The new president of Pan-African Scrabble Association (PANASA), Haruna Adamu, has received a useful reel of expert tips from experts of the game on how to succeed in the post he recently attained.
Sports247 reports that the line-up of wise counsel coming Adamu’s way is being led by PANASA’s immediate past president, Engineer Toke Aka, who is also a leading administrator of the sport in Nigeria.
While affirming total support for the new president, who hails from Ghana, Aka urged Adamu to prioritise engagement with national federations, while strengthening PANASA’s secretariat and expanding the impact of Scrabble across Africa.
Aka, who is also a founding member and executive official of World English Scrabble Players Association (WESPA), added that Adamu must identify various challenges that are facing national bodies and help them develop strategies to increase participation in competitions.
The immediate past president of Nigeria Scrabble Federation (NSF) declared: “I wish him well, and I must tell him that it is what he dreams and that will work. He is leading, and he must be the one to say or ask around to be able to say that this should be.
“If he does not take a step, nothing is going to happen. Nobody is going to push him. So all I say to him is that, as much as I have, I got in the position, he should also strive to take us beyond where we are.”
Aka further stressed what he described as a culture of timidity and limited engagement among some Scrabble administrators across Africa as an obstacle to the sport’s growth, then urged Adamu to note that challenges facing each country can be addressed through better planning, early preparation and support from PANASA, rather than be treated as huge obstacles.
“I don’t see them as problems. I just see them as bad planning. One man can’t do it alone. You need a team. So once your secretariat is up and doing, then what do you do for development? You engage, you ask, you talk.
“Even in countries where they don’t have, talk with the leadership in sports in such countries,” Aka asserted, while advocating persuasion, engagement and proper development efforts as strategies that will help PANASA face challenges facing different countries and provide solutions.
Aka posited that Adamu will succeed through effective leadership, a proactive secretariat and helping national associations overcome their challenges, while building on progress already made and extending Scrabble’s reach to more African countries.
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