A proposal has been made to Ghanaian professional footballers and athletes abroad to consider as a matter of necessity, pooling of their resources to establish a sports academy in the country.
Mr Opoku Agyemang Prempeh, Managing Director of Lakayana company, a building and civil engineering consortium, said it is only by investing in such a facility that Ghanaian professional footballers and athletes could convince Ghanaians about their genuine concern for sports development in the country.
Mr Prempeh spoke to the GNA in Kumasi on Saturday on strategies that could be adopted to complement government efforts at accelerating sports development in the country. He reminded the professionals that they achieved their present glory and positions through the assistance of the state, charitable individuals and groups and that it was only fair for them to reciprocate by creating such an academy to help develop the talents of others in the various components of sports.
Mr Prempeh regretted that even though there were many people endowed with talents in the various disciplines of sports, their potentials remain dormant and untapped just because they reside in remote and rural communities and have no support from any quarters. He said such a situation underscores why a sports academy should be established and used to identify promising young sports men and women especially in the rural communities and offer them the relevant theoretical and practical training so as to fully develop their potentials.
Mr Prempeh observed that most of the Ghanaian professional footballers and athletes outside the country earn huge sums of money but regrettably, they invest in ventures that bring direct benefits to them and their immediate families only to the neglect of the larger society. Mr Prempeh appealed to the Ghana Football Association (GFA) to mount vigorous seminars to educate footballers on the need to always portray the Ghanaian culture in a positive light especially when on international assignments.
