Edem Quist comes of age

Imagine what must have been going on in the mind of Edem Quist last year when he wasn’t part of the Legon team who played in the maiden edition of the competition at the citadel of basketball in Ghana- El-Wak stadium.

That was the competition where 15 players of Cantonment stepped onto the podium in Accra and had gold medal hung around their necks and lifted the title.

Coach Daniel Sowah had a young squad that out-defended and out-rebounded nearly every opponent at season-1 of Community Dunks.

Quist, 17 at that time, had to watch from the stands and sometimes on television.

‘I couldn’t be available because I was in school and the championship coincided with our calendar. It hurt me a lot but am glad to be finally part of this year’s edition’.  he said.

A year is a long time in basketball.

Quist did what he had to do to make the team for season-2 of Community Duns.  He had issues about his ability to play after some coaches questioned his genuine age for the championship. May be because of his looks. He looks older than 17 but in a country where it difficult to determine one’s actual age, it was almost impossible to rule him out when he had provided all the evidence to prove his case. He was only confirmed to play on the second-day of the screening exercise.

After helping Mfanstipim Senior High to win the Central regional Sprite Ball Championship in 2009, Quist continued to work hard and finally earned a spot in Coach David Agyeman Bamfo’s team.

He has an important role, too, especially after Legon lost the plot against Kaneshie in the second match of group A, the young man with a powerful upper body, contributed tough defense and timely shooting to help the host overcome Ridge 30-18 on Saturday to book a semi-final berth in the ongoing championships.

With Ridge threatening to come back in the fourth quarter and closing the gap, Quist buried one of his fine fast breaks in the game to knock the wind out of the opponents.

The young man is certainly having a time of his life at the University of Ghana basketball court- having displayed so much prowess and individual brilliance against last year’s bridesmaid.

‘So far so good as far as my contribution in the game today is concerned and I’m looking forward to having such great days in the knockout phase’. Quist told basketballghana.com

‘We’re very happy with our performance as a team and like I told you at the beginning of the championships, we’re not afraid of any team. We were disappointed we lost to Kaneshie last week but I’m happy we bounced back in style to make our fans happy’.

Remember, you can see all of Quist antics and skills on Saturday and the other matches on Basketball TV on Metro TV (this and every Thursday from 5:30pm)

Community Dunks is an initiative of Rite Multimedia and sponsored by Indomie with support from Metro TV and 90 Minutes newspaper.