Deliberating on the issue of behaviour and discipline of athletes, the Minister of Youth and Sports has disclosed that it has always been impressive when Gambian teams go out to compete in foreign countries.
Mr. Bakary Y. Badjie was speaking recently at the Gambia National Olympics House in Bakau, where he handed over the Gambian flag to the athletes going for the Africa Youth Games in Luanda, Angola. The Youth Games began on December 10 and would conclude on the 21st December 2025.
While speaking about the importance of the sporting event to The Gambia, he expressed hope that it would be taken with the same seriousness by going there to just represent, but leave a mark.
“And leaving a mark is not just attending or participating; it means breaking records, and that means winning medals, performing extremely well, but also the behaviours that you display in the interaction with your colleagues in the place that you will be staying, the game venues, the tracks, or on the field when you get there,” the minister iterated.
He posted that all these accounts for what legacy they would leave behind as a Gambian delegation. He, meanwhile, expressed that they are always hopeful when they bid farewell to teams, considering that, as far as he could remember, the impressive record of Gambian teams in terms of discipline.
“We don’t have problems with discipline. We don’t get complaints about our behaviours towards our colleagues, nor do we have complaints about the attitude of the athletes on the ground,” he reiterated.
Meanwhile, he highlighted that as The Gambia progresses, it builds on the gains it had before. He praised the GNOC preparation programmes and orientations for athletes.
He urged the athletes to perform exceptionally well. He examined that while exercising discipline and displaying good behaviour are important, they would not appear in the records. What appears in the records for the future is how many medals you win, he held.
He expressed: “So we want, ladies and gentlemen, that when you go there to put your minds on that because the country has been participating for long, and sometimes, yes, we pride in our participation, but we want to move away from being proud about the levels we reach, to the number of medals we have.
He concluded by underscoring the fact that the GNOC fully funded team is going to Angola, without soliciting any funds from the government, which is used to provide financial support. Minister Badjie conveyed the expression of GNOC’s involvement with the government, nonetheless, through the Ministry of Youth and Sports, even though they fully funded the participation logistics in their entirety without government
He averred that the government and the ministry are for all Gambians, including associations.
