Members contribute to ‘transport’ national team – Volleyball Vice President laments financial struggles

Vice-President of Ghana’s Volleyball Association, Dr. Austin Luguterah, has lamented the financial struggles in managing the national team during international assignments.

The team, which is making gradual strides, has been stifled by a lack of support and is now “surviving on footing.”

They put themselves in contention to qualify for the Olympic Games for the first time ever but ultimately had to back out.

“Support in the country has always been football. The rest of the other sports are hustling, trying to survive on footing,” Dr. Luguterah said.

“We don’t have the support needed. At a point in time, we needed just about $10,000 [for] Olympic qualifiers. We did not have and so our guys couldn’t go.

“And I can tell you currently, the Volleyball Association [board members] contribute even to travel to Togo and go and compete in the name of the country. I can tell you for sure that we have to even contribute to buy jerseys, tracksuits for national team.”

Trips across the continent, including to Togo and Ivory Coast, to represent the country have been made by road.

Earlier this year, the Beach Volleyball team was unable to attend the Youth Championship in China due to the cost of flight tickets for four people.