The Big Interview – Right To Dream

Following a record-breaking London 2012 Paralympic Games, sportindustry.biz caught up with Tom Vernon, the founder and CEO of Right to Dream, and Ghana’s Paralympic team – the largest contingent of athletes from the country ever. The athletes were helped along their journey by the Right to Dream organisation, a non-profit training organisation set up in the country to provide an opportunity for underprivileged young talent. 

Vernon explains: “We founded Right to Dream 14 years ago in Ghana, to give young people there the opportunity to achieve their full potential through education and sport. I came to Ghana first as a professional football coach [Vernon scouted for Manchester United] where we discovered a lack of the correct structures and development, particularly for young children.” 

“On the back of this experience we started the academy with a few kids from one local neighbourhood and it went really well. The ties we developed in that time were pretty strong and we wanted to harness the power of sport by creating world class role models to inspire.” 

“Our football programme has gone fantastically. We invested $3 million a couple of years ago and we now have three players in the senior national team, as well as 13 boys playing professionally in Europe.” 

After developing its football programme, Right to Dream went on to identify other sports – particularly girls’ football and Paralympic sports – that could help to improve and re-establish education in Ghana. 

“All four of our guys qualified by right for London 2012, which is fantastic, and what we are trying to do is show that the Paralympic movement needs to focus more on Africa. A huge proportion of people with a disability come from Africa, yet their representation at the Paralympics is fairly limited. So we wanted to try and announce Africa in the space a bit more,” added Vernon.

“We wanted to launch a Paralympic Academy that followed the same sort of model as our football programme. The idea was to identify talent, and then take them through the same sort of development that we had done with our footballers, with the outcomes being international education and the chance to compete globally. 

Ghana’s largest team ever was made up of Mumuni Alem, a road cyclist in the C1-3 category; Raphael Nkegbe Botsyo (pictured), who competed in the men’s 100m T54; Anita Fordjour, a female wheelchair sprinter who competed in the 100m and 200m T53; and powerlifter, Charles Narh Teye.

While they were unable to secure a first medal for Ghana, Alem and Fordjour both managed to qualify for their respective finals. 

Charles Narh Teye, who finished ninth in his Group B powerlifting category, told sportindustry.biz how he got into the sport, before Right to Dream gave him the opportunity to push forward.

“In 2004 the National Sports Council called all the people with disabilities in Ghana to come to an event and try different sports and display their talents. I then took part in a competition where I was selected to continue to focus on Powerlifting.”

“Right to Dream has really done a lot, particularly in terms of supporting my training and enabling me to deliver focused performances. If I look at before I came to Right to Dream and now, I wasn’t lifting heavy weights. I used to lift 120kg, now I am lifting 155kg, and Right to Dream was able to send me to competitions to enable me to qualify for London 2012.”

Raphael, who contracted Polio at the age of six, added: “Right to Dream coming in to help four disabled athletes in Ghana has given us a lot of support. It is the first time as disabled athletes we have been given the opportunity to focus on developing our talent full-time. We have been provided with equipment, training, coaching, information, as well as the opportunity to travel to competitions.” 

“It has provided us with everything that has enabled us to get qualification for the Games.”

“They have given us a platform to develop as professional athletes in the same way as able bodied athletes. For this alone, I will always be grateful for the support of Right to Dream in my sports career.”

The Paralympic movement within Ghana has changed in the past few years, with athletes qualifying outright for the first time, which the athletes hope will inspire the next generation of athletes in the country.

Charles explains: “We are still growing. With the introduction of Right to Dream coming into the movement there has been a big change – in the past we have had wildcards for athletes to attend the Games, now we have qualified athletes outright. It is also the first time we have a big number of athletes attending the Paralympic Games.”

“They [Ghana] can see we are spreading the message, telling them how important sport is, they can see our abilities and see us performing on the world stage. This will inspire them to participate and raise the flag of Ghana high!”

Raphael, who was the first Ghanaian to participate at a Paralympic Games at Athens 2004, added: “We know that having a larger team and a lot of athletes involved in sport, will help to bring more success. We know that having more athletes will help to develop sports in Ghana. We are focusing on 2016 and we want more people competing in Rio, we want to see the younger generation coming through and competing and carrying on the messaging around disability and sport.”

On the Paralympic Games, Vernon concluded: “Hopefully through London 2012, the Games will provide an exciting legacy opportunity for people in the city and further afield who were excited about the Games. Hopefully it can also inspire people to become involved in our programme, because without sponsorship and supporters no programme like ours can continue alone.”

For more information on Right to Dream, and the work they do, visit: www.righttodream.com