{"id":3514,"date":"2022-12-14T17:31:29","date_gmt":"2022-12-14T17:31:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/?p=3514"},"modified":"2022-12-14T17:33:31","modified_gmt":"2022-12-14T17:33:31","slug":"disaster-owned-moving-forward","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/2022\/12\/14\/disaster-owned-moving-forward\/","title":{"rendered":"Disaster Owned \u2013 Moving Forward<\/strong>"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Satish Sekar \u00a9 Satish Sekar (August 3rd<\/sup> 2018)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Plan<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Satchmo Chakawa was once a promising goalkeeper, set to challenge Zambian great Kennedy Mweene for the number one spot.  In December 2014 he was involved in a terrible crash, which left Changwe Kalale paralysed until his untimely death last year and AFCON winner Nyambe Mulenga so badly injured he has never played again. Chakawa called time on his crash ravaged career at the end of last season, unable to fully recover.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He wants a National Academy in Zambia. \u201cI believe that is what Zambia really needs for the next generation of footballers to play at the World Cup,\u201d Chakawa told us exclusively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zambia\u2019s far from alone. A couple of years ago, the now dismissed Executive of FECAFOOT (the Cameroonian Football Federation) approached me, asking for contacts with National Academies in European countries. They were enthusiastic about building such an Academy in Cameroon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The plans petered out after FIFA dismissed that Executive and a new temporary administration was put in place pending elections that have not occurred yet. The new Executive may resurrect those plans. If they do, there is a local model they should study closely \u2013 the Mohammed VI Academy, but they should also look at Italy, Germany, Spain and England too, as well as Clairefontaine itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Football for Footballers<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ghanaian great and 1978 AFCON winner, \u2018Golden Boy\u2019 Abdul Razak is frustrated. \u201cThings have to change,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The priorities in African football are all wrong for him. The quality of pitches are a site to behold. Dry, bumpy, awful in fact \u2013 it\u2019s miraculous that talent develops at all. There\u2019s a mentality of what academies are \u2013 there are some genuine ones \u2013 almost all linked on unfavourable terms to European clubs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Others are not real academies \u2013 a terrible pitch, a few bibs, cones, and balls, and a knowledge that they must sell the talent to survive, and deal with heightened and grossly unrealistic expectations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Africa needs genuine academies not sporadic coaching sessions. Ghana has the talent to develop and football greats struggling to make ends meet while having passion \u2013 that doesn\u2019t cost \u2013 to nurture and develop the next generations of talent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe elect people who don\u2019t know football,\u201d Razak says. \u201cThat\u2019s our main problem. In Africa we keep changing the team if you lose a match, so the consistency is not there. Things have to change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOwners are not interested in titles \u2013 just transfers and money. Again, you can\u2019t build a team and consistency like that. Africa is not united. We need to reform our football \u2013 period \u2013 put football people first.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere is no way we can catch the Europeans or South American or Asian or Arab countries in terms of infrastructures.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Abdul Razak Karimand me<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Nevertheless, Razak wants the nettle to be grasped. Ghana is at a crossroads in its football. The GFA was recently suspended. For Razak, that offers an opportunity. Ghana must learn the Clairefontaine lesson \u2013 now. He\u2019s not alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Wasted Talent<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ghana went from a regular qualifier in the World Cup to failure last time, and utter chaos in its governing body. But the seeds of progress are there \u2013 it just needs to be nurtured.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every Sunday, a field in Accra hosts a match \u2013 some of Ghana\u2019s greats play, including the Dribbling Wizard, the man who Ab\u00e9di (Pel\u00e9) taught him to play. The young Ayew watched Polo in awe, and learned what could be achieved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Polo still plays, and he\u2019s still got it \u2013 the talent never fades. \u201cAge catches up with everyone,\u201d Polo quips. He can\u2019t outpace opponents any more, but the phenomenal skill and football brain is still there in abundance, and more than makes up for it. He passes this on to young players, but without the infrastructures needed. The same is true of Ali Jarra \u2013 he should have been one of Ghana\u2019s greats, but was robbed of the career he deserved by Guillaume-Barr\u00e9 Syndroome which left him temporarily paralysed at 17.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He trains young Ghanaian goalkeepers, again without reward or infrastructure. Among his graduates is Black Star keeper Fatua Dauda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They need to be incorporated into an organised structure \u2013 a National Academy for Ghana. Polo, Jarra and Razak have all called for it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now is the time \u2013 \u2018we need our own Clairefontaine\u2019 they say. We\u2019ve had temporary success. We need to build for the future. It\u2019s late, but not too late. Ghana needs infrastructure, a National Academy, and footballers involved in football.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Howard Gayle<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

And in Britain some black former professional players, including Howard Gayle and Noel Blake want to help Africa develop and nurture that talent with coach education and other assistance. They have identified the academy of former Ghanaian prodigy Nii Odartey Lamptey as one with potential from a club point of view, but what about Ghana\u2019s Clairefontaine?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It doesn\u2019t have it. There are private academies \u2013 some good, but others little more than bad pitches and a few balls and equipment<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Satish Sekar \u00a9 Satish Sekar (August 3rd 2018) The Plan Satchmo Chakawa was once a promising goalkeeper, set to challenge Zambian great Kennedy Mweene for the [\u2026]<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2807,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[16],"tags":[295,88,296,36],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3514"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3514"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3514\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3515,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3514\/revisions\/3515"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2807"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3514"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3514"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3514"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}