The Ghana Roller Sports Federation (GRSF) has declared the year 2023 as a busy one as the federation vows to extend its activities across the country.
Consequently, it has outlined a series of activities and initiatives geared towards the promotion and development of roller sports in Ghana.
Roller sports consists of skating, roller skating, skate board, artistic roller skating, drafting, jam skating, roller derby and many others.
In an interview with the Times Sports, Mr Johnson Gameli Kportufe, Acting President of the GRSF said the on top of the federation’s agenda this year was to make roller sports a very popular and elite sport in Ghana.
Meeting with some stakeholders of the sport in Accra, Mr Kportufe, who doubles as General Secretary for the African Skating Union (ASU) Mr Kportufe urged members to strive to work harder to revive the sport in Ghana.
He said this year the federation would hold events including a training seminar for officials and sports Journalists, a Skating Open Challenge, a national Speed Skating Championship for all categories, a National Skateboard Championship and a series of awareness creation initiatives.
Other activities expected to be rolled out this year includes a Level Test for functioning GRSF members in Accra and the other regions, a National Inline Freestyle Championship, a Level Test for Second Semester as well as purchase equipment for the federation.
According to Mr Kportufe, the general meeting was to deliberate on implementation plans for the year before onward presentation of their programme to the National Sports Authority (NSA).
The meeting was attended by representatives from all skating clubs in the country as well as regional executives and members of the Interim Executive Council.
Mr Kportufe charged members of the federation to ensure that executives function at both the national and regional levels.
Also on consideration at the meeting was the proposed change of the federation’s name from GRSF to the Ghana Skaters Association (GHASA) which was accepted by the General Assembly and set to be communicated to the NSA.
He announced that the awareness creation would start at schools across the country and get young ones to join the sport.
He said skating was an Olympic sport and when organised properly, Ghana could win laurels at the global stage because a lot of talents abound in Ghana.
He called on corporate entities to support the growth of the sport as they commit to making Ghana a household name in skating.
BY MICHAEL D.ABAYATEYE
