The initiative taken by former Gambian international and now a trained coach in
The objective of the Gambia Gold Project, which aims to develop the skills of Gambian coaches and physical education teachers in the schools, should be encouraged by all stakeholders in the sports arena.
At this moment, what our coaches need most is training to improve their skills in the field of coaching so as to overcome some of the challenges they face, in handling both the clubs at the national leagues and national team in order to meet the demand of football fans in the country.
We strongly believe that if other Gambians in the Diaspora emulate the likes of Pa Fofana, the issue of training our coaches in different fields of sport will become a thing of the past in the country.
We should know that the government cannot do it alone, and that people have to complement the state's efforts in sports.
We would also like to commend the Swedish coaches, who are supporting Pa Fofana, and the people who support the project in Sweden, both with material and financial aid, to make this dream a reality, as well as Ebou Ndure, a Gambian, who also supported Pa Fofana in terms of advice to help develop Gambian coaches, for their laudable efforts for sports development.
It is high time we started thinking of having qualified Gambian coaches, who will take the mantle of handling the affairs of our national teams, and give them good motivation in their work, instead of hiring foreign coaches and paying them a lot of money without them meeting the desired results of the country to qualify the national teams for the World Cup and the African Cup of Nations, for instance.
In The Gambia, we have a lot of talented coaches. All what we need to do is to give them the necessary support they need at the right time.
If the required funds are available at their own disposal, government through the Ministry of Youth and Sports and the National Sports Council should start thinking of how to send our coaches to recognizes coaching institutions in the world to develop them.
It is never too late to start.
