GET FAMILIAR WITH HILLARY MILLS, THE HANDBALL PLAYER SETTING THE INTERNET ABLAZE

​HPERSSA HEROES JOURNAL caught up with one of the heroes within the department and he had these to say about himself.

My name is Hillary Mills; I had my basic education at Ministry of Health basic school at Korle-bu in the Greater Accra region, and my secondary education at Sacred Heart Technical Institute also in Greater Accra. 

In 2002 Handball was introduced into the second circle institutions and played for exhibition purposes. We fell deeply in love with the game and determined to play it for gains and pleasure to the highest level. A year later, handball was played at the Zonals and Super Zonals level of the second cycle inter-schools sports competitionnationwide which gave the opportunity to players to be selected to represent their respective regions. I can proudly boost that the Greater Accra handball teams, won all coveted trophies that were in contention for the male and female categories. 

This drew the attention of the security services who then scouted for athletes in my school. I was lucky to have been enlisted into the Ghana Prisons Service as a handball player in 2004. We won the first league tournament for the Ghana Prisons service in the 2006 national handball league.  I was then selected into the Under 18 Juniors team of Ghana to play in the African Cup of Nations in Cote d'Ivoire and later, we represented Ghana in the African Clubs Championship in Benin in 2007. 

The peak of my carrier was when I represented Ghana in Kaduna, Nigeria in the African Juniors Commonwealth Games. A tournament I remember always due to the experience and the exposure I gained. The nostalgic feeling spreads goosebumps on me anytime I cast my mind back to that tournament. Again I was part of the under 23 team that played in the Zone 3 challenge trophy in Togo in which Ghana won silver for the first time in handball. The ecstasy of playing handball came in 2010 when we won gold in the first ECOWAS games in Abuja and we successfully defended thetrophy in 2012 here in Ghana. Immediately after that tournament I was invited to play in the senior handball national team which qualified to play the All African Games in Mozambique. And that isthe biggest tournament on the African Soil. I captained the Senior National team that played in Niger to play qualifiers for Zone 3 All African Games in 2014. 

The joy of playing the game led me into coaching the youth handball club in the prisons service since 2015. I attained my firsthandball coaching license in Cote d'Ivoire in 2015. 

Currently I am a student of the University of Education Winneba to upgrade myself in Sports Coaching. Aside schooling I am the Greater Accra Handball Organizing Secretary. 

I have always remained grateful to the almighty God for how far he has brought me and also the physical education teachers who introduced handball to us in secondary school.

SOURCE: HPERSSA HEROES JOURNAL 

Meet Eric Tsatsu, Ghana Beach Volleyball Player Setting social media ablaze

‘Never stop fighting until you arrive at your destined place -that is, the unique you. Have an aim in life, continuously acquire knowledge, work hard, and have the perseverance to realize the great life’ A.P.J. Abdul Kalam. HPERSSA Heroes Journal (HHJ) brings to you yet another dazzling story of a true hero who despite all the obstacles in his career never deterred him from climbing higher. His name is Eric Tsatsu.

EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND.

Eric Tsatsu is a first-year Physical Education (HPERS) student of the University of Education, Winneba. He hails from Mepe in the North Tongu District in the Volta region of Ghana. He started his education in the Eastern region of Ghana specifically Kwahu New Oworobong D/A JHS. He continued to Mepe St. Kizito Senior High Technical School in 2011 and completed 2014. Though volleyball was his childhood love even in primary school, he started playing competitively when a friend informed him of an impending fresher’s game which he had to participate in no matter what though he had not reported officially to school due to financial constraints in his senior high school days. After the fresher's games, the teachers fell in love with him due to the prowess he exhibited; he added.

CHALLENGES

Life after SHS became difficult for him so he decided to move to Sogakope to do some menial jobs for himself and also to get a team to train with. In Sogakope he felt far from his dream so he moved on to Accra all in search of a formidable volleyball team that plays in the volleyball league. Accommodation became a major setback when he got to Accra but he was persistent. He heard about a game at the Elwak stadium so he decided to go there and see how the players in Accra play. Luck smiled at him at the Elwak Stadium when he met an old mate who requested that he play for their team. He accepted to join his friend's team and they won the tourney because of how he played. After the games, an Air force officer, who was the referee for the final game, asked him why he was not playing in Accra? He told it was due to accommodation problems but the officer encourage him to try and get a place to stay since it would help him. To keep his dream alive, he got himself busy with a security firm during the night to help him get a place to stay.

By 2015, he had a place to sleep and started training with the Air force volleyball team. However, he was scared because he was treated as a soldier in terms of training and ‘punishments’ making him play under great fear. Due to this, he left the Air force team and later joined the Osu Youth Volleyball team. Meanwhile, he was still working with the security firm. Later he bought a bicycle to help him move to work and train amidst the dangers involved in riding on the streets of Accra. He was mostly benched in his new team but his hopes were still high. He turned to beach volleyball when he first took part in a beach volleyball tournament in Osu, Laboma beach with a teammate in 2016 just to have a feel of It and that was the turning point.

 

BREAKTHROUGH 

Emotionally, Tsatsu recounted that one hot morning in 2017, when he wanted to fill his belly with "Jiji" a.k.a“Konkonte” a local delicacy to sustain him through the day, he had a call from the Ghana Olympic Committee to report to the office with immediate effect. He left the food he bought, hurriedly took his bicycle off to the office of the Ghana Olympic Committee. At the office, they were pleased with his height so he was asked to get a birth certificate and a travelling passport because he would be going to the Bahamas for Youth Olympic Games. Till now, he is oblivious of who recommended him to the committee.

ACHIEVEMENTS

He told HHJ that he played in the Youth Commonwealth Games in the  Bahamas, 2017 where Ghana placed fourth to Great Britain, Cyprus and Australia, the African Youth Games in Algeria which also served as qualifiers for another youth games in Argentina, 2018 where Ghana placed second to Mozambique after beating the host nation Algeria. He played for Ghana in the Youth Olympic Games in Argentina. Recently, he was in Morocco to play for Ghana and they placed third. Tsatsu is amongst the Ghanaian beach volleyball team that is preparing for the qualifiers for the U21 World Championship to be held in Thailand and the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. 

It has been his greatest wish to play at the highest level such as the Olympic Games and other international games for his country.

When asked about his role model, he mentioned one Mr Seidu Ajanako Edward, his coach, was a former police officer. His coach is currently training him for indoor volleyball as well.

Tsatsu is grateful for the opportunity to serve his country and he encourages the future stars to develop interest and love in beach volleyball because he is where he is today even in education because of beach volleyball.

PLEAS

Tsatsu just like any other athlete who takes part in other sports apart from football pleads that beach volleyball receives much attention and also be well equipped because they are doing well and with a little push, they will bring laurels to mother Ghana.

Tsatsu was thankful and full of praise to HPERSSA Heroes Journal for the good work being done and also for the exposure given.

Follow Tsatsu on the following social media platforms

Instagram:@erictsatsu_

Facebook:Eric Tsatsu

Twitter: erictsatsu_

YouTube: Eric Tsatsu

ONE ON ONE WITH FIFA REFEREE ADAARI ABDUL-LATIF

When one feels appreciated he would 

always do more than what is expected 

of him and this is the wheel on which the HPERSSA Heroes Journal (HHJ) moves. For this reason we choose to celebrate

Mr Adaari Abdul- Latif is a 33-year old professional teacher, and a FIFA referee who hails from Takpo in the Nadowli Kaleo district of the Upper West Region. He is a strong member of the Islamic faith.

MR ADAARI'S JOURNEY THROUGH EDUCATION

He started his basic education at St. John's Catholic Primary and Junior High School, Wa and completed in 2007. He was then admitted to Islamic Senior High School, in Wa from 2007 to 2011. Adaari Abdul-Latif then made a decision to become a professional teacher and so he gained admission into Nusrat Jahan Ahmadiyya College of Education Wa, from 2013 to 2016.He is currently a level 300 student pursuing Bsc. Physical Education at the University of Education, Winneba in the HPERS Department. He held various portfolios which include compound prefect, a sport prefect, a house prefect and a Sports Secretary whilst climbing the educational ladder.

HOW HE BECAME A REFEREE

Referee Adaari from his infancy was more or less like a lawyer of the game. No wonder his English teacher who was also a referee introduced him to refereeing in 2009. It was really tough from the beginning.He recalled his father rebuking him all because he saw him officiate a match at the Wa Sports Stadium saying "we want you to learn hard and travel abroad, you are here practicing how to become a referee" little did he know refereeing would send me round to see the world. Today his father is very proud of him. 

Mr. Adaari said, he started officiating in the premier division in 2015. Two years later, he got his FIFA badge (license) and officiated his first CAF champions league match. That was a great delight to him, he added.

 

CHALLENGES

Adaari told HHJ that some of the challenges confronting him as a referee and a student are the frequent travelling amidst missing and skipping of lectures and quizzes in school, name calling from fans, pre-financing of transportation and accommodation cost. He also made it known that the stress to train after hours of attending lectures to meet the demands of his work all make it difficult combining schooling and refereeing. "I have never regretted becoming areferee because it is something I love and have chosen to do and I think I have to be ready to face to face the challenges head-on". He revealed confidently.

MEMORABLE MOMENTS

The day he got the FIFA badge was his greatest moment. Aside that, officiating Cup of Nations and world cup qualifying matches cannot be left out. Just some two weeks ago, he was the fourth official when Niger played Algeria in a world cup qualifier. He officiated in the WAFU tournament in 2019 held in Senegal.Officiating the MTN FA final between Hearts of Oak and Kotoko, NC Finals between Kotoko and Kerela and other big games in Ghana adds up to his achievements. Another thing he considers as an enormous achievement is being the number two in the Ghanaian referees ranking currently. 

 

As the saying goes " good name is better than riches" and this manifested during the famous number 12 exposé by Anas. Mr. Adaari Abdul-Latif chose good name over riches hence he was not implicated because he never compromised on his integrity.

 

Adaari Abdul-Latif's role model is the number one referee in Ghana and a Confederation of African Football (CAF) professional referee, Daniel Nii Aye Laryea.

 

His biggest wish is to officiate in the world cup with the help of God.

He remarked that the standard of football has fallen drastically as compared to even some of the African nations that came to study everything about football from us, especially the north Africans because they invest so much into it.  

Finally, he suggested that the allowances referees receive are paid on time to reduce the financial burden on referees. Again, referees must be well resourced in terms of logistics before they get to match venues in the times ahead. 

 

Stay tuned as we bring you more of the heroes and heroines within the HPERS Department.

Source: HPERSSA Heroes Journal 

TIME WITH LARIBA SAKAT JULIANA

Life is a mystery that no one can really understand. There are some personalities that you hear of them and wonder how you will ever meet them but today we see some of these personalities that we never thought of meeting around. Amazingly they are all down to earth and easy to get along with. One of them is our very own Lariba.

In an interview with HPERSSA HEROES JOURNAL, we bring you the details about the trending Athlete Lariba. 

Some years ago, her name was all over the place winning laurels for herself, her loved ones and her country Ghana. She has been very consistent with her achievements and has also remained very focused on trying to get to the apex of her career. 

 PROFILE

Sakat Lariba Juliana is her name. She was born on the 17th of July, 1996 in a village called Konkomada in the Upper East Region of Ghana in the Garu Tempane District. She attended a primary school in her village, Konkomada till she got to primary 5 where she left her village. Whilst in her village school, she was very active in Physical Education lessons every Friday in her school and eventually she got introduced to sports and for that matter athletics. From Konkomada, her coach moved her to Bolgatanga after he witnessed her performances in the Zonal Athletics Game where she really started running but she did not take it serious at all because she was naive and also afraid of travelling far from her village. She stayed with the Headmaster of Bolgatanga Senior High School who later became her manager. She completed Bolgatanga Senior High School (Big Boss) in 2018. Currently Miss Sakat Lariba Juliana is a Level 100 Physical Education (HPERS) student of the University of Education, Winneba.

She is one of the women in the world that has defied the odds that women are only good in the kitchen and as housewives. She has never had it on a silver platter at all since she started to do sports. At a point her family members successfully convinced her mother to stop her from doing sports because of her gender. She became confused as to whether to stop or pursue her dream especially when she lost the support of her family.

ACHIEVEMENTS  

She was selected to be part of the regional athletics team for the Upper East region in 2011 and that was when she started enjoying stardom within her area and gained the support of her mother when she got to know it was paying off. It took the intervention of her coach to educate her mother on the positive sides of the path she had chosen after he discovered her. The eye opener in her carrier was actually in 2012 when she had a race in Takoradi. She was surprised that she could come all the way from the Upper East region and run in Takoradi. There in Takoradi, she was the only athlete that had medals and a trophy within the Upper East regional team. The region placed third in the national games due to her performance. This became her breakthrough moment where she realized she can become the Lariba she is today and even aspire higher to greater heights in her carrier.

On her achievements, she represented Ghana in 2014 Commonwealth Games in London, went to Morocco for All African Games in the same year. From the basic level, she won every single race she took part in except those two international games mentioned earlier. She won the famous Milo Marathon as the youngest female athlete in 2011, 2012, 2013. There was no race in 2014 due to the outbreak of Ebola. In 2015 and 2016 she won the marathon again. She did not run the following two years thus 2017 and 2018 due to managerial problems. But in those years, she was busily running and winning regional competitions. Her last regional race was in Cape Coast 2017 where she won for herself seven gold medals in all the races she took part. She is also very good in other races such as 4x100m, 4x400m, 400m,800m aside her usual long distance races. This year 2021, she has been very busy competing and winning here in Ghana and abroad. She won gold in the ECOWAS games held in Nigeria, the Asante Akyem Marathon and also in a competition organized by the Ghana Armed Forces at the Elwak Sports Stadium recently. She is the first Ghanaian lady to run and win a 10,000-meter race, she did a full marathon (41. 2 km) which had the Kenyans who are noted for running and winning long distance races here in GHANA in 2014 which she won and was awarded with a car.

When asked about her greatest motivator, Lariba said, 

“I’m a strong Christian and so my secret weapons are God, prayer and training”. Her greatest dream and wish is to take part in the Olympics and the Diamond league and win gold for Ghana. That is why she prays and train a lot.

Lariba really do not have a role model. She is her own role model but she loves Usain Bolt because to her their stories seem to be alike. Her main challenge is combining academics and running. She tries so hard not to be the last in class. 

She gave her final words as “I pray that the young and upcoming ones get into the right hands and heed to good counsel. Above all they should rely on GOD”. 

Let’s come together and acknowledge heroes and heroines like Lariba. 

Source: HPERSSA HEROES JOURNAL