By Yussif Ibrahim, GNA
Kumasi, Sept. 16, GNA – The United States Embassy in Ghana has organised a sports development programme to strengthen the capacity of coaches and promote leadership, teamwork, and skills development among young female footballers in the country.
The programme, led by two U.S. Sports Envoys, Amy Griffin, a 1991 FIFA Women’s World Cup champion, and Kofi Sarkodie, a former Major League Soccer (MLS) defender with Houston Dynamo, brought together approximately 50 coaches and 300 female student-athletes aged between 12 and 18 across Tamale, Kumasi and Accra.
The initiative formed part of a two-day train-the-trainer programme aimed at equipping coaches of female athletes with practical coaching skills and approaches that could help create positive and supportive environments for girls to develop their talents.
The Kumasi edition was held at the Baba Yara Stadium where the two envoys supervised a training session involving 16 female coaches and several young female footballers drawn from various schools and clubs in the metropolis.
Ms. Donya Eldridge, Education and Culture Attaché at the U.S. Embassy, said the programme focused on developing the coaches’ understanding of team culture, technical skills, leadership, discipline, and communication.
She said after the morning coaching sessions, the participating coaches worked with young athletes from their respective teams in the evenings to apply the lessons and techniques they had learnt.
“What you are seeing here today is the coaches working with their girls to develop and implement programmes, drills and training that they have organised themselves to help build the culture of their teams,” she said.
Ms Eldridge said the initiative was designed to have a lasting impact because the coaches would continue to train other girls after the completion of the programme.
According to her, investing in coaches at the grassroots level was important to ensure that more girls had opportunities to participate in sports and develop their talents.
Ms. Griffin said the programme was focused beyond football tactics and techniques, stressing the importance of creating a team culture in which girls and young women could develop confidence, leadership skills, and a sense of community.
“Our goal is to build community and create environments where girls and young women thrive, want to learn and become leaders in their communities,” she said.
Ms. Griffin, the former World Cup champion, who is also a former coach of the U.S. Deaf Women’s National Team, said the response from the coaches and players had been encouraging, with football providing a platform for connection, enjoyment, and teamwork.
She said sustainable change in women’s football had to begin at the grassroots level, adding that the training was intended to provide a spark that could lead to wider changes as the participating coaches continued to apply and share the lessons.
Ms. Griffin said Ghana already had many of the ingredients required to develop successful female footballers, including talented players and coaches willing to commit their experience and knowledge to the development of the sport.
The programme also provided practical training equipment to the beneficiaries, including pinnies, footballs, water bottles, sling bags, and sweat towels, while each participating coach received a football to support continued training.
GNA
Edited by Kwabia Owusu-Mensah/Linda Asante Agyei
Reporter: Yussif IbrahimÂ
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