Otto Nagengast Football Academy Established in Sutukoba

FOROYAA Newspaper (Serrekunda)

Suwaibou Touray

29 June 2011

A Football Academy entirely run by young rural youth has been established in Sutukoba in the Wuli East District of the URR on Wednesday June 1st 2011, named after a young American High School student from Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, USA.

According to the organizers, they named their academy after Otto Nagengast because of his determination and desire to help develop football for the young people of the Gambia.

Mr. Manka Danso, the captain of the team was asked how they come to know somebody all the way from America; the captain said they read his contribution in the Foroyaa Newspaper and discover that he works with Dr. Madi Touray, the Secretary General of the Alliance for Democracy in Africa (ADA) Gambia Chapter. He said they know Dr. Madi Touray because he hails from their village (Sutukoba). He said they then contacted him and suggested naming their young academy after Otto. He said Madi buys the idea and said he would forward the idea to Otto himself to find out if he would also buy the idea. He said Dr. Madi eventually called to say that Otto accepts the idea which definitely thrills them. “This is how we decided to name the Academy after Otto”, said Mr. Manka Danso, the captain of the Academy, who said he enjoys coaching even though he is not opportune to undergo formal training in an institution.

When asked how many boys are in the academy, Mr. Manka Danso said presently they number about 50 young people, but said it is open to all young people between the ages of 12 and 20 years.

On what would happen after the boys graduate from the academy; Mr.Manka Danso said their objective is to use the academy to feed the senior team of Sutukoba who could eventually be enrolled in bigger teams in the urban areas and even Senegal and beyond.

On how they are going to develop the Academy; Mr. Mawdo Jatta, the manager said: We are young people who are ready to raise funds through farming and our elders assured us that they would lend their moral and material support to us whenever the need arises. So we are confident that the academy will develop and become a model in the URR region for others to emulate”, said Mr. Mawdo Jatta, the Manager of the academy.

According to Dr. Madi Touray, the Secretary General of Alliance for Democracy in Africa, the young academy is also linked to ADA. He said: “Otto Nagengast Football Academy” is in recognition of Otto’s continuous support to ADA, especially in the area of football (soccer)”, said Touray.

According to the ADA Secretary General, it is good to have such academies in the rural areas to make the young people feel that they are part of the country and to encourage and motivate the rural youth that they can one day fulfill their dreams to become football stars.

Sutukoba village is 257 miles east of Banjul. The village is 25 miles east of Basse, the administrative capital of the Upper River Region.

Dr. Touray said Otto is also the youth ambassador of ADA and a member of the International board of directors for the organization.

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