Oregon daily emerald., November 21, 1984, Image 9

Duck men
shootout
in Alaska
See story Page 2B
Wednesday, November 21, 1984
Q
stepping onto the shiny floor of Mac Court to
play a basketball game in front of TV cameras, a
blaring band and 8,000 cheering fans can be an
intimidating experience the first time around,
and almost overwhelming when those emotion
packed conditions aren’t expected.
So sums up 6-foot-10 Kofi Kyei's (pronounc
ed “Chay”) impressions of his first public perfor
mance with the Oregon Ducks in the November 9
exhibition match against the University of Vic
toria. Kyei, a twenty-one-year-old business ad
ministration and pre-engineering major, is a
citizen of Ghana here on a basketball scholarship.
The day of the match, Kyei explains, he was
"not nervous. I didn’t know how it was going to
be.” Hoping he wouldn’t play during the game,
Kyei became tense when he got on the court and
saw “all those people.”
At home in Ghana, where he was a member
of the country’s national basketball team and a
student at the University of Science and
Technology, Kyei had never played basketball
before more than 500 people, in a culture that
views basketball much differently than do
American sports fans.
"I'm learning things every day. ’
— Kofi Kyei
Soccer, known to the English-speaking
Ghanese as ‘football,’ is "the major sport,” Kyei
says. "Basketball is a very minor sport. 1 just
heard about the crowds here.” Kyei describes the
basketball fans in Ghana compared to their
American counterparts as "not as involved. They
would cheer a lot if something happened, but I
still went out and enjoyed myself.”
Though admitting his initial apprehension to
the number of Duck fans at the Victoria game was
a problem, he points out the the crowd’s reaction
to him was "marvelous.” The support he receiv
ed, he believes, made him feel like "one of the
family” and helped to get him relaxed.
By next month, Kyei hopes to be “settled
down, and doing more than the motions” on the
team. The biggest challenge to this goal is the
adaptation to a different style of play. Kyei
describes Ghana’s national team practice as based
"more on fundamentals than getting in shape,”
while the Oregon players learn "a lot of plays
against many offensive and defensive,” plays that
can be "called at any time.”
Kyei is very positive about his new team,
describing all the players as "great,” and adds
that in the long run he wants “to be the best
player I can be so my team can win all the time.”
However, it was academic as well as basket
ball considerations that brought Kyei to Oregon,
explains head coach Don Monson. He cites two
cru- I
cial
factors
that led
to the de
cision to
offer Kyei the
scholarship.
The first reason
was that Kyei is a
“good student’’; there
are not many concerns aca
demically.” The second factor was
Monson’s impression of Kyei’s man
nerisms after the coach had talked with
the student.
“He wanted to progress,...and seemed
like a positive kid.”
Kyei’s progress so far has been
“fine,” Monson adds. While not ac
costomed to American “intensiveness
and aggressiveness” and despite sus
taining a hamstring pull that brought
eight days missed practice, Monson
praises Kyei as very coacnaDie ana
and well-liked by his teammates.
Jumping and timing are Kyei’s best
skills, Monson says, while his shooting has
improved, but problems of hesitating still
need work.
While the switch in lifestyle from his native
country may be difficult, Kyei is not the first of
his^ family to travel abroad. His father, a pur
chasing officer for International Tobacco Ghana
Ltd., did postgraduate work in Europe. One of the
younger Kyei’s sisters has been to Italy,
another to the Ivory coast, and a brother to Nigeria.
Though not the first of the family to travel,
Kyei’s arrival in America, considering its foreign
reputation, was nevertheless in some measure daring.
The view of the United States as a violent place is
typical in Ghana, Kyei explains, adding that he even
heard one woman vow never to come to America
because she didn’t want “to die early.”
Feeling this statement was too extreme, Kyei believ
ed places of learning would be different, without the
“dog-eat-dog atmosphere.” He finds Americans so far
“friendly”, people who go “out of their way” to help.
Declining a further elaboration of his views on
America, Kyei will say only that “I’m learning things
every day.”
An indication of his approach to his new challenges
is perhaps reflected in his choice of one of the men he
most admires, Moses Malone of the Philadelphia
Seventy-Sixers. “You can see how he always goes out
and gives his all,” explains Kyei.
Story by Colette Doudin
Photo by Michael Clapp