2006年VOA标准英语-Ghana's Youth Reaches for Football Stardom

By Nico Colombant
Fetteh, Ghana
17 March 2006

While more and more African football players are making an impact at the top level in Europe, European clubs have started opening up new academies in Africa to locate and train future talent. VOA's Nico Colombant reports from one academy, a few hours outside Ghana's capital, Accra.

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Older boys are sparring partners    
  

It is game day Saturday at the Feyenoord Fetteh Football Academy on a windy, seaside pitch.

A mix of Ghanaian and Dutch football coaches scream advice. Their under-16 team is playing a side with much older players.

The opposing captain, Romeo, a 22-year-old, is a struggling semi-pro with a bum¹ ankle. Romeo seems somewhat jealous. He says he tried to get into the academy, but was rejected.

"I was willing to come here, to come in. But I would not get any help," Romeo said.

"So when you come here, you need a sponsor?"

"Yes, you need someone to bring you," he explained. "In Ghana football, (nothing happens) unless you have a manager to bring you along. So that if they see you then, your performance, and then you are good, then they pick you."

Sam Arday  
  
But the technical director of the camp, Sam Arday, denies this. He says he picks the best players from throughout Ghana, sending out scouts² to watch even the most remote sandlot games.

He says he only wants young teenagers so he can have time to develop their skills. He also makes sure they get free schooling³, compliments of the academy.

"If I see my boys playing against the big teams, then I become very, very happy. It is the interest, which is driving me here, always. Because you have to wake up early in the morning, five o'clock, and that is because our boys have to go to school," he said. " And then the educational aspect is also paramount⁴ here. We try as much as possible to also give the boys some education, so if at the end of the day they are not able to make it in football, then they will follow on the education."

Artificial "field of dreams"   
  
Ghanaian workers sing as they set up a new football field, with the latest state of the art, soft artificial grass.

The Dutch club Feyenoord has spent millions here, hoping one of the players will turn into a star player or at least more than a few of them will become serviceable professionals.

While the second half is going on, a whole team of cooks is busily preparing food for the young athletes.

"We give them breakfast, there is the normal breakfast that we cook, and then in the afternoon we give them our local Ghanaian dish and then the night we give the continental⁵ dish," he explained. "They have to get a lot of energy so when they go to the park, when they train, after that they have to replace the energy, so we give them energy food, like I will give them more of these carbohydrates⁶."

It is now resting time for the players, who listen to music from their dorm-room bunk⁷ beds. The academy team lost the game, but it was just a friendly against a much older team. 
 

Star in the making, Joe Mensah  
  
Fifteen-year-old Francis Joe Mensah is one of the academy's best players, a lightning-quick, technically⁸ solid, left back, who can also play left wing.

He predicts he will make it in Europe. He says he has no fear of failure.

"No I am not afraid," he said. "Once I am here they teach us a lot of things. Everything they do in Europe, they teach us here, so I am not afraid. So I am playing my best to get to the highest level."

Mensah also draws inspiration from Ghana's first ever qualification for the upcoming World Cup in June.

But he believes his generation will do even better.

"They have the talent for Ghanaian players, they have the talent but they have to polish it. That is why we are here, they are polishing us. I think we will be better. When you have the talent and then you polish it, you become the best," he said.

Unlike Freddy Adu, a young Ghanaian who became a precocious⁹ professional in the United States, and refused to play for Ghana in this year's World Cup, all the players at the academy say they want to play for the Black Stars, as the Ghanaian national team is known.

For those who fail to make it to the bigger stages, the academy has a team that plays in Ghana's professional league and in the meantime, they also get to go to a nearby school for free, which in Ghana is no small feat¹⁰.

1 bum   

n.臀部；流浪汉，乞丐；vt.乞求，乞讨

参考例句：

• A man pinched her bum on the train so she hit him.在火车上有人捏她屁股，她打了那人。
• The penniless man had to bum a ride home.那个身无分文的人只好乞求搭车回家。

2 scouts   

侦察员[机，舰]( scout的名词复数 )； 童子军； 搜索； 童子军成员

参考例句：

• to join the Scouts 参加童子军
• The scouts paired off and began to patrol the area. 巡逻人员两个一组，然后开始巡逻这个地区。

3 schooling   

n.教育；正规学校教育

参考例句：

• A child's access to schooling varies greatly from area to area.孩子获得学校教育的机会因地区不同而大相径庭。
• Backward children need a special kind of schooling.天赋差的孩子需要特殊的教育。

4 paramount   

a.最重要的，最高权力的

参考例句：

• My paramount object is to save the Union and destroy slavery.我的最高目标是拯救美国，摧毁奴隶制度。
• Nitrogen is of paramount importance to life on earth.氮对地球上的生命至关重要。

5 continental   

adj.大陆的，大陆性的，欧洲大陆的

参考例句：

• A continental climate is different from an insular one.大陆性气候不同于岛屿气候。
• The most ancient parts of the continental crust are 4000 million years old.大陆地壳最古老的部分有40亿年历史。

6 carbohydrates   

n.碳水化合物，糖类( carbohydrate的名词复数 )；淀粉质或糖类食物

参考例句：

• The plant uses the carbohydrates to make cellulose. 植物用碳水化合物制造纤维素。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• All carbohydrates originate from plants. 所有的碳水化合物均来自植物。 来自辞典例句

7 bunk   

n.(车、船等倚壁而设的)铺位；废话

参考例句：

• He left his bunk and went up on deck again.他离开自己的铺位再次走到甲板上。
• Most economists think his theories are sheer bunk.大多数经济学家认为他的理论纯属胡说。

8 technically   

adv.专门地，技术上地

参考例句：

• Technically it is the most advanced equipment ever.从技术上说，这是最先进的设备。
• The tomato is technically a fruit,although it is eaten as a vegetable.严格地说，西红柿是一种水果，尽管它是当作蔬菜吃的。

9 precocious   

adj.早熟的；较早显出的

参考例句：

• They become precocious experts in tragedy.他们成了一批思想早熟、善写悲剧的能手。
• Margaret was always a precocious child.玛格丽特一直是个早熟的孩子。

10 feat   

n.功绩；武艺，技艺；adj.灵巧的，漂亮的，合适的

参考例句：

• Man's first landing on the moon was a feat of great daring.人类首次登月是一个勇敢的壮举。
• He received a medal for his heroic feat.他因其英雄业绩而获得一枚勋章。