It’s been a little more than three years since Jaliyah Manuel was introduced to the world through Whistle Sports’ “No Days Off” Youtube series, and the 12-year-old prodigy is still just as talented and hardworking as she ever was.
Through a series of skills challenges against her father, Jovan, Jaliyah demonstrated her talents in Whistle’s most recent episode of “I Could Do That,” which was released Monday. The one-on-one competition between father and daughter featured a spider challenge, shootout challenge, defender challenge and 3-point challenge.
Since her episode of “No Days Off,” Jaliyah has remained busy. She’s won MVP honors at national AAU tournaments, and in 2020, she starred in She Ball, playing the role of Magic, the daughter of Nick Cannon’s character, Avery Watts.
“It was pretty fun. Nick Cannon was a really funny dude, and I had a great time with everybody on set,” Jaliyah said in the video. “I was in California, so I got to go to Universal [Studios] a lot, too.”
The challenges are designed to improve ball-handling skills, perfect proper form while shooting, prepare shooters against active defenders and help with conditioning. Jaliyah won all of them besides the defender challenge, in which she tied with her father.
“Basketball has been crazy for Jaliyah since the last time,” Jovan said in the video. “She’s getting a lot better, but just working on the game, just trying to transition from not being able to play when you’re younger and not having those game experiences, it’s gotten better.”
For now, Jaliyah remains focused on getting good grades so she can get a scholarship to a good school.
“I plan on accomplishing my goals for next year — practicing every single day, not giving up, obviously,” said Jaliyah, who now has more than 119,000 followers on Instagram. “I’ve got to practice. I’ve got to work on my shot and my handles. I’ve got to advance from there.”
At 9 years old, Jaliyah went viral in an episode of “No Days Off” that debuted in October 2018 and now has nearly 8 million views on Youtube. She was 4 when she first began playing basketball, and Jovan says her “success comes from within her.”
“To me, when I think about ‘No Days Off,’ I think about her,” Jovan said in the 2019 video, “and she’s been talking and been saying that since she was 4.”
Trent Singer is the High School Editor at Just Women’s Sports. Follow him on Twitter @trentsinger.