#Sports

Brikama Utd appoints John as trainer

Nov 11, 2020, 11:05 AM | Article By: Buba Jallow

Former Brikama United and Gambian international player John Bass has been named as Brikama United Female team trainer.

Bass will also get involved with the male team during their morning training sessions at the Box Bar Mini stadium as he continues his coaching career under the tutelage of Modou Lamin Nyassi (Charlie).

The vice chairman of Brikama United, Lamin Debajang gave an impressive reaction in John's appointment as he believes he is a good addition to the team.

"We knew John didn't start his career here, but since day one he has been part of us as one big family. John is committed, humble, and respectful," he said of Bass.

"When John had his kidney problem, we told ourselves, it could happen to anyone and he is one of us. We (Brikama United) came up as one and helped him along the way. Despite not living in Brikama, he comes to training every day, most of the time, he is the first or second to report to training," he went on.

"The only thing we can do for him as he cannot play football is to let him be part of us. The experience is there, he can still deliver. We therefore decided that going out to bring in someone why not John? He has every quality of a leader. We didn't hesitate to select him for that post." Debajang added.

John, the chairman of John Bass kidney foundation, spent most of the post Covid19 hiatus by meeting patients' families, guiding them through the process of becoming a donor, intervening for transplant doctors and patient relationships as well as convincing family members to throw more support to kidney patients. His last engagement last week saw him travel as far as in Kanilai.

"The covid has really hindered the progress of the foundation because we were not able to continue on the health outreach that was going really smooth and effectively. I felt that after all this time, we should have covered grounds. We have made an impact on patients too as some of them had the chance to go for overseas treatment but borders were closed, so it truly dragged us back," said Bass.

John is fully involved in football as he is the leader of Daranka Future Academy, Chairman of Lamin Zone at (WCRFAA) level and serves as the acting president of the Gambia Football Players Association (GFPA).