National Sports Conference Set to Re-organize All Sports

The interim committee of the National Sports Council has organised a one day National Sports Conference at the Independence Stadium in Bakau on Tuesday.

The rationale behind the conference was to bring all the sporting disciplines together to discuss ways and means that will enable all sports to re-organize themselves in our aim of attaining excellence in sports.

Speaking on the occasion, the chairman of the interim committee of the NSC, Alex Dacosta, spoke of the need to put in place a proper mechanism in our efforts to move sports in the right direction.

He advised all the sporting associations to embrace changes so that the country can realise its dream of achieving excellence in sports and urged them to stay away from the wrong mentality in sports development.

Alex Dacosta further highlighted that one of the main objectives of the NSC is to encourage and promote all sports in order to look at their problems and help them move forward as quickly as possible.

"Nobody is isolated in sports development. I believe positively that we will all try together in our endeavour to attain excellence in sports," he pointed out.

The Permanent Secretary of the Department of State for Youth and Sports, Mambanyik Njie, who also spoke on the occasion underscored the importance of all sports given the fact that no sport is more important than others adding that it depends on how you intend to develop your sports.

He further added that we must not be content with what we have but we should be able to produce as much as we can to aim high.

The Permanent Secretary also said, "We need to look at our weaknesses and build on our strength so that we can move on towards the achievement of excellence in sports that we are all aspiring for."

The Minister of Youth and Sports, Honourable Sheriff Gomez, said the rationale behind this conference is very crucial noting that there are so many issues that they need to discuss which is all geared towards attaining excellence in sports.

'We must all endeavour to live up to expectation in our aims of achieving our national aspirations.

The President of the Gambia Tennis Association, Sheriff Jammeh, described the setting up of the interim committee of the National Sports Council as timely.

He went further to propose to the minister and two members of the interim committee to travel to Ghana, Nigeria and Zambia since those countries have a very developed and effective national sports council that is contributing a lot in terms of promoting and developing the activities of their respective associations which is why they have excelled in sports locally and internationally.

The interim chairman of the NSC, Alex Dacosta, also seized the opportunity to introduce Ma Ebou Cham who has currently returned home after successfully completing a bachelor of Arts Degree in Information and Technology.

Ma Ebou was recently crowned as the champion of the just concluded Karate Championship in Switzerland. 

Other important issues discussed during the conference include the activities pertaining to the programmes of the July 22nd, marketing areas of sports, sports infrastructure and sustainability in sports.