Liberia: Call to Expand National County Meet to Scout Talent for Regional and Global Sports - FrontPageAfrica

From my youth to the present, I have remained a passionate lover of sports. I was once actively involved in football, basketball, volleyball, table tennis, and roller skating. That lifelong engagement has shaped my conviction that sports are not only physical contests, but powerful tools for national development, unity, and global representation.

By Jonathan O. Grigsby, Snr., contributing writer

Globally, there are more than 60 recognized sports disciplines, ranging from football, basketball, athletics, boxing, swimming, cycling, and combat sports, to aquatic, motor, and extreme sports. Across the world, countries scout athletes locally, develop them nationally, and prepare them for regional, continental, and international competitions.

Liberia already has a proven platform to do just that: the Liberian National County Sports Meet, inaugurated in 1956 and organized by the Ministries of Youth and Sports and Internal Affairs. For over six decades, the County Meet has served as a symbol of national unity and reconciliation, while also producing talented footballers, basketball players, and kickball athletes—many of whom went on to play in Liberia’s top divisions and for the Lone Star.

However, the County Meet’s focus remains largely limited to football, kickball, and basketball. This narrow scope overlooks the vast potential of Liberians gifted in other sporting disciplines.

Liberia can do more—and must do more—if it truly wants its flag flown consistently at regional, continental, and international sporting events.

The solution is clear: expand the National County Sports Meet to include other sports.

Athletes can be scouted not only for football, but also for athletics, boxing, swimming, cycling, volleyball, table tennis, wrestling, taekwondo, judo, rowing, weightlifting, handball, chess, and other disciplines. Talent exists across Liberia’s counties; what is missing is a decentralized and inclusive platform to identify and nurture it.

History proves this point. Liberia’s National Amputee Football Team once made impressive strides on regional and international stages. Years ago, a young Liberian surfer from Grand Cape Mount gained international attention through Germany’s Radio Deutsche Welle—demonstrating that even nontraditional sports can elevate Liberia’s global image.

Currently, Liberia has at least 18 recognized sports associations and federations, including athletics, basketball, boxing, cycling, football, golf, judo, swimming, table tennis, taekwondo, tennis, volleyball, weightlifting, wrestling, handball, chess, and others—many operating under the Liberia National Olympic Committee (LNOC). Yet most of their activities remain concentrated in Monrovia, unintentionally burying talent in the counties.

This centralization is counterproductive.

If Liberia is serious about sports development, these federations must look beyond the capital. The National County Sports Meet provides the ideal national stage to decentralize talent scouting and development.

I therefore make a humble appeal to the Ministry of Youth and Sports, the leadership of sports federations, and especially the Chief Patron of Sports—the President of Liberia—to consider expanding the National County Sports Meet to include other sporting disciplines.

Doing so will not only diversify Liberia’s sports portfolio, but also create pathways for young Liberians to compete at regional, continental, and international levels.

The message is simple and urgent:
Include other sports in the National County Meet—to scout players for regional, continental, and international games.