Nana Amponsah '19 Recruiting Profile

My name is Nana Amankwah Amponsah but I go by Kofi because it is a lot easier for people to pronounce. Before I became a fan of track, I was a huge fan of football and was very good at it until my injury which caused a lot of financial problems with my family of only a mom and a brother in college. I then moved from football to basketball which I really loved and worked really hard to improve my skills. I will be honest, I was not a basketball player. A player of my size was built for football. And let me say, I love wrecking people and watching them run from me when I come towards them. I played basketball just like football but a lot less tackling. I was just super aggressive. It was then that my coach saw a lot of talent in me. I started off on junior varsity because I was new to the game and I needed a lot of experience. I worked really hard and it paid off. I got moved up to Varsity.  After basketball, track season came by. I started off on jv with just sprints then I eventually went on to shot put. Halfway through the season, my head track coach told me to try discus because he knows and believes that I have the explosiveness and the physique of an excellent thrower. I was a sophomore at that time. I started off throwing less than 99 feet on jv. I decided that I was going to be the best discus thrower that ever came to Goldthwaite High School. So I worked hard on it. I made my way to varsity as a sophomore and wrecking kids twice my size and in higher grades than I was. It felt really good. I finished the season throwing a distance of 143ft 8in and placing 4th at regionals in Springtown Texas going up against mostly seniors and juniors. The farthest throw was 155ft 02in by a high school senior, Austin Owens, from Gladewater Union Grove. The is one thing different about me from other athletes. I know there is someone out there who is working harder than me and will stop at nothing to beat me. This motivates me to work 10 times harder and never look down on myself or give up. I have made two regional appearances and there are more to come. I will be a senior in 2019 and that is when I will make my third regional appearance and hopefully achieve my goal of making it to state. Goldthwaite is a small town and the equipment here are not good enough to create a true athlete. With better equipment and a coach who will be by my side, I promise to give my best performance at all times in whatever I do.