Former Black Stars skipper Charles. K. Akunnor has asked for more support for local coaches from the various stakeholders running football in Ghana.
The call comes on the back of various discussions including the recently-organised retreat organised by the Ministry of Youth and Sports to look at the development of the sport in the country.
Coaches are a key part of the drive to improve local football and Akunnor, who also is a coach, believes that they can meet modern-day requirements if they are supported.
“The government and everybody including the media must encourage coaches in this country. You might that say that we are not as knowledgeable as the other coaches but when we are encouraged, we can do well.
We have Ben Koufie, who is very knowledgeable and he is a great teacher and he can teach us a lot.
However, we must be given support in the form of coaching courses and programmes. That will build our capacity enough so that when the question of ability arises, we can meet the standards.”
Akunnor also highlighted the need to revive the academy system in the country so that talents can be well-honed for the benefit of the various national teams. He explained that the modern trends of football have academies and infrastructure at their heart so Ghana must being to place more emphasis on these things.
“We are in a different age and things are different. In my time, colts football was not that organised and we faced challenges like playing without boots and all.
We must then look at it seriously and determine that we will look at setting up more academies and adding more facilities.
This will mean that the next generation of footballers will have the right footballing education to succeed.”
Akunnor was speaking at the retreat organised by the Ministry of Youth and Sports to discuss football in Ghana.
By: Nathan Quao/citifmonline.com/Ghana