BACK at the very beginning, right when the idea of water polo in Ghana started swimming into reality, Prince Asante got out a couple of balls and caps in front of a handful of curious kids.
He decided to try a scrimmage, but he had no nets. So they put a soccer bench on each side of the pool.
It was âenthusiastic confusion,â he said. And the capsâwhich have protective cups that go over a playerâs earsâwell, they were particularly amusing.
âSomebody said, âOh, water brassiere, thank you very much,â a water bra,â a chuckling Asante said.
That was one of the first meetings of the Awutu Winton Water Polo Club, a budding league in a tough part of the world for the Olympicsâ oldest team sportâand a true passion project for the energetic Asante.
Growing up in Coronado, California, he was often the only Black face in the pool or his classes. He went in search of a water polo that looked more like him, and found it in the waters of his fatherâs homeland.
âThis is like my baby, and itâs cute because, you know, it cries and itâs growing up, but it needs all of your attention, 24-7,â the 31-year-old Asante said. âWhenever I talk about it, itâs great, because itâs something that I would have loved to see as a kid.â
In Ghana, dangerous rip tides off the countryâs coast have caused countless drownings over the years. Thatâs led to trepidation about deep waters in a nation where low- and middle-income families already have limited access to swimming pools.
When Asante first started swimming in African communities, he saw looks of fear and panic on faces because âthey all have stories of someone going out and not coming back,â he said.
The Awutu Winton club has seven teams representing three regions of Ghana. Players range in age from 7 to 25, and the league includes a group of about 20 women. It had 85 athletes and 10 coaches when it opened its new season last month in Ghanaâs capital, Accra.
Asante said most of his Ghana players had some knowledge of swimming when they joined the program, but not in deep water, where the sport is played.
âTreading water and how to handle the water polo ball was very difficult when I started playing,â said Ishmael Adjei, 20. âBut as time goes on, I could see I am improving personally.â
Adjeiâs club is part of San Diego-based Black Star Polo, an organization founded by Asante that also works on creating aquatic opportunities for African and African-American communities in the United States.
âWhen I started playing, [my family] thought it was just a waste of time,â Adjei said, âbecause you had to help them do the family chores and you would take a timeout to go and have trainingâŚbut as time goes on, they are getting interested.â
Any significant growth in Africa would be a welcome development for a sport that has wrestled with a lack of diversity for decades, much like aquatics in general. Even in the places where water polo is most popularâsuch as California, and parts of southern Europeâthere are very few players of color.
Egypt and South Africa are the only African countries that have played menâs water polo at the Olympics. South Africa became the first womenâs team from the continent to make it to the Games when it finished 10th in Tokyo in 2021. World Aquatics said it doesnât have player participation figures broken down by ethnicity.
âI think itâs vital for the growth of our sport to break out of the normalcy that itâs been the last century, of traditional water polo nations,â said former US player Genai Kerr, who serves on the board of the Alliance for Diversity in Water Polo.
The second of three brothers, Asante got into swimming and water polo after his family became good friends with the family of five-time US Olympian Jesse Smith.
Asante played college water polo at California Lutheran University and got his degree in psychology. He competed professionally in Brazil and trained in Europe.
He often felt he stood out as a Black man.
âJust being used to everybody being able to see me and standing out,â he said, âand Iâm the one everybody notices first, on every class, every team.â
It was different in Ghana, the birthplace of his father, Dr. Kofi Sefa-Boakye. Asanteâs mother, Elizabeth, is from Los Angeles, and she met Kofi when they were students at the University of Southern California.
Asante started going to Ghana with his father after he graduated from high school. He often brought balls and caps on trips to visit family. In 2018, he reached out to the countryâs swimming federation, and it held an event at Awutu Winton Senior High Schoolâone of the only schools in the country with a poolâwhere it made a donation and promoted the program.
âWhat heâs doing is awesome, because itâs so difficult to start something from scratch,â Smith said.
A relatively small geographic footprint can put a sport at risk of losing its place at the Olympics, according to Victoria Jackson, a sports historian and clinical assistant professor of history at Arizona State University. But, Jackson said, decisions about what sports to include are hard to predict and reflect politics, relationships and subjectivity.
Jackson said an all-Black water polo team at the Olympics could have a profound effect on the sport.
âI mean, itâs that quote, right? âYou canât be what you canât see,ââ she said. âItâs immediately horizon expanding.â
Thatâs why Asanteâs effort in Ghana has attracted attention in some prominent corners of the sport.
KAP7, a company that sells swimsuits and other water polo gear, has shipped over goals and other equipment. Kerr and five-time US Olympian Tony Azevedo also have donated equipment, and former USA Water Polo high performance director John Abdou did a Zoom training session for referees.
âThis is something where everyone can see, hey look, this is happening,â said Wolf Wigo, a three-time US Olympian, one of the co-founders of KAP7 and the menâs coach at UC Santa Barbara. âItâs not just one Black person in a pool with 12 white teammates, or two. Itâs a whole pool full of all Black athletes, all playing water polo, having a great experience.â
Asanteâwhose full name is Prince Kofi Asante Sefa-Boakyeâhustles to keep the project afloat, making the most of his connections in the sport and a GoFundMe page. But the way Asante sees it, he has already won.
He is helping promote water safety in Ghana and his native Southern California, a major issue for Black communities. He helped teach swimming lessons to children of Somali refugees at a San Diego YMCA last year.
âI just wanted to play the game,â he said, âbut now, Iâm realizing this is an even bigger and important mission than just before.â
He also dreams of Ghana competing at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles. The most plausible route would run through the Africa continental qualification tournament, but the next step is likely some of Ghanaâs players joining American college programs. Asante also said he plans to field an under-12 team at a water polo festival in Italy in June.
Los Angeles looks like a long shot, but Asante has a planâand he already has traveled a long way.
âMy face is in front of a portrait, so I donât see the full picture, so Iâm able to compose myself,â he said. âBut that would be literally bringing my two homelands together in LA, bringing Ghana to LA.â
Image credits: AP