Sports

‘Embrace science, research in sports’

The Director General of the National Sports Authority (NSA), Prof. Peter Twumasi, has asked the various sports federations to embrace scientific methods in their bid to develop talents that can win laurels at major international platforms.

According to the NSA boss, sports administrators must delve into research to discover the strength and weaknesses of athlete and seek scientific ways by which athletes can be helped to reach the highest in sports.

Prof. Twumasi made the comment last week at the inauguration of a 70-member national juvenile and youth boxing teams and a Review and Dissemination seminar for coaches.

The new boxing team is a collaboration between the Ghana Boxing Association (GBA) and the Ghana Boxing Federation (GBF), the School of Exercise & Sports Medicine of the University of Health and Allied Science (UHAS), Hohoe and is supported by a former Chairman of the GBA, Mr. Moses Foh Amoaning in a new capacity as a Technical/Marketing Consultant of the two boxing bodies.

It is made up of 35 juveniles and the same number of youth to be camped under the leadership of Coach Charles Quartey.

The seminar was aimed at educating coaches on scientific methods to adopt in preparing boxers, taking into consideration their psyche, nutrition and dietary perspectives.

The NSA boss told the gathering that it was important to understand how science and sports work.

“An athlete needs both genes and environment to be successful in sports. The athlete may have the genetics of the body frame to participate in sport but without the scientific methods, the athlete can fail.”

“You can be the son of Azumah Nelson or Ike Quartey who excelled in the sport of boxing but your success will not be automatic if those scientific methods are not employed. Success is not automatic; one must work towards it,” Prof. Twumasi noted.

He commended the involvement of UHAS in the development of sports and indicated the commitment of the NSA to events related to sports medicine, research and information and technology.

Mr. Foh Amoaning on his part said sports and science have a link but has taken so long to discover.

He said sports science informs the technical team of the sort of food to give the athlete which to an extent influence performance and the sort of injuries sustained.

Explaining the work of the UHAS team, he said, the team took measurement of boxers, analysed their exercise and assessed their diets to come out with information to be implemented.

In his view, Ghana has been overtaken by others in certain sports because they have embraced science and research and not because they are physically better than us.

Prof Oluwaseun Omotayo, who led the UHAS team, said sports and medicine involves team work and it helps to develop the mental skills and psyche of the boxers.

BY ANDREW NORTEY

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