The Ghana Athletics, in conjunction with the National Sports College-Winneba, recently organized, and concluded a 5-day World Athletics level 1 Coaches Education and Certification System (CECS) course in Winneba, which saw the participation of 25 coaches. The course, which commenced on June 9th to 14th, 2025, was aimed at equipping, improving, and enhancing coaches’ knowledge on the development of the sport.
The course attracted participants from Ghana Police Service, Ghana Armed Forces, Ghana National Fire Service, GRA, individual coaches and among others.
According to Mr. Bawah Fuseini, President of Ghana Athletics, the federation had aimed to get between 40 and 50 participants but was pleased with the sizable number that showed up. “Normally, the normal course size is 24. So, we were trying to get additional numbers,” he said.
Mr. Fuseini in an interview revealed that the federation negotiated for a limited number of additional participants due to the need for more qualified coaches in Ghana. “We have argued that we need more coaches in Ghana. The federation is growing. So, the federation cannot also grow without having qualified coaches,” he emphasized.
The president expressed satisfaction with the participation and response from the coaches, noting that the feedback from participants was good. “The responses from the participants were also good. And for the first time, we’ve seen a lot of police officers participating in this. That gladdened my heart that most of the security services are now taking sports coaching and officiating very, very seriously,” he said.
Mr. Fuseini believes that the course will increase the capacity of technical officials in Ghana, enabling them to handle coaching and officiating more effectively. “That will go a long way, not only to help them but also increase our capacity as technical officials to be able to handle officiating and coaching in Ghana,” he added.
Coach Isaac Nii Lamptey of the Ghana Police Service expressed his satisfaction with the topics and knowledge gained during the course. He mentioned that the sport is now evolving with technology-driven improvement, and there’s a need for the Level 1 course to keep them abreast.
“The course has really helped me to understand the details of the sport in terms of coaching. With the theory aspects, it is a summary of most of the things I had learned here in Winneba, and I must say it is good,” Monica Kudjoe, a participant from UNIMAC, briefly said.
The course which focused on athletes development, training schedules, phcological improvement and among others was facilitated by Dr. Baba Apidogo an experienced sports administrator, coach, and lecturer.