African Sports Monthly International Women's Day Special Edition | Page 20

Meet Sierra Leone’s next generation of super athletes By Leslie Koroma Sports in Sierra Leone has been floundering for a couple of decades and it’s been an uphill struggle to have a breakout moment that celebrates the country’s potential with a crop of athletes who could hold their own on the international stage. There are those who remember the heydays of high level sports performance both within and outside of the country in the 1980’s and early 90’s and there are names when mentioned, brings back nostalgic memories of the good old days when Sierra Leone was even able to go toe to toe with the USA. In every facet of the sports terrain across the nation, every discipline is striving to find its footing amidst some ongoing growing pains and political infighting which at the moment is strangling the country’s sports potential, especially so in that of the number one sport in the country: Football (Soccer).