The president of Ghana beach soccer association, Yaw Ampofo is set to launch a book detailing how beach soccer emerged from a non existing sporting discipline to a national sporting discipline over a period of less than ten years.
The book will serve as a useful guide for sports administrators, corporate entities, policy makers and even bodies not related to sports according to the author Yaw Amopofo Ankrah.
“By God’s grace, the story of Ghana Beach Soccer from ground zero to the current level has been put together in just 100 pages. It is a small portion of a bigger story that is still unfolding.”
Ghana beach soccer which once upon a time was an unknown sporting discipline in the country, is now recognized by both CAF and FIFA and has been infused into the Ghana Football Association set up.
Yaw Ampofo Ankrah who titled his book “From sand to gold”, has said the book is not about him but for those who helped built everything from scratch with their bare hands.
“I am just the navigator trying to tell a remarkable and powerful story of extraordinary faith, perseverance, determination and sheer resilience by ordinary folks”.
The book also details how an indigenous financial institution like CalBank embraced the Ghana Beach Soccer project and helped shape it into a respected and recognized brand over the years.
“From day one, all some of us could see was gold and not ordinary sand. Ironically, this also presented our biggest challenge because very few could see the huge potential for jobs and sustainable wealth creation beyond just a sport”.
The “sand to gold” book that was put together with the contributions of stakeholders in the game will be launched in conjunction with their sponsors CAL Bank.
Source: Dickson Boadi