Sea & Shore Services Ghana Ltd Donates to GAA’s Student-Athlete Academic Development Fund

Sea & Shore Services Ghana Limited has donated $7,500 to the Ghana Athletics Association’s (GAA) as its contribution to GAA’s Student-Athlete Academic Fund. The purpose of the academic fund is to support academic development of young athletes. Sea & Shore Services Ghana Ltd. presented GAA with a check during a ceremony in Tema on Sunday 1st December, 2013.

The Tema-based Company provides comprehensive high quality port and offshore services tailored to customers’ specific requirements. Sea & Shore views the donation as part of its corporate-social responsibility.

Sea & Shore’s donation is the first to be received after GAA president, Prof Dodoo, made a public appeal for funds to support academic development of young athletes.

In addition to Sea & Shore, GAA officials confirm pledges from individuals and other organizations but the donation by Sea & Shore is the first to be received.

According to Prof. Dodoo, GAA’s mandate extends beyond nurturing athletic performance. GAA’s believes in a holistic approach to development which is why the association is concurrently putting in place academic support structures for young athletes.

Beyond academics, GAA’s general developmental plan has been in effect since 2010. In an effort to redevelop a pipeline of young athletes, GAA in collaboration with the Maria Tsakos foundation developed a structured developmental system to support high school athletics.

In August 2013, with support from Promasidor Ghana Ltd., the latter developmental system was expanded to include junior high schools.

Coupled with the recent (November 2013) launch of the Nestle/IAAF Kids Athletics Program, Ghana now has the first ever national sports developmental program covering primary, junior high and, senior high school students.

The effectiveness of GAA’s developmental program was first brought to light when the national junior athletics team won the inaugural West Africa Junior Athletics Championship in 2012.

The latter historic achievement was followed by a 1st and 2nd place finish at the 2012 ECOWAS Junior Games by the boys and girls respectively.

Remarkably, the level of performance has risen across all events as evidenced by 12 juniors meet the qualification standards for the 2012 World Junior Championships compared to one qualifier in 2008.

Organizations and individuals interested in supporting (financial or in-kind) GAA’s Student-Athlete Academic Fund should please contact Ghana Athletics Association at gha@mf.iaaf.org