At 16, Junior Setsofia Aqetey is completing his final year at Senior High School while establishing himself in the Ghana Premier League.
His daily journey from Accra to Akatsi begins on a 5:30 a.m. bus, where most final-year students try to sleep. Aqetey instead uses the crowded, noisy and uncomfortable trip to revise.
With a mathematics past question resting on his knees, he holds a penlight between his teeth because the bus has no light. His backpack contains the white-and-blue uniform of Gbekor Senior High School and the green training kit of Vision FC.
By 07:00, he is expected in class working on simultaneous equations. Just two days earlier, he had scored and provided two assists in Vision FC’s Ghana Premier League match against Dreams FC.
Aqetey has seven goal contributions in eight league appearances, but is still completing his WASSCE notes during his journeys to school.
“It feels like a dream, honestly. Sometimes I think about my mates in class whilst I am on the pitch,” he said in a WhatsApp voice note sent at 22:00 after night studies.
“I am very grateful to God, my teammates and my coaches at Vision FC for trusting me at the age of 16.”
Football began at home
Aqetey’s father, Sir Ishmael Kwasi Amegatsey, has also been his first coach. A football development advocate, he founded Volta International Sports Academy (VISA), the small academy in Akatsi where his son began playing.
“He slept with a football,” Sir Amegatsey said. “Other children slept with teddy bears. Junior slept with a ball. If you took it away, he would cry all night. As a coach I saw talent, but as a father I saw obsession.”
Vision FC signed Aqetey when he was 15, but only after his father demanded that his education be protected. The arrangement included a clear condition: no school meant no football.
Three setbacks with Ghana
Aqetey has also experienced disappointment in his attempts to progress with Ghana’s national teams. He was called up and subsequently dropped at Under-15, Under-16 and Under-17 level, without being given an explanation.
“Being dropped wasn’t easy, but I told myself it is part of the game. I do not give up. I learned that setbacks are lessons, not the end. My time will come if I keep pushing,” he said.
His father recalls that after the third rejection, Aqetey returned home without speaking and spent two hours kicking a ball against a wall.
“As a coach, I wanted to correct him. As a father, I just left him there. Boys who cry stop playing. Boys who kick the wall keep playing,” he said.
Aqetey says managing school and football is “very challenging”. He studies during the bus journey and completes assignments after evening training.
Following his three-contribution performance against Dreams FC, he did not celebrate. Instead, he boarded the bus to Akatsi because he had a quiz on Monday.
His role model is Nigeria’s Samuel Chukwueze, particularly because of his work rate rather than his tricks. Aqetey’s ambition is to win the Ballon d’Or.
“To all young footballers in the Volta Region, stay disciplined, respect your coaches, stay in school and stay away from bad things,” he said. “There is a lot of talent in Volta. If I can do it, you can also do it. Keep believing.”
That message was sent at 22:07 on a Tuesday. At 05:32 the following Wednesday, the Accra-Akatsi bus sounded its horn again.
Aqetey was back in the rear seat, with a penlight between his teeth, mathematics on his knees and his boots in his bag. He is not yet in the Black Stars and has not yet completed his final WASSCE paper, but he continues to pursue both ambitions.
By Muhammad KB
Akoma Sports
