Ghanatta Ayaric

TOP GONG FITNESS & SPORTS CLUB

Launched in Sandema, Bulsa North District, Upper East Region, Ghana, in August 2015, TOP GONG FITNESS & YOUTH BOXING CLUB, the name of which has since changed to TOP GONG FITNESS & SPORTS CLUB, is a community-based preventive health promotion project that seeks to encourage and motivate people in Bulsaland, young and old and male and female, to take to regular exercising and healthy lifestyles for the maintenance of good health!

The health benefits of regular exercising, healthy eating and relaxation are numerous! Summed up, these constitute a solid defence system built up by the body against illness! We often tend to take good health for granted until illness incapacitates and prevents us from functioning fully. That is when all our dreams, pursuits and endeavours give way to the one single wish; regaining good health and functioning normally again, without pain or hindrance!

Indeed, the body is a robust and almost perfect machine which is capable of resisting illness or healing itself in many cases when it is given the necessary support. Physical exercising does not only benefit the body but refreshes the mind and soothes the spirit for general well-being. In this context, the ancient Greeks, who instituted the Olympic Games, felt that it was an educational ideal in society for the individual to strive for a balance and harmony between body, mind and soul through a combination of sports, good nutrition and proper recreation! This is conveyed in the wisdom of the phrase mens sana in corpore sano (a sound mind in a healthy body)!

A healthy individual is an asset to himself and his community and society; he is well-poised to play a productive role in its socio-economic and cultural development. This is the contextual relation of our club's mission in Bulsaland!

At the launch of TOP GONG in August this year, two main groups were formed: a general fitness group (consisting of people of both sexes and all ages) and a youth boxing team with branches in Sandema and Kanjarga respectively. Ex-policeman and former welterweight boxer, John Akumasi, trains the Sandema youth boxing team and Scorpion Bawa, one time former super-middleweight African champion, manages the Kanjarga team. It is hoped that the youth boxing team will discover and groom talents who will be able to take part in regional and national competitions in the medium and long terms!

Since the launch, TOP GONG's general fitness group (in the meantime active only in Sandema) has increased in numbers and also improved in the quality of its training programmes. Special credit must be given to all the regular members who have made this possible, and above all, to TOP GONG's indefatigable fitness trainer and motivator, Kofi Ajibisa.

Efforts are being made to have TOP GONG officially registered and upgraded to a self-sustaining sports club through membership dues and donations from well-wishers and sponsors both in Ghana and abroad! Our medium term plan is the provision of a more appropriate fitness training facility in Sandema and modest gyms for the youth boxing teams.

In the short term, three more branches of our youth boxing team and general fitness group will be started in Wiaga, Gbedema and Fumbisi in August 2016. At the same time, an all children's boxing team, one group in Sandema and the other in Kanjarga, will be launched. And in collaboration with The LIFE Project Sandema, special workout

programmes are being conceived and tailored to meet the exercising needs of people with disability! To allow for a smooth initiation of these upgrades, TOP GONG will introduce new equipment in the second part of 2016. As a registered fitness and sports club that should sustain itself, membership is valid only after registration and payment of membership dues!

TOP GONG FITNESS & SPORTS CLUB is a passionate dream and a vision that its founder and stakeholders wish to pursue and establish solidly in Bulsaland as their contribution to community development! Good health is wealth! It's the individual's most reliable and viable asset and should be encouraged and promoted! We pledge to work hard and make TOP GONG a household name within the next decade, as a sports club in Bulsaland, the Upper East Region and Ghana in general!

For further information, pictures and videos of our activities, visit our Facebook page,

TOP GONG FITNESS & SPORTS CLUB. You can also contact us:

Kofi Ajibisa: Tel.: 054-8434111 (in Ghana)

Ghanatta Ayaric: Tel.: 0049-1522 9506073, E-mail: topgongboxing@gmail.com