By Arfang M.S. Camara
The Sports Journalists Association of The Gambia (SJAG) with support from the Gambia Press Union (GPU), on Tuesday completed a two-day sports journalism capacity building training for its members held at Tango.
The two-day sessions which gathered the association’s members both from the print and electronic media is meant to build the capacity of sports journalists in the country.
During the two-day sessions participants were taking through sports management, sports journalism, sports news gathering, sports broadcasting, radio and TV, ethics in sports journalism and match officialdom respectively.
Speaking at the closing of the programme, Isatou Keita, vice president, GPU said that journalism profession is a passion driven, as most of them got to it because of the passion they have for trade.
“With that passion at some point, one tends to do something which the person thinks is doing the right thing. At some point, one also falls short of what exactly is needed in terms of executing your task as expected as a reporter.”
This, she said, is where the GPU comes into play, adding that they might not be able to send everyone to school but instead they train and build the capacity of the individuals who have the passion for the profession.
“This capacity building training helps to build the knowledge and skills of an individual that they already amass when it comes to passion that is attached to what you do on a daily basis.”
According to her, she believed that the knowledge gained from the training will help participants to what they have already done over the years in terms of what they do on a daily basis.
Utman Jeng, vice president, SJAG, said the importance of capacity building training cannot be overemphasized, noting that they can only better themselves as sports journalists, if they continue to build their capacity.
“We thanked the GPU, journalists’ parent body, for helping us to organize this training for our members. We also thanked our resource persons for sharing their knowledge and experience in sports journalism.”
He went on to call the general membership of the SJAG to take ownership of the association, noting that “you can only partake in something that you belong to.”
“We challenged everyone that is reporting sports in the country to come forward and join the SJAG. We can only support each other as a family if we are together,” he said.
Lamin Cham, Course Instructor, expressed delight for associating himself for the two-day capacity building program organized by the SJAG.
He commended both the SJAG and GPU for conceiving the idea to build the capacity of Sports Journalists in the Gambia.
“This is a very useful exercise looking at the work and challenger’s sports journalists face in their work. So, I have enjoyed the last two days and hope that the participants will put into good use what they have learnt.”
Ebrima Darboe, who spoke on behalf of the participants, thanked the executive of the SJAG for having the foresight to bring them together for two days to enhance their capacities on sports reporting and sports management.
“This is very important and it would serve a lot because there are a lot of issues discussed during the two days which are affecting our daily reporting of sports issues in the country.”
According to him, it is also important to have sessions on sports management, adding that in as much as some of them are sports journalists, they have also taken responsibilities somewhere in sports management.
“As the fourth estate, our contribution towards sports management is crucial because we always need to put sports managers into account.”
