The captain of the 1985 U-17 World Cup champions, Nduka Ugbade has advised sportsmen to take seriously their education to distinguish themselves.

Ugbade said in an interview with newsmen in Lagos on Saturday that there was a huge difference between sportsmen who had formal education and those who did not.

He said that as a former player and a coach, he had observed that formal education helped players to develop their skills.

“One cannot deny that an educated player in any sport is more likely to interpret instructions quicker and better on the field of play than one not educated,” he said.

The ex-international explained that being formally educated was not just passing through a school but also getting formal training in the sports engaged in.

“Football has its sports science and so also other sports, therefore players who get the prerequisite education will perform beyond their innate talent.

“Education will help to neutralise the inconsistencies in the player on the field of play and enable him to do the unthinkable and unpredictable,” he said.

Meanwhile Chris Eseka, a veteran journalist, has said that the economic situation in the country was responsible for some sportsmen not pursuing their education beyond junior or senior secondary school.

Eseka said that most sportsmen took to sports as an option when they had no hope of going to school.

“Most of the athletes you see are those whose parents were not able to educate them formally and therefore took to sports as an alternative to make ends meet,” he said.

The journalist said that it would do Nigerian sports a lot of good if athletes got formal education either in sports science or in other disciplines.