The course which began on Monday was organised by the Gambia National Olympic Committee (GNOC) to enhance sports administrators’ strife for the effective management of sports.
It is being directed by Ebou Joof and Lamin Sanneh, the two Gambian course directors accredited by Olympic Solidarity.
Speaking at the beginning of the programme, Ebou Joof said areas to be covered during the course include fair play, value and ethics of sports, office holders and their functions, challenges faced by sports administrators, women in sports, leadership, and sports financing.
It is expected that at the end of the course, sports administrators would be able to identify what is right or wrong in sports management.
The administrative officer of the GNOC, Muhammed K. Janneh, said one of the primary objectives of the Olympic committee is to see to it that highly trained and well-motivated sports personnel are available.
The Executive Director of the National Sports Council, Marcel Mendy, said there are a lot of shortcomings in the administration of sports associations in The Gambia.
He said the council is facing “numerous problems” due to the huge administrative deficiencies of sports associations, as many of them are not aware of the primary channel of communication between the government and the associations.
“You cannot bypass the Sports Council and write directly to the Minister of Youth and Sports.Even myself, as Executive Director of the National Sports Council, I cannot write to the Minister directly, all my correspondence is directed to the permanent secretary,” Mr Mendy said.
Declaring the five-day training session open, the Secretary General of the GNOC, Peter Prom, said the GNOC deemed it necessary to organise the course after “realizing a lot of deficiencies in managing sports” in The Gambia.
He noted that there are good signs that sports is developing in the country, and that the performance of the beach volleyball team in the Rio 2016 qualifiers, the basketball team’s performance in Bamako and Fye Sarr’s standing in Judo at the All African Games are a manifestation of the development in sports.
Mr Prom added that the performance of the athletes should march the standard of sports administration, “otherwise the future will be doomed”.
He told the sports administrators that the GNOC is committed to continue supporting the development of sports in the country.
