2015 ALWAG-GPEStt Steps for Sports Development in Ghana. STEP #1: Dismantle the Ministry of Youth and Sports STEP # 2: Place Youth affairs under the Ministry of Employment and Social Welfare STEP # 3: Re organize the National Sports Authority (NSA) into, listen carefully, a CENTRAL ORGANIZATION OF SPORTS FEDERATIONS- Better still, dismantle NSA and then put in its place a COSF We already have the Sports Federations in operation. With a little technical twist, we can shape a better path for sports development through federations with corresponding associations as necessary. This post is only a conversation starter on sports development. Your questions and commentaries are invited. Please express yourself well and in a civil way. No bad talks- just literately sound expressions. Benchmarks to dismantling MoYS As Prempeh College gets headline news for a Sports Complex in the Ashanti Region and other secondary schools in the remaining 9 regions get promise for similar facilities, it makes a lot of sense that MoYS must be dismantled. The best place for identifying and developing talents is in schools. The fact of the matter is that, Ayariga, by his declaration to build 10 sports complexes in the 10 regions in Ghana, supports SCHOOL as the most suitable environment to provide facilities for talent identification and development in sports in Ghana. So, it is clear that when it comes to sports development in the country, improving the school built environment for physical activity in schools is a must thing to do- not necessarily for developing so-called sports academies. Government Strategies and Investments for physical activity in general in 2014 was marginal based on the Ghana Report Card on Physical Activity for Children and Youth issued by Active Healthy Kids-Ghana and published in the Journal for Physical Activity & Health. Ghana scored a D grade on the 2014 physical activity report card for government strategies and investments. See the link to the published report card at the bottom of the document. Let us not forget that sports coaching is an instructional function and the best location for all instructional activities in the country is the Ministry of Education. Thus, it makes good sense to position the built environments for physical activity level enhancement in schools or near schools where the critical mass of children and youth can be mobilized. Building sports complexes can provide the needed opportunities for increasing the grade for Organized Sports Participation on future Report Cards for Physical Activity in Ghana. Ghana scored a C grade for organized Sports Participation on the 2014 Ghana Report Card on Physical Activity for Children and Youth. This means that only about 41% of Ghanaian children and youth are meaningfully engaged in any form of organized sports. build sports complexes for coaching sports in schools. Certainly, this will enhance instruction and opportunities for improving the physical activity grades for children and youth in the country. In 2014, the Ghana Report Card on Physical Activity for Children and Youth in the Ghana was dismal compared to 14 other countries on the physical activity global matrix. dx.doi.org/10.1123/jpah.2014-0171 Controversies 1- Are MoYS/NSA coaches going to be resident in schools to identify and develop talents? 2- What will the role of the school PE teachers? 3- Who will be in-charge of the complexes- GES/MoYS-NSA? Relationship Between PE Teachers-NSA Coaches At the moment the relationship, with regards to GES sports and NSA sports actions has not been hierarchically smooth. The current operational view is that, GES PE teachers will prepare their children through physical education opportunities, inter-house competitions, zonal competitions, super zonal tournaments, regional competitions and then national competitions. When it is time for international competitions, NSA coaches takeover the kids/talents. Dont you forget that these talents were identified and developed by PE teachers. All the while, NSA Coaches scout to grassroots as PE Teachers to identify and develop talents. Scouting and talent identification and development are not synonymous or the same. They are in fact, totally different in practice and expectations. Clearly, PE teachers do the work for teaching and coaching sports at the grassroots level to identify and develop talents. They (PE Teachers) often over emphasize participation in organized sports and coaching at the expense of putting measures/opportunities in place to improve the overall physical activity levels of children and youth in the country. NSA Coaches deserve a good place in schools to get to the grassroots together with PE teachers who teach and coach for overall gains in physical activity levels of children and youth in the country. Building sports complexes in schools is a wonderful thing because and they will help us to understand the differences between physical education and sports and to forge new directions that can foster sports excellence, academic performance and active. Yes, let us embrace the the sports complexes but there are several bottlenecks to be fixed if organized sports can be improved to a higher grade to compare favorably with other nations on the global physical activity matrix. The national PE and Sports policy (PEAS): GES Effort to Check some of the bottlenecks The PEAS policy is an advocacy tool and the platform which will allow for thorough synthesis of the Physical Activity (PA) research and conscious application of PA and Exercise Is Medicine (EIM) principles. By consciously applying PA and EIM principles, pertinent policy delivery materials shall emerge to encourage a careful use of PAs to attain a healthy life status, academic success, sports excellence and overall improved PA levels among children and youth in the country. The principal purpose of this policy is to place PA at the center of national development in sports education, physical education, academic success and healthcare. Another purpose is to challenge teachers to use and apply information that is well grounded in PA research to ensure quality curriculum and overall program development and instruction. By placing PA at the center of curriculum and/or program development in PES, presuppose that the content knowledge for PES is PA. And, the quantity of research evidence alone on PA is enormous and exceedingly convincing. Sadly, the PA research in Ghana reveals overall low PA level of among children and youth. More than 60% of Ghanaian children and youth are physically inactive. Meaning that less than 40% of children and youth engage in any purposeful amounts of PA for three or more days in a week and for sixty minutes a day at any meaningful level of intensity. Despite the low levels of overall PAs among Ghanaian children, little work has been directed toward applying PA research to promote quality teaching, academic achievement, healthy lifestyle and sports performance excellence. This policy is a call to action to confront the problem. The selection of knowledge/directives to include in this policy was based upon its relevance for shaping a viable PE and sports culture in schools and neighboring communities. The policy provides among other contents; (1) introductory analysis of PA, PE and sports in schools; (2) statement of vision, mission and goals for development of the PA literate person; (3) conceptual framework that provides direction for the policy development; (4) organisational structure for PE and sports events; (5) administrative structure for coordinating PE and sports events; (6) guiding principles and requirements for program development and delivery; and (7) a framework for program implementation. The development of this policy has been a cooperative effort of teams of scholars, public school teachers/coordinators and other stakeholders. Scholars provided the expertise in the content areas and in the physical development of the policy. Public school teachers/coordinators and other stakeholders identified relevance to sports performance enhancement, academic achievement and healthy lifestyle. THIS POLICY HAS THE POWER TO TRANSFORM AND BRING TOGETHER ALL THE DISCONNECTED INITIATIVES PERTAINING TO PA IN THE COUNTRY- If you need to contact ALWAG, or GPEStt, merely send a message to gpestt@gmail or call us at 024-651-9895
Posted on: Sun, 11 Jan 2015 20:15:40 +0000
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