Basketball: Former Mfantsipim star Amoafo joins Canadian university
Former Mfantsipim power forward Maxwell Amoafo Okoampah has joined the University of Saskatchewan men’s basketball team known as the Huskies as they mount a late surge for the Canadian inter-university playoffs.
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Amoafo arrived in Saskatoon last week after an over 10,000-kilometre flight from Accra and has already been involved in practice sessions as he works on acclimatizing to the weather.
“It’s very cold, that’s the impression, like it’s very cold. I just need to get used to the weather and schedule everything right,” the 21-year-old said on Wednesday in an interview with globalnews.ca.
According to him, his sister who studied for her masters of public health last year at the University of Saskatchewan recommended that he applied to the school.
“My sister told me about it. So I just searched on the internet and contacted the coach and sent him my video,” Amoafo added.
The Cleveland Cavaliers fan, who wants to be just like Lebron James, said he’s gotten to where he is based purely on his work ethic.
“It depends on your hard work because we don’t have many facilities. It depends on the amount of time you put in your personal workout to grow yourself each and every day.”
The Huskies are currently 3-9 and sit 15th in the Canada West Conference and are hoping the six-foot-seven forward adapts to Saskatchewan’s system quickly.
“I’m just trying to get used to the system, the tradition here. And I have my teammates helping me, they are very helpful,” Amoafo said during his third practice with the team.
Amoafo came to the fore locally after featuring for record four-time champions Mfantsipim in the Sprite Ball Championship, Ghana's flagship basketball competition contested by Senior High Schools.
