the gym space. After a phone call together, the two put up the money to host their first Chitown Showcase in autumn 2021, prior to the start of the 2021-2022 high school hoops season.
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Oak Lawn basketball player Corey Lee at an XposureRuns unsigned event. Photo by Xavier Sanchez
The duo has been able to secure sponsors to mediate their own expenses, and are always looking for more financial backing.
Sulaiman is very grateful for the support of SVI Sportwear; Jeremy Fear and his family for supplying food; his producer, Bo Harris; his family and others for helping him in his pursuit of his vision.
“We really need help sponsorship-wise,” Sulaiman said. “We are not sure how we are going to sustain it because it has grown so much.”
The Chitown Showcase is an all-star-like event which features some of the top players around Illinois, handpicked by Sulaiman and others. They are hosting their third incarnation of the event on October 27, 2024.
“It has become such a huge thing and we have now become the official start to the basketball season,” he added. “It has come to be expected”
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Former Oak Lawn basketball player Xavier Sulaiman (red coat) at the XposureRuns’ fall 2023 Chitown Showcase.
Sulaiman and Foran also host an unsigned seniors event in March to help give student athletes another chance at getting exposure to college coaches. They bring in players from across Illinois and from other states to train and play in front of several nearby college recruiters.
The event has become a popular destination for businesses, media outlets, and photographers and videographers.
“We are a networking event but we just happen to be playing basketball,” Sulaiman said.
After events, Xposure Runs’ social media accounts share video and photos with credits. He wants to foster relationships between all the attendees and help whatever they want to do within the space he provides.
After seeing the success of the gym runs and his social media page, Sulaiman and Harris launched a podcast with the same name as his page. He now can be seen sharing the stories of current athletes both in high school and college as well as former athletes and current and former coaches.
“We definitely want to grow the podcast more and try to get a sponsor for the podcast,” he added.