?104 Million for 2005 Secondary Schools Athletics Championships: Maria Tsakos Foundation and Athletes Association Deliver on Promise
As a follow up to its pledge to help promote and develop athletics in Ghana, the Maria Tsakos Foundation and the Ghana Athletes Association has made available 91 million Cedis and ?13 million respectively for the upcoming Secondary School Athletics Championships. This sponsorship deal is part of the larger 5 year sponsorship package of ?455 million for athletics secured by the Athletes Association last year. As a part of the sponsorship deal, the athletics championship has been renamed. It will be referred to as ?Maria Tsakos Foundation Athletics Championships?. The Championships which is part of the 24th edition of Inter-Regional Schools and Colleges Sports takes place this weekend (September 1st and 2nd) at Sunyani. According to the chairman of the US-based Ghana Athletes Association, Dr. Andrew Owusu, the total of ?104 million will go primarily towards prize incentives and the rest will supplement organizational costs. For the first time in recent memory, all medal winners will be honored with prizes in addition to a medal and certificate. Four special awards worth ?6,000,000 each covering bursary and sports kit will be presented in 2 categories. The categories are best track athlete (boy/girl) and best field athlete (boy/girl). The ?13 million of the total package was donated by David Nti-Berko, Emmanuel Osabutey, Marc Dzradosi, Christian Nsiah and Dr. Owusu, all former athletes who believe in helping the very system through which their careers were launched.
Asked why the focus on secondary school athletics, Dr. Owusu elaborates that the Athletes Association believes the foundation of athletics in Ghana has been ignored long enough. ?Tell me who of our current and past national athletes did not pass through the secondary school system?? queries Owusu. The truth is secondary school athletics is the launching pad from which almost every one of our elite athletes came from and it is about time we acknowledge and support it. The Maria Tsakos Foundation and the Athletes Association sees this support as a long term investment aimed at increasing the number of athletes who are capable of making the transition to the national level. The math is really simple; increase the number of elite secondary school athletes and all things being equal, the number of national and subsequently international level athletes should also increase. The secondary school system is truly the pipeline of Ghana athletics.
Dr. Owusu, however, insists that the Maria Tsakos Foundation and the Athletes Association does not want to lose the value of education in the process. Ideally, we will like to see these students excel both in the classroom and on the field. To that end, we look forward to working with the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports to institute a separate but related long term program that will provide financial support to cover bursary and sports equipment for elite secondary school athletes for whom an education is also a priority. This can be thought of as an Athletic/Academic scholarship that requires individuals to maintain a specified level of academic and athletic performance. Even as the nation pushes for more laurels in sports, we want to encourage our young athletes to also invest in their future after sports through education.
