LIAFO Eyes Other Countries’ Models to Advance Youth Athletics in Liberia | Sports

The Liberia Athletics Foundation (LIAFO), a national non-profit organization, is seeking to strengthen youth athletics in Liberia by placing greater emphasis on physical education, grassroots talent identification, structured training and competitive sports.

The Foundation, headed by Atty. Frederick Krah as Chief Executive Officer (CEO), has adopted a youth-centered approach that seeks to use athletics not only as a competitive discipline, but also as a vehicle for physical fitness, healthy living, discipline, teamwork and personal development.

According to LIAFO, its mission is to promote athletics and physical education while creating opportunities for children and young people to develop their athletic abilities and participate in competitive sporting activities.

The Foundation’s approach comes against the backdrop of established athletics development systems elsewhere in Africa, particularly in Ghana, Nigeria and Kenya, where youth participation, talent identification, organized competition and athlete development form important components of the athletics ecosystem.

Kenya provides a notable example of a structured athletics pathway, with Athletics Kenya’s published competition calendars covering activities ranging from Kids’ Athletics and school competitions to county and regional championships, university competitions, national championships, U18 and U20 events and international trials.

The Kenyan experience demonstrates how young athletes can progress through different stages of competition and development, beginning at grassroots and school levels and advancing toward national and international competition.

For Liberia, LIAFO’s emphasis on children and youth similarly seeks to strengthen the grassroots foundation of athletics by encouraging early participation in physical education and organized sporting activities.

The initiative, however, would complement rather than replace the work of the Liberia Athletics Federation (LAF), the country’s athletics governing body. LAF says it is affiliated with World Athletics and the Confederation of African Athletics and has national athletics clubs, as well as athletics and community school clubs in several Liberian counties.

LAF has also conducted Kids’ Athletics and safeguarding programs involving physical education instructors, coaches, parents, medical personnel, volunteers and administrators.

Its programs have included national inter-school athletics championships, Kids’ Athletics, club competitions and international participation, demonstrating that grassroots athletics is already part of Liberia’s sporting framework.

Against this background, LIAFO’s emergence could provide an additional platform for expanding youth participation through physical education, community engagement, athlete identification and structured development.

Atty. Krah brings experience from Liberia’s athletics community to the Foundation’s leadership. He previously served as Vice President for Technical Affairs of the Liberia Athletics Federation, where he emphasized the importance of training, educational scholarships and assistance for athletes seeking to participate in international competitions.

The Foundation says athletics can help children develop fundamental motor skills, coordination, endurance, strength and other components of physical fitness while fostering discipline and teamwork.

LIAFO’s proposed model also places emphasis on creating a pathway from participation to competition, allowing promising young athletes to receive appropriate coaching and gradually progress to higher levels of performance.

The experiences of Ghana, Nigeria and Kenya illustrate the importance of connecting grassroots participation with coaching, regular competition, talent identification and athlete development.

For Liberia, the challenge is to strengthen coordination among schools, communities, athletics clubs, coaches, sports administrators and other stakeholders so that talented young athletes have clearer opportunities to develop and progress.

With Atty. Krah at the helm, LIAFO says it intends to contribute to this process by promoting physical education and athletics among children and youth while supporting the broader development of Liberia’s sporting sector.

The Foundation’s long-term objective is to help foster a stronger grassroots athletics culture in Liberia, where children can discover their abilities early, receive structured training and gain opportunities to compete and develop their potential.