Two Ghanaian youth footballers evicted from the Glo Soccer Academy in Nigeria, Samuel Opoku Mensah, a native of Offinso Mpehi and Charles Addai Danquah, from Kyekyewere near Obuasi, have returned home to rousing receptions by their families, friends and communities.
The two were among Ghana's contingent of 15 inducted last October into the Glo Soccer Academy, touted as West Africa's most elaborate soccer talent hunt and realty show following two weeks of rigid screening exercises in Ashanti, the Northern Region and Accra.
A total of 33 teenage players between the ages of 14 and 17 from Ghana, the Republic of Benin and Nigeria have been boot-camping at the Glo Soccer Academy facility in Lekki, Lagos since November last year under the rigorous tutelage of celebrity coaches from West Africa and technical trainers from Manchester United football team. As the training progressed, the 33 academy graduates were continually screened and their number pruned down until the technical team selected a final 16 players who now constitute the Glo Dream Team - slated for a training tour of the Manchester United Training School in February.
Four Ghanaians qualified as finalists in the prestigious Dream Team, along with three players from the Republic of Benin and nine from Nigeria and 15 years old Muri Lawal from Port Harcourt emerged as the Academy's Most Valued Player (MVP). The Ghanaians are David Abagna Sedan of Tamale, 16, Bismark Larbi of Accra, 16, Ameenu Murtala of Accra 15, and Daniel Abaa, also of Tamale, 16.
Samuel Mensah, 16, the first Ghanaian to be exit camp, arrived at his hometown, Offinso Mpehi, in Ashanti to a surprisingly hilarious welcome from no mean a person than the Chief, the Mpehihene Nana Osei Sarpong, his Council of Elders, local opinion leaders and townsfolk. Samuel was accompanied by a delegation from Glo Mobile Ghana, led by the Regional Sales Manager for Ashanti, Mr. Edmund Edusei.
The highlight of the emotion-packed occasion came when Samuel proudly presented his Certificate of Participation in the Glo Soccer Academy to Nana Osei Sarpong, as Glo officials offered special gifts of appreciation to the Palace and Elders of the town.
'We are most grateful to Glo for trying to identify soccer talents, which we have in abundance here in our town; the people of Offinso Mpehi will always stand proud that when the thousands of teenagers were screened in Ghana for the Glo Soccer Academy, one young player from our town was selected among 15 to represent Ghana,' Nana Osei Sarpong said.
The Chief then urged his people to patronize Glo Mobile products to keep the Network alive so that it can continue to pursue socially rewarding ventures in needy communities like Offinso Mpehi.
Charles Danquah, 17, a student of the St Margaret Educational Complex in Obuasi returned to Kyekyewere, his hometown, to an equally moving reception as his family was joined by friends and teammates to present his Certificate of Participation in the Glo Soccer Academy to Nana Kwadu Amponsem, the Odikro of the town.
Said Nana Amponsem, 'Addai (Charles) has made us all proud for his participation in this exercise which I am told is international with young people coming from other countries in West Africa.
'At the Academy in faraway Nigeria, he certainly must have learnt new things about football and made new friends, but above all, the young man represented the people of Kyekyewere and that is why I urge all of you young people to emulate his example.' He said.
It will be recalled that last September, Globacom launched the Glo Soccer Academy across all the three markets where it is operational and commenced a month long talent screening campaign in Ghana, the Republic of Benin and Nigeria for what has been touted as West Africa's biggest soccer talent hunt and realty show. Some 33 youth players were selected out of several thousands screened in the three countries and evictions are being made to select the best 16 youth players in West Africa for further training and a tour of the Manchester United Training school in the United Kingdom.
Besides the trip to Manchester, the four successful Ghanaian, along with their 12 colleague finalists, have automatically qualified for Globacom's G-Bam academic scholarship worth GHC 9,000 and each will leave camp with a GHC 12,000.00 cash prize. Besides visiting Manchester with his mates, Muri Lawal, the Most Valued Player, takes home a cash prize of a whooping GHC 60,000.00 (sixty thousand Ghana cedis).
Ekow Quarcoo, Head PR, Glo Mobile Ghana.