Coach John Oppong Welbeck, a participant of the recent Psychology Course organized by the University of Education, Winneba and the National Sports Authority (NSA) has hailed the programme and the organisers.
He commended his classmates who also contributed to make the course very successful, coming from different backgrounds and various sports disciplines, as well as media practitioners.
He noted that Psychology is about human behavior, mindset and consciousness and in sports it is related to how leaders must act to ensure total delivery and positive results.
He expressed that football players come from different homes and places to join the national team, and the coach must ensure that they live and play in harmony, respect, peace, love and unity.
“Handling young guys, you must prove to be a father figure and teacher” he stressed.
Oppong Welbeck spoke about the Black Stars and congratulated the team and technical staff, as well as the boldness of Coach Otto Addo to feature local goalkeeper Benjamin Asare and Razak Simpson who came on in the latter stages.
According to him the inclusion of local players who merit the call up is ideal, and prayed that they are positioned at roles they can play very well.
“I know Razak Simpson of Nations FC very very well and he can be a good partner with Thomas Partey, playing behind him to strengthen the midfield and allow more attacking options, he can play with the foreign based players like Mohammed Salisu and Alexander Djiku ” he said.
He also had thoughts on the new yellow jersey of the Black Stars as very nice and ‘lucky’ because Ghana scored eight goals in two matches on clean sheets.
He thanked Kurt Okraku, the GFA President for the opportunity offered him to assist Nii Odartey Lamptey and Awudu Issaka to scout, nurture and groom the National Under 16 Team.
John Oppong Welbeck is a beneficiary of the Five Years Development Plan of the late Ben Koufie, and has trained and coached numerous players and clubs in many countries.
“It is a great privilege to serve mother Ghana and I pray that we bring back the glory days of Black Starlets and leave our mark” he added.