The Ghana Olympians Association (GOA), in collaboration with the Ghana Olympic Committee (GOC) and the GOC Athletes Commission (GOC-AC), will host a career transition and mentoring workshop titled “The End Is Really the Beginning ooo” on January 5, 2026, at the Media Center of the Accra Sports Stadium.
The workshop is designed to support elite sportsmen and women as well as other sportsmen and women in preparing for life beyond competitive sport. It adopts a dual-preparation approach, emphasizing that academic development, professional skills, mentoring, and networks must be developed alongside sporting performance, rather than postponed until the end of a sporting career.
Recognizing that many challenges faced by sportsmen and women after competition often originate much earlier in their development, the workshop places strong emphasis on early career planning, mentoring, financial literacy, transferable skills, and system navigation within the Ghanaian context. The session reframes career transition not as a single end-point event, but as a process that should be intentionally prepared for throughout a sportsperson’s journey.
The workshop will bring together sportsmen and women nominated by 22 national sports federations, creating a diverse and representative learning environment across Olympic and non-Olympic sports. Participants will engage in interactive discussions and practical exercises focused on understanding the role of mentors, building effective networks, navigating key educational and career decision points, and translating the discipline, resilience, and teamwork developed through sport into sustainable professional pathways.
The workshop will be facilitated by experienced Olympians and senior professionals with expertise in sport governance, education, finance, mentoring, and athlete development. Drawing on lived experience and professional practice, the facilitators will guide participants through realistic, Ghana-specific scenarios relevant to both sporting careers and post-sport professional life.
Through this initiative, the GOA, GOC, and GOC Athletes Commission reaffirm their shared commitment to the long-term welfare, safeguarding, and holistic development of Ghanaian Olympians and other sportsmen and women, ensuring that success in sport is matched by preparedness for life beyond competition.
