By Barrie Alpha
In their quest to develop and promote Squash in the country, the Sierra Leone Squash Rackets Association has boosted eleven (11) secondary schools with equipment within the Freetown Municipality.
According to the Association Technical Director, Baico Sesay who also doubles as the Children Welfare Officer, they distributed the rackets and balls to 11 secondary schools, which include five (5) boys’ schools, Albert Academy, Prince of Wales, St Edwards, Collegiate and Methodist Boys High School, four (4) girls’ schools, Annie Welsh, Vine Memorial, Girls High School and St Joseph Convent and two (2) mix schools, Services and Lebanese School were all presented with rackets and balls, noting that the PHE teachers of all these schools were very grateful for the gesture.
He said the presentation of the rackets and balls to schools is the initiative of the Association’s president, Bassem Mohammad who thought it fit to take the sport to the schools as a way to promote and develop squash in the country.
Coach Baico went further to confirm that the training process has started early this month and that they are doing it on a daily basis.
“We have timetables for each school that is training in the different clubs- YSC Club, the Aqua Club, Bank Complex and the Wilberforce Court,” he stated.
“As far as the president of the Association is concerned, he wants to see the training of the children commence until they’ve become very good squash players that will be capable of competing not only in local tournaments but also to participate in international competitions and bring laurels to this country,” the Child Welfare Officer said, adding that, “Our aim for now is to make sure we take the sport across the country. We are contemplating on how to visit different schools in the Kenema, Bo, Makeni and more.”
He encouraged everyone to come on board to support the Association President’s vision to make sure squash become popular in Sierra Leone. “The President, Bassem Mohammad, is very passionate about squash. He is a very good player and he wants to make sure that Sierra Leone became a force to reckon with in the international scene. So I am kindly appealing to the people of this country to encourage our children to play squash, which is why the president decided to take the sport to the schools, so that we can catch them when they are young,” he concluded.