GFA commits to develop colts football

The Ghana Football Association (GFA) has organised a four-day seminar for 18 regional License A football instructors in its quest to transform colts football to become the bedrock of feeding the various national teams.

The seminar was designed to equip participants with the requisite skills and expertise to impart their knowledge to License C and D holders and also motivate them to be more accessible in the unearthing and grooming of colts footballers into future stars.

The programme, which was under the auspices of the Technical Directorate of the GFA, and led by Bernhard Lippert, was held at the Ghanaman Centre of Excellence at Prampram.

Speaking to Daily Graphic after the seminar, former Black Stars and Kotoko skipper, Stephen Frimpong Manso, said it offered them much insight into how to build the capacity of License C and D coaches who would in turn unearth and groom colts players between the ages of six and 12 years and transform them into future national stars.

According to the former national skipper, each of the participants was given the responsibility of liaising with their Regional Football Associations (RFAs) to draw a programme intended to train coaches who would handle footballers at the district levels across Ghana .

“The target is that by five years time, we will be able to groom and grow the potentials of colts players for them to become potential football stars. All that we intend doing is to unearth the talents and grow and nurture them for future national assignments,” he explained.

He indicated that as many as 100 potential coaches had so far registered with the view of benefiting from youth coaching which would be rolled out soon.

“We will break them into groups of 30 coaches when we start the capacity building exercise. This will enable us have much time to have fruitful interactions with the beneficiaries for them to be effective when they start work at the colts level,” he said.

According to Frimpong Manso, the Licence D holders would be trained to motivate the colts players on small pitches on how to handle and control balls with the view to unearth and grow their potentials to blossom.

“Their pitches should be quite small to enable them have more touches during training. This is because at that level, they learn by playing so they need to be guided and encouraged to play and be corrected when necessary. This will enable them have the confidence to exhibit their talents for their benefit and that of the nation,” he stressed.