The Power of Sport: Growing the game of handball in Ghana
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Handball in Ghana
Derrick Charway
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UK Sport International 31 July 2012
The power of handball is being recognised worldwide, as Great Britain’s Handball efforts at the Olympic Games were yesterday described as “the greatest match ever in the career of this team” despite a 44-15 loss against France. Derrick Charway also believes the game can offer more than Olympic success, as the unique skills required for the game has the potential to develop leaders in Ghana.
Derrick is the National Coordinator for the Beckwith International Leadership Development (BILD) programme, working through universities in Ghana and supported by UK Sport. The BILD programme has not only nurtured national players, but also created a solid foundation of leaders who have sport and leadership skills in Ghana.
Handball gives players the opportunity to learn from two sports: basketball and football and combine skills and disciplines that no other sport offers, “It’s also not associated with only girls or only boys,” says Derrick.
Through the BILD programme, Derrick has seen national talent in Ghana grow. "We have three members from the University of Ghana, including girls, that started with BILD and have progressed until national level," he says. An impressive result, as Handball was first taught in 2000, but then subsequently paused and restarted again by closely integrating it into the BILD programme only a few years ago.
Similarly to Handball in the UK, Derrick describes it as “not a very popular game but it is moving very fast and attracted a lot of attention.”. British journalist, Dan Jones, adds to this, as he expects the popularity of the sport to flourish once the Olympic Games are over.
“The Olympics is everyone’s dream and everyone wants to qualify. I’ve been watching Handball at the Olympics since Sydney 2000 and there have been many developments in the game. We are still in the growing process but if you do not promote it like football and swimming, no one hears about it,” says Derrick.
Find out more about BILD: http://www.uksport.gov.uk/docLib/MISC/Ghana.pdf
