Ghana has potential in weightlifting — Olympic coach

Prof. Kyle Pierce, the American coach currently in Ghana to train new coaches in weightlifting, says Ghana has great potential in the sport and investment in technical training will greatly pay off.

The past weeks have seen the coaches go through intensive training, both theoretical and practical lessons daily.

During the training programme, the coaches were taken through the techniques of the sport, having a training plan for athletes, the psychological principles of coaching as well as the physiological plan to produce winning athletes.

"We had to go through these because contrary to many myths, science is used as the base for weightlifting and it was therefore important for the coaches to get it right.

" In planning, we have to consider the weight of the lifters, their physiological make up as well as the plan that is best for them.

"After what we have gone through, I think the new coaches are ready for the challenge ahead. 

"The little I have seen of both sportsmen and women and the coaches give a very strong indication that Ghana has a bright future in the sport and every effort to develop it will certainly not go to waste," Prof Pierce said after concluding the first part of his three-month programme with the Ghana Weightlifting Association.

"I also think the effort to get a sports hall exclusively for weightlifting only re-emphasise the effort by the association to raise champions," Prof Pierce, who strongly believes in youth development stressed.

As part of its development programme, the WAG has secured an Olympic Solidarity Fund to train more coaches who will help develop the sport at the grassroots.

Twenty coaches, 17 men and three women, drawn from the Security Services Sports Association (SESSA) underwent training.