Sports
Stakeholders Canvass Sports Inclusion In Schools Curricular
Some stakeholders in sports
have advised the Lagos State Government to include sports in primary and secondary schools curricular, to enhance their proficiency.
The stakeholders told newsmen in separate interviews in Lagos that making sports compulsory in primary and secondary schools would broaden the scope of students.
A retired FIFA-badge referee, Mr Alex Mana, said that some sporting activities would also assist students in the development of spelling abilities.
“Sports generally should be made compulsory for students in all our secondary schools but you cannot ask the students to do all the sports at one given time.
“It will be very hard to cope with having the students to take all the sports with the number of courses in the school curriculum.
“We may have some group of sports made compulsory, which may include basketball because it includes mathematical talents.
“We can also have scrabble because it is more than just a game, it improves the vocabulary of students as well as equip them in the art of calculation.’’
Mana said that research could be carried out on all sporting activities, to enable the government to know which would help students.
Mr Seyi Ayodele, Assistant Coach of the Lagos Islanders Basketball Club, said the introduction of sports in schools curricula would give the teachers less hassles, while teaching the subject.
“If our system really encourages sports, it will go a long way in helping students develop themselves but our system does not encourage sports and education together.
“The inclusion of sporting activities in the curricular will lessen the stress of teaching English Language in the classroom.
Iwobi spoke to Tidesports source ahead of Nigeria’s crunch playoff semi-final against Gabon on Thursday, November 13, in Rabat, Morocco.
The 28-year-old was reacting to Nigeria’s shaky World Cup qualifying campaign that saw the Eagles finish second in Group C behind South Africa’s Bafana Bafana.
“We’ve managed to rescue ourselves from the dead,” Iwobi told Tidesports source.
We know we have the players and the abilities to compete against any other country in the world.”
The Fulham star pointed to Nigeria’s star power, highlighting African Footballer of the Year winners Ademola Lookman and Victor Osimhen as proof of the squad’s quality.
“We have last year’s African best player (Ademola Lookman), the year before that (Victor Osimhen),” he said.
“It’ll be a shame if we don’t make it, but we have a lot of confidence. We just have to prove it to ourselves.”
Nigeria’s path to the United States, Canada and Mexico has been turbulent, with two coaches departing during the early stages of qualifying before Éric Chelle steadied the ship to steer the Super Eagles into November’s CAF playoffs.
Four nations from the continent – Nigeria, Cameroon, DR Congo and Gabon – will vie for a solitary spot to compete in next March’s inter-confederation playoffs, with a view to joining the already nine qualified African nations at the Finals.
It would mark Iwobi’s second appearance at the World Cup Finals and the Super Eagles’ first since the 2018 edition of the competition.
Back then, Iwobi featured in all three games as Nigeria was knocked out in the group stage.
The Chief Executive Officer(CEO) and Publisher of the Atlantic Bell Online medium, Mr. Celestine Ogolo has advised sports writers in Nigeria to diversify in sports writing and not to concentrate on football reporting alone.
The Deputy National President of Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) Mr. Bonny Nyong has expressed commitment to support sports development and move SWAN forward.