In a country where football is the most popular sporting activity, it is hard to come by a group of young lads who would outrightly choose to become swimmers instead of footballers.
At Burma Camp, a family of three brothers have decided to dedicate their lives to honing their craft and establishing themselves as swimmers.
These boys are popularly referred to as the Ashley Marnah brothers.
The first of the boys is Jesse, then comes Francis, and Lord completes the set.
The brothers train and spend most of their time at the Burma Camp Sports Complex, where they hone their craft with the swimming club, GH Dolphins.
While many others would choose football over swimming, I probed to find out why they have decided to boost their skills and grow in the field of swimming.
To Jesse, the chance to make known the sport to many Ghanaians is the driving force for him and a greater urge to give his best every day.
Francis, the younger brother of Jesse said the sporting activity appeals to him because of the privileges it comes with.
The dream of travelling and competing with other athletes outside the country is something that is too burning to ignore.
The last of the boys, Lord, told Citi Sports that he fell in love with the sport because of his brothers as he always followed them to the Sporting Complex in Burma Camp to train.
According to their father, David Marnah, the choice to become swimmers was not his to make, despite holding a CAF Licence D football coaching certificate from the Ghana Football Association.
“I get the question every now and again on why not football.
The thing here is that I do not want my sons to one day tell me I chose their passion for them, it is important for me to allow them to become who they want to be and if swimming is what they choose, my wife and I throw our support behind them completely,” he said.
For the brothers, they see swimming as a career and would want to pursue that full-time.
That dream is carefully guided by their father, a role the children do not take for granted.
The boys were appreciative of the efforts of their parents, especially their father, David Marnah who has not for once skipped their training or followed them for competitions wherever the location.
I asked their father, David Marnah, why he will often drop whatever he is doing to follow his children to training and national competitions.
“These are my sons and I want them to know I am their biggest fan and motivator.
I think it is important I do this because they are also children and if they see my presence and know I am supporting them.
I believe that helps that greatly to beat the odds and come up on top,” he said.
David Marnah shares how proud he is to see his children making waves and winning competitions.
“I am really proud of their efforts. Looking back at how they started, they have been so consistent with dropping their times, and it gives me so much pride,” David Marnah added.
The coach of the brothers at GH Dolphins, the swimming club the boys train with, Bernard Morrison says he has high hopes for the boys and expects them to get better in order to achieve their dreams of becoming Olympic swimmers.
“I train with boys every time, and you should see how determined they are.
So focused, and well supervised by their father who has taken great interest in their talent.
The boys are talented and have unique individual strengths which distinguishes them from each other.
They have it in them to succeed, and I am excited to be part of their beginning,” he highlighted.
The Ashley Marnah brothers and their father have also encouraged families to take up swimming and get their children trained and equipped to help push the sporting discipline and to change the narrative about the discipline.
To them, swimming as a sporting discipline is refreshing, not dangerous and a great place to achieve dreams as well as reflect on life.
