U.S. based taekwondo practitioner David Koney Adjetey has advised young students not to allow their parents to shut their dreams by working extra hard to excel both in sports and academic.
He made this known at the third edition of the Making it Happen seminar held at the Presbyterian Boy’s Secondary School on Tuesday, June 14.
Adjetey, the reigning Sports Writers Association of Ghana (SWAG) Male Taekwondo player of the year, was responding to a question by a student on the best way to respond when parents advise their wards to stay off sports and focus on their books to achieve their goals in life.
Adjetey, a father of two, acknowledged the important role parents play in the lives of their wards but quickly added it is up to the individual to work hard to earn their trust.
“I will say keep on working hard. Respect your parents. But don’t let them shut your dreams. Always try to prove them wrong by excelling in both,” he told a packed Assembly Hall of about 500 students.
Adjetey, who won bronze and silver medals at the 2007 All African Games and 2015 All African Games respectively, used his own experience to illustrate his point.
“My parents did not know a lot of taekwondo and because of that I had to work extra hard. I had to put in a lot of work to be able to prove to my parents that I could actually combine my education and taekwondo.
“And that came to light when I joined the national team to the All Africa Games in 2003. That is when my parents got to know that I could still excel in both taekwondo and in my education.”
Anchored by Ghanaian journalist and the Managing Editor of www.liquidsportsghana.com, Erasmus Kwaw, the Making it Happen seminar at PRESEC also featured Black Stars striker Abdul Majeed Waris and Ghana’s first para cyclist Alem Mumuni.
Waris insisted that without education, he could not have become a professional footballer while Alem Mumuni made a passionate plea for society to love persons with disabilities so as to enable them contribute to national development.
Several students contributed to the interactive session of the programme asking questions bordering on how to combine the school work and sports, dealing with difficult parents who don’t see the need to take part in sporting activities, dealing with stigmatisation, among others.
A student of Presec, Courage Christian commented about his experience at the function:
“I thank Liquid Sports for bringing this programme into our school. This programme has really inspired me a lot. It has taught me a lot of things, not to always play and not to always learn but to combine the two because those who have done that have been successful. So if I also continue to do that, then I will be successful in life.”
Meanwhile, about 100 people including students and teachers at the school were screened for diabetes and hypertension by Your Health Matters-Ghana, a Ghanaian based NGO.
According to the CEO of the NGO, Gladys Dadzie, her outfit aims to create awareness about diabetes and hypertension by undertaking health outreaches in schools, hospitals, churches and communities.
Participants at the one-day event voluntarily tested for their sugar and blood pressure levels and also received the necessary counseling during the course of the programme.
The participants were refreshed by Guinness Ghana who provided Álvaro and Malta Guinness drinks for the awe inspiring event.
The mentorship programme has previously taken place at Accra Academy and Labone Senior High School.
Source: 3news.com|Ghana
Twitter: @3Newsgh
