The revival of school sports has been identified as the panacea for the declining fortune of sports in Anambra.
This was the crux of discussion at the meeting between officials of Anambra Sports Development Commission (ASDC), representatives of Anambra Ministry of Education and private school proprietors in Awka on Thursday.
Patrick-Estate Onyedum, Chairman of ASDC, who presided over the meeting, said his major objective was to revamp the school sports culture and raise a generation of future champions in the state.
Onyedum said the move was in line with the policy of Gov. Chukwuma Soludo’s determination to empower the Anambra child through sports.
He said that as a product of grassroots sports, he would ensure that school sports was revived for every child in school to get the opportunity to also develop their talents.
He called on sports officers in the local government areas and schools to take sports seriously and focus on talent discovery at the communities, primary and secondary schools.
“We have a four-year development programme which is hinged on schools. We want to revamp school sports and that is why we called you to inform you of our goal and the role you are expected to play.
“We want to stop the culture of hiring players and athletes to represent our state, we want to bring Anambra back to its place of pride in Nigerian sports,” he said.
In her contribution, Antonia Nwaneri, one of the representative of the ministry of education said Anambra was doing well in sports until when the ministry was schemed out by the newly formed ASDC in 2018.
Nwaneri described the initiative of the ASDC as a welcome development which would yield great dividends if carried through.
Also speaking, Victor Nwobi in charge of sports in private schools said making private schools part of the programme was a good move.
He said there were lots of talents in private schools but the managers of sports in the state had not given them the opportunity to express themselves like their public schools counterparts.
He promised optimal cooperation of the private sector.
On his part, Coach Olu Sule, a sports consultant, said the task before the sports officers was to discover and nurture athletes that would rule the world in their chosen event.
Sule urged to eschew quick money gains or struggle for positions and focus on being mentors of athletes who would be their pride in future.
“As an athlete and coach, I want to tell you that Anambra has some of the best athletes; those days, when we wanted to compete with an Anambra athlete, we would be fidgeting because they were great guys.
“We have to get back to the basics, we have to get it right, right from the schools,” he said.