In June 2003 Robert returned to his native country, Ghana, for 5 weeks. He trained the Sekondi Hasaacas Football Club, a professional team, and also worked with the youth program in the cities of Sekondi and Takoradi. He visited the Ghana Women’s National team, the Black Queens, who he later helped coach in the United States for the Women’s World Cup in August of 2003. That year he co-founded the Hasaacas Youth Academy, which now has four boys and two girls teams.
Over the past eight years, Robert has continued in his role as technical advisor and trainer for three professional teams in Ghana: the Men’s Sekondi Hasaacas Football Club, and two Women’s teams: the Ghatel Ladies and the Hasmal Ladies, a team he co-founded in June, 2003. He also has continued to donate equipment and jersyes to the Youth Academy as well as to the Hasaacas Professional Team.
In Feburary, 2006, Mr. Sackey traveled to Dallas, TX, where Ghana’s National Mens’ Team, the Black Stars, played Mexico’s National Team, to volunteer as a Technical Advisor to the team. Three weeks later he received a call from the Ghana Football Association that he had been apointed as a Team Scout and Technical Advisor to the Black Stars at the upcoming World Cup Games in Germany in June, of 2006. He scouted the US team as well as other teams Ghana would face prior to and during the World Cup Games. During the tournament, Ghana was the only African team to move out of the round of sixteen.
Following the World Cup, Mr. Sackey was asked by the GFA to organize a training tour for the Black Queens in preparation for the Womens’ World Cup qualifying series. The Black Queens played against U.C. Berkeley Women, as well as several semi-professional Womens’ teams, including the Sacramento Storm. The Black Queens went on to qualify for the World CUp the following month.
In 2007, Mr. Sackey organized the first soccer training tour to Ghana for one of his Northern Californian girls teams, the U13 Mavericks. The team traveled to Ghana on December 19th, 2007 and stayed until January 4th, 2008. They played girls teams in the Hasaacas Academy as well as the U14 National Team. The goal of these tours is to help encourage girls to play soccer and help promote an organized playing league for young girls, which willl help develop the Womens’ Professional League.
“I believe that if girls are given the opportunity to play and have an organized league there is no doubt they will be able to perform and do well at the international level.”
Mr Sackey worked with the Ghana National Women’s Team, The Black Queens leading up to and Nationall Women’s Team, The Black Queens, leading up to and during the Women’s World Cup 2003 tournament.