New York Jets stars to promote American Football in Ghana

American Football player David Clowney and his New York Jets teammate, Santonio Holmes recently visited for some charity football related activities in Ghana. Through donations to the David Clowney Foundation, the group brought about 250 pounds of children’s clothing to Ghana for donations.

As part of their visit, the team visited and made presentations, through the Little Angel’s Trust, to the Children’s Block of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, where they spend sometime interacting with the infirm children. They also donated clothes to the children at the Kiddy Care Development Center in Aburi, and provided funding for a swing to entertain the children on that facility. The children, who were excited about the visit of the American footballers, put up an amazing performance for the visitors.

David and Santonio, in response to efforts to expose and generate interest among Ghanaian youth to various forms of sports other than soccer, engaged a group of about 100 young people in an American football training camp held at the Nicholson Stadium at Burma Camp.

Drawn from schools across the capital including Ridge Church, North Ridge Lyceum, Soul Clinic, St Anthony, St Martin de Porres and the Barracks schools, the children aged between eight and fifteen, were taken through the rudiments of the game, and at the end representatives from each school received one American football to take to their school for practice.

One of the fastest growing sports, American football presents great opportunities for career growth and financial independence for players, much like traditional soccer and basketball is offering today.

Promising to make this camp an annual affair while corresponding with the participants in the interim to encourage them to keep up the game, David Clowney who organized the camp as part of his social responsibility of training inner city kids both in America and anywhere he visits, said he has plans to establish the game in Ghana.

Speaking from their base at the plush Richester Hotel in Accra where they stayed, David expressed satisfaction with the level of interest shown by the children in the game and anticipates to “return every year to get these children playing with the hope that soon enough some of the them can take up American football on a professional level like me.”

The stars have since returned to their base in the US after a week-long visit to Ghana where they toured visiting Cape Coast, Aburi, Tamale and Accra.