CEO of Dreamland Sports Plus, Mr Emmanuel Ola Williams has refuted claims suggesting that the Pillow Fighting is a dangerous sport.
Speaking with betterghanadigest.com in an interview, Mr. Ola Williams who is also President of the Ghana Tug of War Federation as well as Pillow Fight Championship, Ghana and Africa, there are rules governing the sport.
He observed that just like boxing, in which the boxers come with their own gloves, the gloves are expected before they fight. In the case of Pillow fighting, the pillows are provided by the organizers and for that matter there is no way organizers will put stones or other foreign objects in the pillows with the aim of hurting participants.
He argued that in every field of sport, there are injuries. Ranging from football, basketball, athletics, etc. in hockey, people get injured by the sticks. People get injured in even Taekwondo. However, he said the pillows used in pillow fighting are specially designed to ensure that fighters are not exposed to physical injury.
“In every sport, there is injury. But I believe that pillow fight is less injurious, because the pillows used in fighting can’t even hurt a toddler”. He stressed that pillow fighting is about skills development and not the impact.
Ola Williams recounted that in the past, whenever Azumah Nelson travels to outside for a boxing fight, many people in Ghana stay awake in order to watch him fight and when he wins every Ghanaian jubilates, including Lawyers, Doctors and what have you.
It’s the same way when any Ghanaian travel outside for a pillow fight championship, he or she goes to promote the name and image of Ghana; and when they are able to bring a medal or gold to Ghana, wont people in Ghana jubilate? He asked.
According to him in August there will be a big pillow fight championship in Florida and another in Paris in September.
He lamented that even as we pride ourselves as the gateway to Africa and yet when we are failing to grab an opportunity that enables us to further position the nation as such.
According to him, Ghanaians are privileged to have pillow fight coming to Ghana before it spreads to the rest of the African countries. “The historical belt has come to Ghana and people are against the game. As we speak, some people in Nigeria have invited us to come and train them in pillow fighting.
He opined that those who are criticizing the sport are those who know very little about the game and that they are only being mischievous. ” People are just being mischievous, most of them have not even witnessed the fight before” he added.
Reacting to the GES decision to suspend the sport in Schools, he said they started in the communities and the schools saw it and invited them.
According to him, when they go to the schools the Teachers including the head teachers participate in the game. He mentioned the Head Mistress of Accra Girls and the Bono Regional Director of Education as few examples. He observed that the schools will be the first people to condemn the sport if it was that bad or dangerous as critics seem to put it.
However, if GES says they should not involve the Schools, they will focus on the communities. He added that the people in the schools have communities so they will abide by the directive and focus their activities on the communities.
“If GES said we shouldn’t go to the schools, fine, we’ll do the community. Ours is to promote grassroots sports, and in grassroots sports, two places are involved, the schools and the community. So if GES says we shouldn’t do it in the Schools, they are the people, the people in the communities, they go to the schools. So if GES say we shouldn’t go to the schools, we can use the community to train them about pillow fighting”.
“If properly we want to promote grassroots sports, you can’t take GES out of grassroots sports development. Asamoah Gyan and co, they were all from the Secondary School. Michael Essien went to Snt Augustine. So, if you are able to promote sports through the Schools, you will get future champions you can think of winning trophies for Ghana”.
He said apart from the enormous economic and personal benefits an individual derives from engaging in pillow fighting, because of the skills developed, ladies are capable of defending themselves in times of trouble such as rape, robbery etc.
He took the opportunity to call on the media to visit the schools and find out from the schools themselves. The sport is for them, if they say they don’t like it, so be it. But if they like it, nothing can stop them.
Pillow fighting is a professional fighting sport in the United States of America. The fighters who earn between $250 and $5,000 use a specialised two-pound pillow to do battle through three 90-second rounds.
Fighters win by hitting their opponent in the head the most times. The Sports is being introduced to Ghana by Ola Williams who is the President of Pillow Fighting Ghana.
The second Pillow Fighting event was held in the country at the University Of Education, Winneba – HESA Week Celebrations as part of the Home Economics Students Association (HESA) Week celebrations. The first event was held at Official Town, Accra in July 2022.
In Ghana the participants receive medals, cash prizes and products from sponsors after competing.
