Ghana Parkour Federation

Youth & Sports Minister Mustapha Ussif Looking Forward To Work With GOC To Develop Sports
Hon. Mustapha Ussif, the Minister of Youth & Sports says he is looking forward to work with the Ghana Olympic Committee (GOC) to develop sports.
He expressed that the greatest resource is the youth of the country, not the gold or oil, so they must be encouraged to engage in sports, as Ghana is a sports country.
He revealed that cabinet has approved the establishment of the Sports Development Fund, while preparations for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games must be excellent.
The newly elected Executive Board of the Ghana Olympic Committee (GOC) / Commonwealth Games Association Ghana led by President Ben Nunoo Mensah on Monday 29th March, 2021 visited the Minister of Youth and Sports Hon. Mustapha Ussif at his office at the Sports Ministry in Accra.
After introducing the board members to the Minister, the GOC President stated that all the Federation heads, which include some of the best sports administrators, top professionals and successful prosperous businessmen are fully behind him to execute the mandate given him by the President Nana Akufo Addo as sector Minister.
The GOC President commended the Minister on his elevation and thanked him for showing up at the Congress that elected all members of the Green Team.
The Minister who was former Director of the National Service Secretariat welcomed the GOC and congratulated them for the victory and successful congress.
He declared looking forward to work with the new executive board to put Ghana Sports on a high level, as he was prepared to collaborate to work on a comprehensive strategic plan in a vision to give attention to all sports.
He expressed that the youthful resources are not limited, and they can be tapped to put Ghana Sport high through the efforts of the GOC and Ministry.
The GOC President made a passionate appeal to the Minister to lobby for more funds through the budgetary allocation for sports as they are the second least financed Ministry.
Mr. Ben Nunoo Mensah pleaded with the Ministry of Youth and Sports to ask the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning for more funds to finance its activities in the 2021 calendar year.
According to Mr Mensah, the GHS 34,412,805 allocated to the Ministry in the 2021 budget is "extremely small" and likely to run out after a few months.
He said the Sports Ministry was currently under-funded and its current budget was likely to run-out after the senior men's national football team (Black Stars) plays a few matches.
"Honourable Minister, the first challenge as you said is your funding. Unfortunately, I heard about the budget that has been given to you and I still think that it is extremely small.
"The more money we put in our youth development and our sports, the less money we are going to put in our health sector and then we are creating a future for more of our youth.
"So, I will still plead with you if it is possible that you need to go back to honourable Ken Ofori-Atta, we still need money".
He said although the Black Stars as the country's flagship sports brand were deserving of the funds spent on them, the development of other sports must not be neglected as a result.
"We have a huge brand in our Black Stars, so we need to sustain them with a lot of money. Black Stars play two-three matches and then our budget is wiped out, it's justifiably so.
Mr. Ben Nunoo Mensah said the perception that sports is leisure should cease and the media must also shun negative reportage that retards sponsorship.
He explained that it is the athletes and media who benefit mostly from sponsorship, so the branding must always be positive.
He urged the media to also work with the federations and Ministry to attract funds for the least financed disciplines and lift up the image of Ghana Sports.
The GOC President hailed the former Minister Isaac Asiamah for investing in infrastructure, and appealed to Mustapha Ussif to invest in the athletes.
“We can not expect our athletes to win medals with four months preparation, when others have prepared for four years” he said.
He reiterated that Ghana has a good name in sports, and insisted that the YEA Package for sportsmen and women should be continued.
The new Chief Director of the Ministry contributed that Sports is business, and has the largest following as well as unifies the nation.
The new Secretary General, Mohammed Sahnoon, who is also the President of Ghana Cycling added that structures must be put in place and regulations must be made to work.
The oldest member of the board, Rev. Emmanuel Nikoi, President of Ghana Netball appealed to the Ministry to support Federations in paying their international affiliation fees.
He advised the Minister to listen to the federation heads often than the media.
By Sammy Heywood Okine

Parkour
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Parkour
Focus Obstacle passing
Country of origin France
Creator - David Belle
Famous practitioners
Storror
Sébastien Foucan
Yamakasi
Ancestor arts - Asian martial arts, athletics, gymnastics
Descendant arts - Freerunning
Olympic sport - No
Parkour (French: [paʁkuʁ]) is a training discipline using movement that developed from military obstacle course training. Practitioners, called tracers or traceurs, aim to get from one point to another in a complex environment, without assistive equipment and in the fastest and most efficient way possible. Parkour includes running, climbing, swinging, vaulting, jumping, plyometrics, rolling, quadrupedal movement (crawling) and other movements as deemed most suitable for the situation (not to be confused with freerunning). Parkour's development from military training gives it some aspects of a non-combative martial art.
Parkour is an activity that can be practiced alone or with others and is usually carried out in urban spaces, though it can be done anywhere Parkour involves seeing one's environment in a new way, and imagining the potential for navigating it by movement around, across, through, over and under its features.
Parkour as a type of movement was established by David Belle in France in 1988, however the practice of similar movements in various communities around the world leads to discussion of the relevance of such an attribution.
The discipline was popularised in the late 1990s and 2000s through films, documentaries, video games and advertisements featuring the Yamakasi.

World Sports For All For Congress
The World Sports For All body is calling on National Federations Presidents, Vice presidents and Secretary Generals to update them on their membership as they get set to hold their congress.
The International Football Skating and Parkour has also called on its members to participate in the congress.
Dear International Football Skating and Parkour Members.
Greetings,
I would like to inform you that the "World Federation Sports For All", will organize its Assembly Meeting soon.
The good news is The world sport for all elected me, Mehdi Arash Salmanpour and Victor Bevin as the Vice President of the World Sports for All Federation.
I'm sure it will help us better to develop sports in every corner of the world.
Thank you my brothers and sisters.
Mehdi Arash Salmanpour
From Sammy Heywood Okine

Paris 2024 Olympics Games: Breaking definite in programme
Breaking developed alongside hip-hop in New York in the 1970s
Breaking - a competitive form of breakdancing - has been confirmed as part of the final line-up for the Paris 2024 Olympics.
It will join surfing, skateboarding and climbing, which will be retained after debuts at the delayed Tokyo Games in 2021.
However, parkour will not be part of the 2024 event after missing out.
The street sport typically involves running, jumping and climbing over obstacles.
"It's going to be great for breaking as it gives us more recognition as a sport," British breakdancer Karam Singh told BBC Sport.
"And for the Olympics, it will attract young people who may not follow some of the traditional sports."
Squash campaigned unsuccessfully for inclusion in the Paris Games, as did billiard sports and chess.
Breaking blends artistry and athleticism with key elements including top rocks - typically a competitor's introductory dance moves -footwork, power moves and freezes.
Power moves are explosive displays such as spins, while freezes are when a performer sticks a pose.
Competitors - known as b-boys and b-girls - are not only judged on technical skill but also creativity and style, with strength, speed, rhythm and agility all considered.
Last year, the Paris 2024 organising committee had proposed breaking, surfing, skateboarding and climbing for inclusion and were waiting for a final review by the executive board of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
The IOC has insisted that new events would only be included if they used existing Paris 2024 venues, and priority would be given to those with youth appeal or that would help achieve gender equality.
Games organisers said they wanted to include sports in the programme which were popular with new and younger audiences.
Under new IOC rules first introduced for the Tokyo Games, Olympic host cities can hand-pick sports and propose them for inclusion in those Games if they are popular in that country and add to the Games' appeal.
Cost-cutting measures will see athlete numbers drop from 11,238 at Rio 2016 to under 10,500 by 2024, which will be achieved despite the addition of new disciplines and the removal of only baseball/softball and karate.
From Sammy Heywood Okine

Parkour Ghana To Get Busy
Parkour Ghana members will get very busy pretty soon as the interim executives are planning and preparing to organize the sport and competitions in the country.
Parkour is a training discipline using movement that developed from military obstacle course training. Practitioners, called tracers or traceurs, aim to get from one point to another in a complex environment, without assistive equipment and in the fastest and most efficient way possible.
The international Parkour Federation (IPF) has sent messages to affiliated nations thanking them for sustaining and maintaining their health in this Covid -19 era.
The body has ordered all national federations to send most up-to-date logo, website link and/or Facebook or Instagram page so that they can add a functioning link below each country's flag on the IPF website.
The IPF urged national federations to achieve official recognition from the sports ministry or NOC, and send us copies of those documents as well.
“It is CRUCIAL that you maintain your NF's web presence with frequent posts. Many national and international organizations have their eyes on us, and we must all contribute to the goal of full recognition by GAISF, the IOC, and other NGO's.
We highly value your NF as an integral part of the IPF family. However, failure to respond to this request could jeopardize the renewal of your IPF license” said a recently released statement signed by Mehdi Salman Pour - (Arash) and copied to the President- Asia Freerunning Parkour Union AFPU , Deputy Secretary-General- IPF and Vice President- IPF
The AFPU is the official Union of Freerunning and Parkour in Asia and The only governing body for the International Parkour Federation IPF,
Parkour is the practice of traversing obstacles in a man-made or natural environment through the use of running, vaulting, jumping, climbing, rolling, and other movements in order to travel from one point to another in the quickest and most efficient way possible without the use of equipment.
By Sammy Heywood Okine