Trey Haun: The boy whose ride lifts the Ghanaian flag high

“Hopefully,” Trey says, looking over his right shoulder, as he delivers his wish to his father seated next to him, “at some point, we could maybe get some of the club members to come with us.”

When he turned, his father had just turned left, too, looking over his shoulder. Their gaze met as if it were choreographed.

“It will be good,” his father, William Haun, agrees. This draws a smile from Trey.

He was in the famous Ghana Black Stars jersey used by the national team in the 1980s, 1990s, and early 2000s. The red, gold, and green with a black star at the heart of it.

Trey Haun Manboora and his father speaking to JoySports Muftawu Nabila Abdulai
Imagine yourself in a Black Stars jersey. Where do you find the Ghana FA badge? On your left chest, right? On Manboora’s outfit, he miraculously replaced it with Mamprugu Unicycle Club in the middle.

The young man who has just become a star had the UNICON21 banner, which is the Unicycle World Championships, behind him.

Born in the United States and groomed in Nalerigu, the North East Regional capital, he has made this stage his playground.

About two years ago, when he arrived on this global map, he had even neutrals applauding his cycling skills. His incredible journey earned him a silver medal and government acknowledgement.

Trey Haun Manboora (right) and father, William Haun (left) at Unicycle World Championships (picture: William Haun)
“In 2022,” William recalls, “they [the sports ministry] gave him a Youth Achievement Award at Jubilee House for his success.”

That honour spurred him on to impact lives in his locality, setting up the Mamprugu Unicycle Club in Nalerigu.

He has found love in the North East Regional where he’s domiciled permanently since he was seven, and doesn’t want to be the only gentleman from the community to have been bestowed a youth achievement award, but there’s a challenge.

“It’s difficult, especially as they are children. To take minors out of the country to an event,” he notes, “but we are just hoping that it will be possible at some point to bring more of the children.”

Trey nods in agreement with a grin. It appears there’s no joy for this young man beyond being in the company of his peers.

To put this into perspective, in one of his sessions in Nalerigu, with him were five other children. Two had unicycles, while the others, quite young among them, had bicycle wheels. If you’re from Northern Ghana, reminisce the days you were running around your community with bicycle wheels and it gave you joy.

Trey had picked up his cycle, riding through a narrow path, the young American-born Ghanaian was sandwiched by his peers equally on unicycles. On their left were three donkeys and a foal; on their right were mud houses. As they pedalled to the nearby house, the younger kids followed with their wheels.

The joy was palpable as they rode effortlessly. There was another session, and guess what, they jumped the unicycle from one fixed car tyre or stone to the ground to another.

One Warisu Alhassan was the jewel of this, drawing admiration from Trey as he screamed, “Nice!”

One of Trey Haun Manboora’s riding mates in Nalerigu
Others were not so successful and fell but laughed about it. Every single session drew cheers from these kids.

Their leader, Trey Haun Manboora, is just 17, but he’s more than just a unicyclist who has created a platform that gives them joy.

“It’s been a lot of fun,” he says of the journey two years since establishing the Mamprugu Unicycle Club in Nalerigu.

Through that fun, he’s not only flown high the Ghana flag in international unicycle championships, bringing not only the name of Ghana and Nalerigu to the global stage but also the Mampruli language, spoken appreciably by him and cherished by a minority in Ghana.

“It’s important that Ghana knows it’s not only Twi. We have Mampruli, we have Dagbani, we have Kusaal, we have Kokomba, we have Moba, we have everything, so Ghana is very diverse.”

Indeed, the country is diverse. But a few languages are marginalised, as stated by Mr Haun.

However, Trey prefers the West African country to his country of birth.

“I like Ghana,” he says. “Ghana, you know, maybe there are a few nice things in the US, but in Ghana, you have such amazing people who are so hospitable and generous and just so nice and welcoming.

“You can just go out and talk with anyone in town, meet anyone, and everyone’s so open, and that is what is so amazing about Ghana — the people.”

Trey Haun Manboora at Unicycle World Championships (picture: William Haun)
It is this connection that has made Nalerigu his home.

“Trey has spent his life in Ghana, so Ghana is home, Ghana is life for him, so he never felt quite right carrying the American flag,” William explains.

He chose the Ghana flag and has remarkably sold Ghana to the world through a sport many hardly know anything about.

If the silver medal won two years ago was a success, he went a step further, winning gold. This triumph is even more remarkable considering the lack of infrastructure in Northern Ghana, particularly Nalerigu, to support his unicycle dream.

“We do it the African way,” his father says.

“We just manage with what we have and do our best. If you have the mindset that you won’t let these things hold you back, you can move forward.

“We have an old tennis court [at the Baptist Medical Centre in Nalerigu], very old, more than 40 or 50 years old. It’s no longer used for tennis, so he and the boys and girls train in this small space, and then he also goes out to train on the Gambaga escarpment near us, so we have many large rocks and stones, and he trains the jumping and all that on those, so that is how we’ve managed.

“Also, for about three years now, we’ve had tarred roads added to Nalerigu, and we have some stretches of tarred roads that the cars are not too many, so he would practice the racing on that one back and forth.

“It’s not ideal, but we can manage.”

It is not, but Trey reckons it’s a blessing in disguise. “I think that training on the rocks or the old tennis court or even in the dirt sometimes makes it… when I come here, and they have a nice road or a nice track to ride on, then [it becomes] very easy.

Trey Haun Manboora at Unicycle World Championships (picture: William Haun)
“I think it’s good to train in a difficult space. Then, when you go somewhere where it’s not as difficult, you just find it very easy,” he explains.

He found it easy when thousands of competitive unicyclists from around the world assembled in Minnesota for this year’s Unicycle World Championships.

Out of the 28 participating countries, there were three African nations: Morocco, South Africa, and Ghana.

Trey carried Ghana’s flag aloft.

“I’m very excited and happy that I managed to do this. It’s exciting. I’m very happy,” he says.

“When we arrived,” his father began a story that unfolded, “the other competitors, they all knew him from his YouTube videos, and they all were praising him, saying, ‘Hey, this is the guy; he’s always riding on stones and grass and weeds,’ and he will ride anywhere. They all knew him when he came because of that, so it was interesting.

Trey Haun Manboora (far right) and other competitors at Unicycle World Championships (picture: William Haun)
“They all said, ‘Oh, we have smooth basketball courts, all these things, but he’s done well.'”

Manboora doesn’t. He rides on stones, hills, and mountains to perfect his skills, and on a stage when it mattered most, his joy was unconfined.

“I’ve gotten to meet so many people from all around the world — Germany, France, South Africa, Japan, Taiwan, and so many different places — and there have been so many different competitions that have been lots of fun to challenge myself and other people.”

As he meets other people from other parts of the world, one thing is dear to his heart: awareness.

“I think just to raise more awareness of unicycling in Ghana and get more people interested in unicycling and involved in it.”

But his father wants it to go just beyond recognition.

Trey Haun Manboora at Unicycle World Championships (picture: William Haun)
“We know the ministry of sports is aware of the sport because in 2022 they gave him a Youth Achievement Award at Jubilee House for his success and for founding the club, so they are not ignorant of it.

“They know about it, and they have even recognised him, so going forward, that is what we are hoping to see — more recognition as a legitimate sport, especially in Mamprugu.”

Per William, “He likes riding too much. In fact, too much. When we drive the car, he will carry it in the back, and if you stop for anything, or when the police stop us at a police barrier, while we are talking with them, he’ll get out and just start riding because he’s just always active.”

Young Haun has turned his hobby into a profession and he’s done it at the highest level in his age category.

“I enjoy challenging myself to ride, and it’s a very fun sport.”

Trey Haun Manboora (right) at Unicycle World Championships (picture: William Haun)
Trey’s passion for unicycling extends beyond personal achievement. In 2022, he founded the Mamprugu Unicycle Club after his success at the World Championships.

The club has grown from three to 29 riders, all inspired by his dedication and success.

“There was plenty of talk, and my videos were trending online, and all the youths in Nalerigu were interested in riding, so I decided to take some of them in,” his father explains.

But the numbers were uncontrollable. With limited unicycles, many kids risked losing out.

However, Mr Haun was determined to make an impact.

“We raised some funds and purchased some of the unicycles and the interesting thing is the children were too many, we reached 20 and it was too much stress for Manboora to be managing the 20 children and also training.”

“We didn’t have enough unicycles,” Manboora interjects.

“So, at 20 children we said okay no more.”

The “no more” killed dreams and joy, but as a father who wants joy for his child, Haun wants same for others, so he opened the door and this happened.

Trey Haun Manboora at Unicycle World Championships (picture: William Haun)
“We said if you bring your own unicycle, we will not refuse you to join the club and somehow they started calling relatives in Techiman, Kumasi, Accra saying, ‘you have to find one wheel bicycle for me!’ and people were finding them.

“So one of the chiefs, Chief Samari showed up one day with five of them and he had three children. He said these three are for my children, two for the others and so they kept coming and now we have about 27 of these unicycles at my house,” he states.

He recalls the community’s support and enthusiasm prior to his departure to Minnesota.

“The last thing that we did before we left [Minnesota to the world championship], we held the Mamprugu Unicycle Championship. We had a field day where the boys and girls came out and had their own competition, and medals were handed out to them.”

For Trey, the future holds more training and more dreams. “I’ll keep training, and I hope that the club will also keep training so that at the next Unicycle World Championships, I’ll go again. Hopefully, at some point, we could maybe get some of the club members to come with us.”

Despite the hurdles, the Haun family remains optimistic and dedicated. Trey concludes with a message to his fellow unicyclists in Nalerigu, “They have to keep training hard and let’s keep challenging ourselves, have fun, find the other kids and ride with them, ride together.”

In Nalerigu, thanks to Trey Haun Manboora, unicycling has become a symbol of hope and ambition, showing that with determination and community support, even the most unlikely dreams can be realised.

When his parents flew to Ghana, his mother was here to save lives and she’s done so for about a decade or more, and now, her son, Manboora, to wit, ‘I like’ has gotten almost every kid to fall in love with a sport they knew nothing about.

A man can only walk on road laid before him, and on this road the Haun family has been stellar as they create unending memories with everyone around them.