Presenting his State of the National Address on Tuesday, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo took the opportunity to congratulate the male Under 20 national team, the Black Satellites, for winning the U-20 AFCON tournament in Mauritania.
On behalf of all Ghanaians, the President applauded their commitment and skills which were employed in their spirited effort at retaining the image of the country once again as a soccer giant of merit.
It was equally refreshing to hear the President, when he received the team at the Jubilee House, pledge that his government would continue to invest in sports, especially football.
“It is obvious what my responsibility is, and that is to give sports in our country, especially football, the maximum support it deserves. And I want to assure you that we are going to do our best to do that…,” President Akufo Addo stated.
Investments
Since the New Patriotic Party’s first taste of political power in this Fourth Republic, sports, under the two Presidents, John Agyekum Kufuor and Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has fared modestly.
That, we presume, is because of the investments the NPP makes in developing human talent in the sector, and also investing in infrastructure and policy to ensure that the sector thrives.
Apart from the several stadia that were built during the Kufuor administration, the Akufo-Addo government has also gone the extra mile, for instance, in improving facilities and constructing others, particularly under the Zongo Development Project.
Thankfully, we are seeing results after the country had hit rock bottom in its performance in the football and boxing arenas, with the Satellites shining once more to signal that under a good leader, citizens gain motivation to do what ordinarily would have been challenging tasks.
Commendation
We therefore join the President in commending the players, technical team, coach, management as well as everybody who put brain and brawn together to attain this glorious feat.
It is our opinion that the country’s sports sector should refuse to stay in that sunlight and move forward in facing the bigger challenge with the same attitude and commitment that heralded the victory on a match-by-match level.
Again, we commend the President for the $10,000 package given each of the players for winning the Under 20 African Cup of Nations.
Though the President has stated that it is a token, we, nonetheless, hope it will serve as a motivation for these young budding talents.
Lessons
One of the challenges facing budding soccer stars of today is that whilst their seniors showed exceptional class and discipline in plying their trade in Europe, the younger ones fail to learn lessons in sacrifice and hard work. They therefore allow themselves to be tempted by a few thousands of dollars when millions are within their grasps through sheer hard work.
Instead of comparing themselves with peers in Nigeria and Cameroun or back home in the manner the Abedi Peles and Tony Yeboahs handled their careers, they join awful celebrities in celebrating mundane, local achievements and making the headlines for the wrong reasons.
Discipline
If we would be true to ourselves, it has been our lack of discipline which has been costing us the laurels since the last time we played any serious soccer. That, we may further admit, has been caused by poor management strategies and our decision to allow politics, rather than policy, dictate planning, selection of players, effective management of alliances in the playing body, and unfortunate tendency of technical handlers to overlook cases of indiscipline on the part of so-called senior players.
It is the prayer of all Ghanaians that the team, including players and technical bench, will take the President’s advice serious and live it out on the playing field and dressing room in order to bring home more and more laurels.
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