After emerging as one of the top performers in the International Coaching Course 2024 in Hungary, the Sierra Leone Athletics Association (SLAA) have gratefully presented Coach Christian Gendemeh’s Certificate to the President of the National Olympic Committee/ Commonwealth Games Association of Sierra Leone (NOC/ CGA-SLE), Prince Vandy Sualley.
The NOC-SLE through the Olympic Solidarity offered the opportunity to SLAA’s Coach Christian Gendemeh to represented Sierra Leone in the International Coaching Course 2024 held at the Hungarian University of Sports Sciences.
Gendemeh’s outstanding achievement finishing among the top three performers earned him an International Coaching Certificate.
In his remarks, SLAA President Martin Momoh Bangura commended Gendemeh’s exceptional performance and highlighted the importance of continuous learning and capacity building in the field of sports.
“As an association, one of our key agenda is capacity building and as a result of that we are looking forward to have opportunities so that we can improve on the capacity of our technical officials. Fortunately for us, the NOC headed by Prince Sualley in his wisdom gave the opportunity; we grab the opportunity and we are so proud today that our candidate did not just go for this training in Hungary, but he was there and he did extremely well because to be counted among the best three candidates for this year, it’s a kudos to us all in sports here in Sierra Leone,” he said.
He disclosed that Coach Gendemeh’s was trained as a General Conditioning Coach and that it will be beneficial for all disciplines in the Country and not athletics alone.
“We are here to present to the NOC his certificates, to show that they gave us the opportunity, we grab this opportunity and today we want to present to them our result that is why we are here today. On behalf of the Sierra Leone Athletics Association I am gratefully presenting Coach Christian Gendemeh’s International Coaching Course 2024 Certificate to the National Olympic Committee,” the SLAA President affirmed.
Upon presenting his certificate to the SLAA’s President- Martin Momoh Bangura for onward presentation to President Sualley, Coach Christian Gendemeh underscored he was sent to Hungary by the NOC through the Olympic Solidarity, following the Athletics’ family recommendation to the NOC to go for a training in General Conditioning.
“There have been some lapses within the physio in the SLAA so this is the reason why they recommended me. The NOC did my application, fortunately for me, the IOC accepted my application so I travelled sometimes back in October. I was in the Hungary University of Sport Sciences in Budapest for 10 weeks. We did 115 courses and 100 hours practical session,” Coach Gendemeh revealed, adding “I am not only trained as a General Conditioning Trainer to come and train people that are running in athletics, but I was trained for a generalized aspect not only for athletics, football, basketball, volleyball, cricket to name but a few and not only for sports people. I can work on your general lives in terms of fitness, not only for the young people even the old people”.
He expressed gratitude the SLAA’s President, his executive and the entire athletics family, the NOC’s Project Coordinator Bai Bangura, for his supports throughout the course in Hungary and to President Sualley for believing him and giving him the opportunity to represent Sierra Leone.
For his part, the NOC-CGA’s President Prince Sualley applauded Gendemeh for his outstanding achievement, stating that it makes all of them proud that they could have a little bit of the role they played in him going to Budapest, then coming home with laurel.
He lauded SLAA’s President for making the recommendation, admitting that at first, he was a little bit apprehensive for various reasons, but he was so steadfast in the recommendation.
“This is a true manifestation of your intuition and such ability to detect can bring values to your organization. The course that Gendemah embarked on is not only for athletics, but for all sports in Sierra Leone; for us to have qualified and trained personnel to strengthen sports. The NOC President continued. “We all know to a large extent we are still in the capacity building especially for those of us outside football so to speak this is an addition to that trajectory. We are on so I must say this is one face of your journey that you are embarking on because it’s good that you conquered; you go and brought a certificate to prove that you did well, but the other thing is to move to the implementation phase of what you’ve acquired. The NOC is very much looking forward to you; you got to be decisive in whatever you choose to do. We will continue to support you. Feel free to come up with whatever you think will benefit the associations,” he noted.
Statement was also made by the Secretary General of the Sierra Leone Athletics Association (SLAA), Momoh Morie.
