This is story is not just about the first time our co-founder Berni went to Ghana, but also the about the very beginning of our journey to found “AFFA”.
It was in summer 2022 that Berni came across of videos of @ghanafootvolley and sent them a message on Instagram, asking for advice on where in the country to go to be able to play as much Footvolley as possible. Berni has been in touch with the president of Ghana Footvolley (and our co-founder) Mustapha ever since and they thoroughly discussed Footvolley in both Ghana and Austria. Berni thought that by going to the beaches of Ghana he could show the local players some skills and techniques.
After some time Mustapha and Berni decided to start their journey together and organise a tour around the coastal regions of Ghana where they provided Footvolley trainings for the local players in each area.
In November 2022, Berni came to visit Ghana. The purpose of his trip was to share his knowledge about tactics and techniques, which he gathered from different coaches and players all over Europe and Brazil in the last few years. His endeavours helped the growth of Footvolley in Ghana and brought the Ghana Footvolley community a step closer to their colleagues in Europe. Even more importantly, his teachings made the local players enjoy doing their sport even more!
When one of our sponsors at that time, Bolao Sports (@bolaosports), asked Berni about his motivation and objectives for going to Ghana, he answered:
“I’ve wanted to visit Ghana for a long time and recently found out that there is a Footvolley community there, which eventually led me to book a trip. I want to help the players to increase their skills so that they can enjoy playing Footvolley even more. In the long run I hope that with the help of Footvolley the Ghanaian players will be able to collect experiences, to travel and to find new friends from all over the world, just like I did. Furthermore, I think that Africa was left behind in the evolution of Footvolley and hope that African Footvolley soon will get the same amount of opportunities as European Footvolley.”
With the support of Footvolley Austria, Footvolley Steiermark and Bolao Sports Berni was also able to bring 15 official Mikasa Footvolley balls to the Ghana & Benin Footvolley communities.
The focus of the trainings mainly laid on the basics of the game: touches with the foot, reception and setting with the chest. On top of that Berni helped the Ghanaians to bring more calmness and stability to their game and gave some tactical input. All in all he gave around 7 trainings in different coastal parts of Ghana.
In addition to the trainings in the south of Ghana they also travelled to Volta, Keta region, located in the eastern part of Ghana, where a big tournament with local players and players from Benin took place. The plan was to provide some trainings to prepare for the tournament and especially to show different training approaches to the players and officials, so that they can continue working on their skills after returning back home.
This journey was only the start of a whole new movement. During Berni’s stay in Ghana, he was contacted by Heraldo, who was fascinated by the work of Mustapha and Berni wanted to join forces for upcoming projects.
Now we (AFFA) are in the process of planning the first-ever African Footvolley Cup with 11 participating African nations and more than 24 teams overall.
More Images of last year’s project:
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