The incredible journey that brought Yaxel Lendeborg to Michigan

ANN ARBOR — Yaxel Lendeborg described the high-school version of himself as “a terrible kid.” He was not mean-spirited; more of a class clown. Teachers told his mom he was smart and respectful but goofed around too much.

He played video games constantly, sometimes as often as 19 hours in a day. Because of poor grades, he was ineligible to play basketball most of his high school career. Graduating seemed like a long shot. Before his senior year, he and his mom, Yissel Raposo, had what Lendeborg called “a real heart-to-heart conversation; really emotional.”