By Desmond Tunde Coker
The Athletes Commission of the National Olympic Committee of Sierra Leone (NOC-SLE) concluded a two-day Athlete365 Career + Outreach Workshop at the OlympAfric Centre, Goderich, in Freetown. The event commenced on Wednesday 26th June 2024 and ended on Thursday the 27th of the same month.
Career+ is a program that empowers athletes to maximize their education and employment opportunities. It also helps them strive confidently into a dual or post-sports career. It supports athletes at all stages of their career, helping them discover their potential and plan for their life beyond the world of competitive sport through a blend of advice, training and peer-to-peer learning.
The Chairman Athletes Commission, Mohamed Kamara noted that the Career+ is an International Olympic Committee (IOC), Athletes’ Commission initiative.
He went on to state that they catered for 50 participants wherein they contacted presidents of all sporting disciplines under the National Olympic Committee (NOC) to send two athletes each to represent their respective Associations in the Zoom meeting facilitated by Isma and other IOC representatives in Senegal.
‘The workshop is a first step to creating awareness and education about the athletes’ future transition to life after sport,” Chairman Kamara commented, and called on participants to make use of what they had learned. The participants received certificates on both days of the two-day training.
The Chairman concluded by thanking the Co-Chairperson – Olympian Hafsatu Kamara, the NOC’s President Prince Sualley and his entire executive, and also the IOC for their support.
Alie G. Koroma, the Dean of the Olympics Academy, lectured on the three values of Olympism which are excellence, respect and friendship. He said the values constitute the foundation on which the Olympic movement builds its activities to promote sport, culture and education with a view to building a better world.
Launched in 2005, the ACP helps elite and Olympic athletes successfully manage the difficult transition from sport to a new career, through professional development and job placement support.
By 2014, the program had supported more than 22,000 elite athletes from over 100 countries and five continents with training and job placements.