By Desmond Tunde Coker
Joseph Michael Samson, a former basketballer and weightlifter who lost his family friends and his game after falling into substance abuse, has expressed his desire to break his addiction and regain his playing form.
Samson started playing basketball at Junior Secondary 2 (JSS2), and has been doing so for the last 15 years.
Before getting hooked on drugs, he captained Bellia Eagles, a basketball club which played in the 1st Division of the National Basketball League in Sierra Leone. He has also played for Murray Deen, his former school, and Central Phoenix, another Basketball club in the League.
Joseph is now hooked on ‘Kush’, and is a shadow of his former self.
“My playing time was so great and loving. Playing Basketball was the happiest time of my life…, but now things are too tight. The quest to satisfy my craving for drugs take much of my time now. I am unable to train. I no longer have the time to play competitively. I have lost so much, including my family, friends and my Game,” he stated.
He says he is serious about breaking his current state of addiction and continue on his aspiration to be a professional basketballer, but decries the attitude of some sections of society who label sportsmen as idlers with nothing to hold on in life.
He is not sure of how he could regain his former self, because he no longer has any help from friends, family and the right social support to do so, but to Samson he needs snickers and vest to hit the basketball court once again, but his prospect of focusing on the game and stay off drugs are grim because he has lost his friends in the sports, his family and, and is surrounded by his mates from the streets who are also hooked on the substance of Kush.
“Now I am only friends with the streets,” he said.
He expressed a strong desire to break his addiction and wants to re-unite with his family within the sporting fraternity in Sierra Leone, on whose support he is counting in a hope to regain his life and career as a basketballer.
He says that he becomes nostalgic when he reminisces his moments as a former basketballer and stated thus: “When I see school kids in possession of a basketball in hand, I call for it to be passed on to me, and I demonstrate my favorite moves and stunts for them, to show off my skills. They are usually stunned with my dexterity on the ball, and they admire my skills and acknowledge me as a former basketballer. They usually ask whether I am a coach, because I sometimes instruct them on some aspects of the game.”