2006.12.24: December 24, 2006: Headlines: COS - Ghana: Sports: Basketball: The Des Moines Register: Patrick Choquette has been teaching science and basketball at a school at a rural community, Assin Darmang in Ghana
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2006.12.24: December 24, 2006: Headlines: COS - Ghana: Sports: Basketball: The Des Moines Register: Patrick Choquette has been teaching science and basketball at a school at a rural community, Assin Darmang in Ghana
Patrick Choquette has been teaching science and basketball at a school at a rural community, Assin Darmang in Ghana
He wants to coach. In addition to helping build the court from scratch, Patrick is teaching basketball — Grinnell-style, shoot the three, fun-and-gun. Even his old basketball program has gotten into the act. Pioneers coach David Arseneault sent over a set of rims, nets and balls. Assistant coach Emil Malinowski, who also works with DeLong Sportswear, shipped over 10 new basketballs and four sets of custom jerseys with the school name on the front. Choquette sent back a picture of his kids with this caption: “The ‘System’ hits Ghana.” “I just smiled from ear to ear,” Arseneault says.
Patrick Choquette has been teaching science and basketball at a school at a rural community, Assin Darmang in Ghana
Keeler: He took Grinnell to Ghana, but Iowa is still home.
By SEAN KEELER
REGISTER SPORTS COLUMNIST
December 24, 2006
Caption: Ghanaian students wear basketball jerseys sent by a coach in Iowa. Patrick Choquette of Des Moines works with the Peace Corps at a rural school in the African nation. Choquette played basketball at Grinnell College.
Eggnog. Can you believe it? There he was, on a beach, under a sky blue as a robin’s egg, waves crashing the shore, hot sand kissing his toes, and Patrick Choquette couldn’t stop thinking about … eggnog.
“It’s pretty depressing for a lot of people,” Patrick, a Des Moines native and former Grinnell basketball player, says of Christmas Day 2005. He was in coastal Ghana, a volunteer with the Peace Corps. “You miss your family. You miss everything.
“This year for Thanksgiving, I had somehow had gotten a hold of a box of Stove Top stuffing. I ate that alone in my room. That was Thanksgiving.”
Sometimes, you don’t know how good you’ve got it until you’re half a world away, living in a house with no running water and electricity that comes and goes without warning. As you gather ’round the table this week, whisper a little prayer for loved ones in absentia.
“It shows you what Christmas is all about,” explains Andrew Choquette, Patrick’s older brother. “It’s not about getting your gifts. It’s about being with your family.”
It’s about home. That’s where Patrick, 24, plans to be tomorrow, thankfully. He returned to the United States last week after 19 months abroad. He’s been teaching science and basketball at a school at a rural community, Assin Darmang.
“Ghana isn’t really big on aesthetics,” chuckles Patrick, who was a forward when he played basketball at Grinnell. His father was a Peace Corps volunteer some 40 years ago. “It’s weird how (Christmas) is pretty much the same as every other day.”
Hot. Muggy. Long.
Adankwaman Senior Secondary Commercial School, enrollment 301, is 30 miles north of Cape Coast, smack dab in the heart of a rain forest. The buildings are open-air with tin roofs and no air conditioning. Imagine Minnesota in August. Then crank it up 20 degrees.
“We thought he was nuts,” says Scott Wood, a former Grinnell teammate and Patrick’s best friend. “It’s always been in the back of his mind. I was wondering if he was bored. But he’s exactly the type of person that would want to do something like that. He wants to help people out.”
He wants to coach. In addition to helping build the court from scratch, Patrick is teaching basketball — Grinnell-style, shoot the three, fun-and-gun.
Even his old basketball program has gotten into the act. Pioneers coach David Arseneault sent over a set of rims, nets and balls. Assistant coach Emil Malinowski, who also works with DeLong Sportswear, shipped over 10 new basketballs and four sets of custom jerseys with the school name on the front.
Choquette sent back a picture of his kids with this caption: “The ‘System’ hits Ghana.”
“I just smiled from ear to ear,” Arseneault says.
Patrick is slated to return to Adankwaman on Jan. 11. His term of service ends in August. The school hopes the court will be the first stage of a larger sports park that will eventually include a track, a volleyball court and a soccer field.
“Basically no one had even heard of basketball,” he says. “In fact, many of the people still ask me how the lawn tennis court is coming along.”
It’s great. So is he. Patrick’s watching television now at his brother’s apartment, catching up. ESPN. The NBA. Bowl games. Leg lamps. Bedford Falls. Eggnog.
“I’m looking forward to hearing too many Christmas carols, you know? I want to be annoyed,” Patrick says. “I had a candle that somebody sent me that smelled like Christmas. But I like to be at my house.”
As the song says, there’s no place like it.
No matter how far you roam.
Columnist Sean Keeler can be reached at (515) 284-8102 or at skeeler@dmreg.com
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Headlines: December, 2006; Peace Corps Ghana; Directory of Ghana RPCVs; Messages and Announcements for Ghana RPCVs; Sports; Basketball; Iowa
When this story was posted in March 2007, this was on the front page of PCOL:
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Story Source: The Des Moines Register
This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Ghana; Sports; Basketball
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