Ammanuel Gorfu Diressa (born May 5, 1993), is a Canadian professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player for the

Hamilton Honey Badgers The Brampton Honey Badgers are a Canadian professional basketball team based in Brampton, Ontario, that competes in the Canadian Elite Basketball League. They play their games at the CAA Centre. The team was founded in 2018 as the Hamilton Honey B ...

of the

Canadian Elite Basketball League The Canadian Elite Basketball League (CEBL) is a men's professional minor league basketball organization. The CEBL was founded in 2017 and began play in 2019 with six teams competing all owned and operated by ownership group Canadian Basketball ...

(CEBL). He represents

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

in international competition. He played

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

for the

Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles The Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles are the intercollegiate athletic teams of Tennessee Technological University (TTU), located in Cookeville, Tennessee, United States. The TTU athletic program is a member of the Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) and co ...

and

Ryerson Rams TMU Bold (known as the Ryerson Rams prior to August 2022) are the varsity athletic teams that represent Toronto Metropolitan University (previously known as Ryerson University) in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Toronto Metropolitan University operates ...

at what is now

Toronto Metropolitan University Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU or Toronto Met) is a public university, public research university located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The university's core campus is situated within the Garden District, Toronto, Garden District, although i ...

Early life

Diressa was born in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

, to an Ethiopian

single parent A single parent is a person who has a child or children but does not have a spouse or live-in partner to assist in the upbringing or support of the child. Reasons for becoming a single parent include divorce, break-up, abandonment, becoming wid ...

mother, Almaz Diressa, and a

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

father who left the family and moved back to

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

. He attended

Eastern Commerce Collegiate Institute Eastern Commerce Collegiate Institute (ECCI) was a public high school part of Toronto District School Board in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Opened in 1925, it offered a range of courses leading to all Ministry pathways: University, College, Apprentice ...

in Toronto. He averaged 17.3 points, 8.7 rebounds, and 4.3 assists per game in his senior year and lead his high school to win the South Region championship and the Toronto championship with a 37-7 record.

College career

Tennessee Tech

Diressa played his freshman and sophomore seasons for the

of the

Ohio Valley Conference The Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference which operates in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern and Southeastern United States, Southeastern United States. It participates in NCAA Divisi ...

(

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of College athletics, intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major ...

) from 2012 to 2014. In 2012–13 season, he averaged 1.8 points per game. As a sophomore in the 2013–14 season, he averaged 1.9 points per game.

Ryerson

In 2015, Diressa joined

of the

Ontario University Athletics Ontario University Athletics (OUA; french: Sports universitaires de l'Ontario) is a regional membership association for Canadian universities which assists in co-ordinating competition between their university level athletic programs and providin ...

(

U Sports U Sports (stylized as U SPORTS) is the national sport governing body of university sport in Canada, comprising the majority of degree-granting universities in the country. Its equivalent body for organized sports at colleges in Canada is the Ca ...

). He appeared in 18 season games in the Rams' 2015–16 season. He averaged 14.9 points, 5.3 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game during the season. On December 19, 2016 he scored season-high 23 points against the

Charleston Charleston most commonly refers to: * Charleston, South Carolina * Charleston, West Virginia, the state capital * Charleston (dance) Charleston may also refer to: Places Australia * Charleston, South Australia Canada * Charleston, Newfoundlan ...

. On February 4, 2017, he pulled down career-high 16 rebounds against the

Texas A&M Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System in 1948. As of late 2021, T ...

. He scored a career-high 30 points in a 97-68 win at the Nipissing on January 30, 2016. Diressa had 20 or more points in six conference games and 10 or more in six games. He averaged 16.1 points per game in five post–season games. Diressa appeared in 18 games, including 17 starts in the 2016–17 season. He averaged 19.0 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 3.1 assists per game during the regular season. He recorded at least 11 points in every single played game and at least 20 points on nine occasions. He averaged 16.7 points per game in three contests at the

2017 U Sports Men's Basketball Championship The 2017 U Sports Men's Final 8 Basketball Tournament was held March 9–12, 2017 in Halifax, Nova Scotia. It was hosted by Dalhousie University at the Scotiabank Centre, the first time since 1987 that Dalhousie hosted the tournament. The Carleton ...

. Diressa appeared in 18 games, including 17 starts in the 2017–18 season. He averaged 21.8 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 3.5 assists per game during the regular season. He put up 20 or more points in 13 regular-season games. He averaged 23.1 points per game in seven games at the

2018 U Sports Men's Basketball Championship The 2018 U Sports Men's Final 8 Basketball Tournament was held March 8–11, 2018 in Halifax, Nova Scotia. It was hosted by Acadia University, which also hosted in 1971 on campus in Wolfville, Nova Scotia. The tournament was held at the Scotiabank ...

. On January 15, 2018, he scored a career-high 50 points and grabbed a career-high 15 rebounds against the

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

. Diressa finished his Ryerson career with both the

OUA Oua is an islet on the north-east of Nukufetau atoll, Tuvalu, next to Lafanga atoll. References

Islands of Tuvalu Pacific islands claimed under the Guano Islands Act Nukufetau {{tuvalu-geo-stub ...

medals (gold in 2016, 2017; and silver in 2018) and the

medals (silver in 2017, 2018, bronze in 2016) in each of his three seasons with the university. He became the 10th player in Rams history to break 1,000 career points, finishing with 1,002, and the only player to do so in three seasons.

Professional career

On August 1, 2018, Diressa signed a three-year contract with Serbian team FMP. FMP parted ways with him in February 2019.

National team career

Diressa was a member of the

Canada national basketball team Canada national basketball team may refer to: * Canada men's national basketball team * Canada women's national basketball team * Canada men's national under-19 basketball team * Canada men's national under-17 basketball team * Canada women's nation ...

that won the silver medal at the

2018 Commonwealth Games The 2018 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXI Commonwealth Games and also known as Gold Coast 2018, was an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth that were held on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, bet ...

. Over six tournament games, he averaged 14.0 points, 1.7 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game. Also, he was a team member at the

2017 FIBA AmeriCup The 2017 FIBA AmeriCup was the 18th edition of the FIBA AmeriCup, which is the main tournament for senior men's basketball national teams of the FIBA Americas. The tournament was held in Medellín, Colombia, Montevideo, Uruguay, and Bahía Blanca a ...

. Over three tournament games, he averaged 4.3 points and 0.3 assists per game.

References

External links

*
Player Profile
at eurobasket.com
Player Profile
at realgm.com
Player Profile
at aba-liga.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Diressa, Ammanuel 1993 births Living people Basketball players from Toronto Basketball players at the 2018 Commonwealth Games Black Canadian basketball players Canadian expatriate basketball people in Serbia Canadian expatriate basketball people in the United States Canadian men's basketball players Canadian people of Greek descent Commonwealth Games medallists in basketball Commonwealth Games silver medallists for Canada KK FMP players Toronto Metropolitan University alumni Shooting guards Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles men's basketball players Medallists at the 2018 Commonwealth Games Canadian men's national basketball team players