By: David Kyei

Date: 28-11-11

After a whooping twenty months of inactivity and staying away from the game of football due to a career threatening injury, Gideon Baah, his family, fans and supporters of fabulous Asante Kotoko can now heave a sigh of relief and give thanks to God Almighty for fully seeing the darling player through into recovery.

The good news after the tortuous a year and eighteen months battle for recovery is that, Gideon is now fit and mentally prepared to begin plying his trade in the famous red jersey.

At the clubs Adarko Jarchie Training grounds last Saturday morning, a short symbolic handing over ceremony was held where the players was finally handed to the technical team of Kotoko.

The ceremony saw Dr. Angel Chambers and Mr. James Commey-Bortsie of DeYale Sports Centre, the rehabilitation centre that did the final work on Gideon handed over the player and fully assured Coach Maxwell Konadu and his team of assistants that the player was fit to play and that “you should not harbor any fear whatsoever when you decide to use him”.

“Gideon has been physically healed and psychologically toughened to begin playing the sport of football again,” Dr. Angel Chambers said.

Coach Maxwell Konadu on behalf of the club thanked the experts fro DeYale Sports Centre for their good work on the player and went on to testify on the progress of Gideon.

“Three to four months ago, Gideon though wanted to play had difficulty sprinting and even using the left foot to kick the ball. Now, I see a vast difference as he uses the foot now for everything in football”.

“I have seen him sprint beautifully and also seen some wonderful kicks from him and I can only be happy for him and the club. His full recovery now means that we are going to have more options per the usage of players,” Coach Maxwell told the DeYale Centre team of experts.

In separate interviews with the DeYale team, they were unanimous in the fact that though Gideon was fully recovered and healed, he had to be integrated slowly back into first team play.

According to Dr. Chambers, the CEO and specialist of DeYale Centre, it was imperative that the player be given less demanding roles in the team and matches.

“I have had extensive discussions with Dr. Boateng and Coach Maxwell where we have agreed to slowly start Gideon so that he naturally gets himself back into playing again”

“I am sure that after some days playing both at training and in the reserves league where he will have to play from now, it will not take long to see Gideon play actively”.

She described the work she and her team did on Gideon as a tough one that challenged their specialty.

“Working on Gideon was a challenging one because we realized that much as we could help him come back into playing, the three surgeries he underwent have had a big toll him psychologically and so everything we did had to be explained to him in fine detail to first gain his confidence and secondly get him out of the psychological enclosure”.

“Luckily for us, Gideon had prepared himself well and was sure he could play and so he really worked hard on the therapies he underwent”.

“We carefully blended the sessions so that he could go through with sweat and fun. He was a very serious client and I am happy with his progress”.

She described the trip to personally hand over the player as very important because it also offered their team to see their client play and sprint.

“The fact that his colleagues also saw us hand him over will also clear any doubt they may have had about his come-back”.

On his part, Mr. Commey-Bortsie, the therapist, added that the types of injuries their outfit has treated since he started work with the centre clearly indicated that injury situation has got a long connection with neglect.

“These players come with injuries that do not happen at once. They occur as a result of long-neglect of some simple injuries which if had been taken care off would not result in major injuries that will require surgeries”.

“I assure all that Gideon is fit and we at DeYale are eagerly waiting to see him play actively again. We took him through therapies and processes and I am convinced that he is well”.

“Before I go, I want to advice all sports men and women that they should not conceal injuries from members of their technical team. They should see early assistance to prevent bigger injuries”.

It will be recalled that Gideon Baah completely broke his leg in an epic match against Hearts of Oak at the Baba Yara Stadium in March 2010.

The days after his injury have been movement from one challenging issue to another including  three surgeries on the same foot”