What It’s Like To…Be A Water Polo Instructor in Ghana

When Boakye returned to Ghana in 2018 and introduced a water polo training program through his Black Star Polo Initiative, he was even more shocked that his countrymen had reservations when it came to the water. He had to convince parents, even those in riverine areas, to see the potential in allowing their kids to train with the Black Star Polo Initiative and explore water-related sports.

It is a goal that has since paid off. Boakye now trains hundreds of young kids in Ghana — his ultimate aim being to increase the number of Black players on water polo teams globally, and eventually build a renowned national team for Ghana and across the continent.

Here, in edited excerpts, Boakye shares what it’s like to lead the next generation of Black water polo players, the challenges involved in running the program, and also the best part of working with enthusiastic kids in a not-always-inclusive sport.

Asante Sefa-Boakye: On my second trip to Ghana in 2018, I brought some sporting equipment with me and reached out to the federation that handles aquatics here. They received me and we went to one of the only schools in the country that had a pool on campus, and I made a presentation of equipment and held a clinic. So it started off working with a free school in the central part of the country and from there, we started looking at expanding the reach to different communities that live by water.

Now we're getting more of the international schools involved. So that works towards the vision of having a greater league of different schools, different communities, playing together, competing against each other, and mimicking the success we see with football academies.

As for building an infrastructure, that was quite challenging because I was making something out of nothing. It would have been different if I was building a football or basketball academy. But one of the challenges that sticks out the most was working through our cultural perception of water and the fear that exists with it. I remember when I would swim out in the ocean here in Ghana — as I normally do in the U.S. — there would be panic, with people saying, 'He's gone, he's not going to come back because the current is strong.' Because everybody has a story of somebody going out to the ocean and drowning, I used to receive a lot of precautions of, 'Hey, man, you shouldn't be working with these kids.'

So it was a lot of convincing the locals here that this is a long-term plan, that this is something that will receive funding.

When I started working with the kids, they were just going up to their waist in water; now they're seeing some encouragement where they can go out further and deeper. So there's a lot of enthusiasm, a lot of curiosity, and the fact that they see me, a fellow Ghanaian with his rasta hair, they can see themselves.

We have a senior team, which is [ages] anywhere from 14 to 23. Then we have our junior team, which is 10 to 15. And then the intro team, which is 10 and below.

So essentially, I've created a feeder program where, when Ghana needs a national team, they will look through my players, and say, 'Okay, those are the ones that would go on to represent.' And if it's not representing the country, we can have a foreign team or college that says, 'We'd like to invite them to our country to join our club team or play for our university in the States or abroad somewhere.' So it's a developmental program that I want them to use as a vehicle to be exposed to greater opportunities.

Everyday isn’t the same. Sometimes, one thing is working, but then let's say all things are correct, right? You have the kids on time, the car shows up, there's no traffic and then you get to the pool, but then the pool is closed. The lack of government support is one of the biggest challenges, and is one of the most defeating principles of starting these programs up.

All the funding that I get comes from fundraising through GoFundMe and my own endeavors through music and performing. It all comes down to just people sharing the impact.

My favorite part of teaching the kids is when they get a hang of it. When they send messages, saying 'Coach, thank you so much for introducing the sport, I'm having so much fun.' Seeing the growth, seeing them grasp the concepts, you know it's beautiful. And especially the fact that at the end of the day, aquatics is a rich sport, it's an upper class luxury, so having these individuals from the village, from the ghetto, from the streets, having this joy in an upper class environment where we've been historically excluded from, is so beautiful.

This is kind of my life right now. Previously, I was a full-time musician. I would do performances. I would perform hip-hop. I would tour. It's just evolved to where it's almost similar to where I still will perform, but I'll title it as a benefit show or a fundraiser where the proceeds will benefit the program; to help the kids get food, help us with transportation, help us go to practice. It's a full-time gig now.