USA Second Coming and Rio Olympics
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Being the coach of my country’s men’s and women’s beach volleyball teams at the Nanjing 2014 Youth Olympic Games was something special to me, and I'm hoping to experience those amazing feelings again by qualifying for the 2016 Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro.
I have never been to any Olympics before Nanjing, and I want to go more. The Olympics is great; different people all over the world gather for the games. It is incredible. It's something special to experience, and it created an amazing energy in me. I have lots of energy when I'm in a small group of people, and my energy was very high at the Nanjing Olympics .
My goals are to continue developing beach volleyball in Ghana, along with competing for a berth to the Rio de Janeiro 2016 Olympic Games with 35-year-old Jonathan Scott Sarpong, who was born in the United States (Dallas, Texas) to Ghanaian parents.
The players that I coached made a real impact in the boys' division. Philip Amissah and Nicholas Tetteh accomplished our goals at the Nanjing Youth Olympics. by plaing third in their pool in their first-ever beach volleyball competition away from Ghana. They were really nervous in their first two matches against more-experienced teams from Puerto Rico and France, but settled down and won their last three matches to advance as the only African team to reach the elimination rounds.
Beach volleyball is a lesser known sport in Ghana, and our accomplishments in Nanjing made national news. We lack a lot of resources to train; soccer gets all of the attention, media, and money in our country. We're so happy for the opportunity at the Youth Olympics, and we came out as the top team from Africa. I hope that Ghana will start investing more resources and time into beach volleyball.
This would benefit my partner and I when we begin the Olympic qualifying process for Rio de Janeiro. Jonathan and I have the desire, and we'll need money to employ a coach to help us. We hope to prepare and train together in America. We need funding to travel to train with international teams and compete in FIVB World Tour events.
I won the bronze medal at the 2011 African Games in Maputo, Mozambique, with Evans Lomotey, and I've played in a FIVB World Tour in Moscow with Jonathan. We dropped a qualifying match to Tri Bourne and John Hyden of the United States, the sixth-ranked team on the international tour. The experience of playing in Moscow was special, but disappointing since we only played one match against one of the world’s best teams.
At least we had some training sessions with other teams in Moscow, and the key is playing and training with other teams from around the world. With these opportunities, I feel that Jonathan Scott Sarpong will develop into a quality beach partner. He's played professional volleyball in Germany, and he currently resides in Berlin.
We have two opportunities to qualify for Rio. If we have the funding, we’ll attempt to earn a berth on the FIVB World Tour where it will be extremely difficult. The other avenue is through the African Continental Cup. This will also be difficult, but it's more manageable due to the travel. The key for us is playing and training with experienced players from around the world.
We're entered in the remaining FIVB World Beach Volleyball Tour events of 2014, awaiting the final details on the African Continental Cup (ACC) process. If there are no conflicts, we're hoping to get enough funding to play both the World Tour and ACC.
I attended two colleges in the United States: Park University and California Baptist University (Riverside), where I earned a business administration degree. I started playing beach volleyball in the United States while attending Cal. Baptist, where I led my school to three straight NAIA Volleyball championships (2004, 2005, and 2006) and lettered two seasons (2004 and 2005) in soccer. Prior to this California adventure, I started my championship run as I led Park University of Missouri to the 2003 NAIA title, where I was named the tournament’s most valuable player.
Winning four national NAIA titles with two different schools is special. Winning a bronze medal in beach volleyball at the 2011 All Africa Games in Maputo is also memorable, as it happened to be Ghana’s first medal at the games.
Wayne Kreklow, the women’s volleyball coach at the University of Missouri and a professional basketball player for the Boston Celtics (1980-1981), helped me with my introduction to volleyball in the United States. During my stay in the US, I always love to do summer camps coaching and I fell in love for it. Kreklow invited me to work at his camp in Columbia, Missouri. learned from him. He is very successful coach and he helped me to get a scholarship in 2002 to go to Park University.
I also credits Mike Salak, a former partner, in helping me with my beach volleyball development. Salak helped me a lot by staying with me from when I was a novice until later when I became much better and we won several tournaments in the northeast region of the United States. Like me, he was an experienced small college volleyball player in New York (Southampton College).”
When beach volleyball was introduced in 2010 by the Ghana Volleyball Association President Paul Atchoe, I moved back to my country to give back my talent to the young kids and grow the game. We have chalked successes in many youth and junior beach volleyball qualifications, but we still need more financial-backing to continue our growth on both the continental and international levels.
I live in the Ghanaian capital of Accra where I born, and I have my own NGO project called Project Serve International. Our goals include using sports like beach volleyball to improve the quality of peoples' lives.
My family have also been active in sports. My dad is 86 years old, and he moves like a young man. He used to run marathon, and his record is still unbroken since he won in the 60s. He's an amazing athlete. Also, my late brother played soccer for one of the premier league clubs in Ghana called Cornerstone. Sports have played a big part of my life. My experiences as a college student in the United States in Missouri and California were special, and playing volleyball and soccer helped me grow as a young man. The experience in Nanjing as a coach was amazing where I helped young beach volleyball players attain some success. Now, if the backing is there, I hope to experience the realization of becoming an Olympian and participating in the beach volleyball competition at the Rio de Janeiro 2016 Summer Games.”
Considering my achievements to date, my dream of reaching Rio is possible. I know what it takes to reach Rio, but I need help. I hope the success that my young team had in Nanjing will help me gain the support I need
to reach the Olympics as a player. I will be grateful if you can help me pay for my sports visa which costs six thousand dollars -- any amount of support helps!
I have never been to any Olympics before Nanjing, and I want to go more. The Olympics is great; different people all over the world gather for the games. It is incredible. It's something special to experience, and it created an amazing energy in me. I have lots of energy when I'm in a small group of people, and my energy was very high at the Nanjing Olympics .
My goals are to continue developing beach volleyball in Ghana, along with competing for a berth to the Rio de Janeiro 2016 Olympic Games with 35-year-old Jonathan Scott Sarpong, who was born in the United States (Dallas, Texas) to Ghanaian parents.
The players that I coached made a real impact in the boys' division. Philip Amissah and Nicholas Tetteh accomplished our goals at the Nanjing Youth Olympics. by plaing third in their pool in their first-ever beach volleyball competition away from Ghana. They were really nervous in their first two matches against more-experienced teams from Puerto Rico and France, but settled down and won their last three matches to advance as the only African team to reach the elimination rounds.
Beach volleyball is a lesser known sport in Ghana, and our accomplishments in Nanjing made national news. We lack a lot of resources to train; soccer gets all of the attention, media, and money in our country. We're so happy for the opportunity at the Youth Olympics, and we came out as the top team from Africa. I hope that Ghana will start investing more resources and time into beach volleyball.
This would benefit my partner and I when we begin the Olympic qualifying process for Rio de Janeiro. Jonathan and I have the desire, and we'll need money to employ a coach to help us. We hope to prepare and train together in America. We need funding to travel to train with international teams and compete in FIVB World Tour events.
I won the bronze medal at the 2011 African Games in Maputo, Mozambique, with Evans Lomotey, and I've played in a FIVB World Tour in Moscow with Jonathan. We dropped a qualifying match to Tri Bourne and John Hyden of the United States, the sixth-ranked team on the international tour. The experience of playing in Moscow was special, but disappointing since we only played one match against one of the world’s best teams.
At least we had some training sessions with other teams in Moscow, and the key is playing and training with other teams from around the world. With these opportunities, I feel that Jonathan Scott Sarpong will develop into a quality beach partner. He's played professional volleyball in Germany, and he currently resides in Berlin.
We have two opportunities to qualify for Rio. If we have the funding, we’ll attempt to earn a berth on the FIVB World Tour where it will be extremely difficult. The other avenue is through the African Continental Cup. This will also be difficult, but it's more manageable due to the travel. The key for us is playing and training with experienced players from around the world.
We're entered in the remaining FIVB World Beach Volleyball Tour events of 2014, awaiting the final details on the African Continental Cup (ACC) process. If there are no conflicts, we're hoping to get enough funding to play both the World Tour and ACC.
I attended two colleges in the United States: Park University and California Baptist University (Riverside), where I earned a business administration degree. I started playing beach volleyball in the United States while attending Cal. Baptist, where I led my school to three straight NAIA Volleyball championships (2004, 2005, and 2006) and lettered two seasons (2004 and 2005) in soccer. Prior to this California adventure, I started my championship run as I led Park University of Missouri to the 2003 NAIA title, where I was named the tournament’s most valuable player.
Winning four national NAIA titles with two different schools is special. Winning a bronze medal in beach volleyball at the 2011 All Africa Games in Maputo is also memorable, as it happened to be Ghana’s first medal at the games.
Wayne Kreklow, the women’s volleyball coach at the University of Missouri and a professional basketball player for the Boston Celtics (1980-1981), helped me with my introduction to volleyball in the United States. During my stay in the US, I always love to do summer camps coaching and I fell in love for it. Kreklow invited me to work at his camp in Columbia, Missouri. learned from him. He is very successful coach and he helped me to get a scholarship in 2002 to go to Park University.
I also credits Mike Salak, a former partner, in helping me with my beach volleyball development. Salak helped me a lot by staying with me from when I was a novice until later when I became much better and we won several tournaments in the northeast region of the United States. Like me, he was an experienced small college volleyball player in New York (Southampton College).”
When beach volleyball was introduced in 2010 by the Ghana Volleyball Association President Paul Atchoe, I moved back to my country to give back my talent to the young kids and grow the game. We have chalked successes in many youth and junior beach volleyball qualifications, but we still need more financial-backing to continue our growth on both the continental and international levels.
I live in the Ghanaian capital of Accra where I born, and I have my own NGO project called Project Serve International. Our goals include using sports like beach volleyball to improve the quality of peoples' lives.
My family have also been active in sports. My dad is 86 years old, and he moves like a young man. He used to run marathon, and his record is still unbroken since he won in the 60s. He's an amazing athlete. Also, my late brother played soccer for one of the premier league clubs in Ghana called Cornerstone. Sports have played a big part of my life. My experiences as a college student in the United States in Missouri and California were special, and playing volleyball and soccer helped me grow as a young man. The experience in Nanjing as a coach was amazing where I helped young beach volleyball players attain some success. Now, if the backing is there, I hope to experience the realization of becoming an Olympian and participating in the beach volleyball competition at the Rio de Janeiro 2016 Summer Games.”
Considering my achievements to date, my dream of reaching Rio is possible. I know what it takes to reach Rio, but I need help. I hope the success that my young team had in Nanjing will help me gain the support I need
to reach the Olympics as a player. I will be grateful if you can help me pay for my sports visa which costs six thousand dollars -- any amount of support helps!
Organizer
Mat Ogin
Organizer
Blackwood, NJ
