John Paintsil, an assistant coach of the Black Stars, has mentioned the 'initiation dance' tradition in the team as one of his legacies as a Ghanaian football legend.
On Saturday, March 23, 2024, Paintsil, who was recently appointed a member of the Black Stars technical team, performed his initiation dance.
Before taking to the floor to show off his dancing skills, John Paintsil told an interesting story of how he instituted the initiation dance, which has become a tradition in the Black Stars.
Paintsil said he birthed the idea after he realized that most of the new players had previously kept to themselves and could not bond with the stars.
The arrival of the initiation dance was meant to facilitate the integration of new players into the team, foster unity, and ultimately improve team performance.
"It used to be very tough for the players to communicate among themselves. The players were always in their rooms, but I knew that without unity, it was always going to be difficult to succeed in football.
"Without playing for your teammate and being there for them, you can't succeed, so, I came up with this initiative. The initiative was that every new player was going to introduce himself by dancing to the team. Eventually, we moved to the technical team and then got everyone involved.
"The players then: Essien, Appiah, Muntari and everyone bought into it. When André Ayew came, we just took him and threw him in the centre to dance. These things always bring us together. It is beautiful to see your mate dancing and urging him on. I'm very happy to see you guys doing it. It's a sign of unity," he said.
Paintsil was recently appointed by the Ghana Football Association as Otto Addo's second deputy. Addo has German international Joseph Laumann as his number-one deputy coach.
The new technical team suffered a defeat in their first game in charge but will have a chance to earn a positive result in their game against Uganda on March 26, 2024.
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