Mr. Charles Mensah, an International Technical Officer (ITO) of the Ghana Swimming Association (GSW) thinks Ghana Sports has come a long way, but there is still big room for many things to be done well.
Speaking to Yours Truly in an exclusive interview during the three day Swimming Course for Assistant Coaches (Level 1) in Ghana, he said technically the nation has benefited with some disciplines, but all is not well financially as sports need a lot of funding and sponsorship.
Mensah who has been in sports for 43 years with different disciplines said many top stars and enthusiasts find it difficult to pay for coaching and other technical and administrative courses, however it is the certificate that will get them employment, so he urged them to try their best to acquire the knowledge, information and skills to impart on others.
He chose to get involved in sports due to passion, and he has been a swimmer as well as handball, volleyball and tennis player, then an athletics starter and now an executive of the Ghana Swimming Association. He is now campaigning for wheel chair handball to encourage disabled athletes.
He believes in helping others in sports, and that has kept him going over the years.
Focusing on the future of Ghana Sports, he emphasized that Ghana sincerely needs better and modern sports facilities, and he thought the upcoming 13th African Games could help, but the idea of building an Olympic size stadium was changed and that is not good for some disciplines, because some of the facilities at Borteyman where the Games would be held are temporary and not permanent.
He suggested that educational institutions should have basic facilities like football field, basketball / tennis / volleyball / handball courts and a hall for indoor games like table tennis, badminton, judo, taekwondo and karate do.
Touching on the World Aquatics Assistant Coaching Course, he said it is true that Ghana has only two certified swimming trainers and it is not good, because the people out there to be trained are more.
He noted that the newly trained Assistant Coaches will be very useful as they have learnt about new trends and developments in swimming and can now teach their athletes with confidence.
He commended the Ghana Swimming Association for bring an expert from South Africa in the person of Instructor Cedric Finch to teach the young coaches.
“I believe the course will help our coaches, because they have been exposed to many new things, and their confidence level has soured, they have acquired much and those they represent will even be happy” he said.
Mr. Charles Mensah works at the Information Technology (IT) Division of the Department of Feeder Roads.
By Sammy Heywood Okine