By Cornelius Ehimiaghe
The Community Sport and Educational Development, CSED, Initiative has facilitated additional badminton training for secondary school games masters and mistresses in Uromi, Esan North East Local Government Area of Edo State.
CSED Initiative is a sport for change Non-Governmental Organisation, NGO, with a mission to use Nigerian children and youth participating in sports related activities to promote literacy and their social well-being. Its primary goal is to develop well balanced future sports men and women.
The NGO also aims at using sports to empower young persons to fulfill their potentials and achieve their dream of earning a living, while representing Nigeria in international sporting competitions.
The two-day event was held in collaboration with Francis Ibhawoh Foundation, Badminton Federation of Nigeria, Edo State Ministry of Education and Edo State Sports Commission.
Organized under the aegis of the Francis Ibhawoh Foundation Badminton Outreach for secondary schools, the project is designed to teach games masters, mistresses and students the basic skills in the game of Badminton. It adopts a novel idea of training students and their teachers together at the same time.
It was attended by Physical Education teachers from 23 secondary schools, as well as 69 students who learned the basics of the game under the close supervision of three “Shuttle Time” trained badminton coaches, namely Godswill Ifejika, Olalekan, Fajimiyo, and Blessing Osayomwanbo.
Train and Equip
The highlight of the outreach training was the presentation of basic badminton equipment (rackets, nets and shuttles) to all participating schools, courtesy of Francis Ibhawoh Foundation and CSED Initiative.
The games master at Irrua Girls Secondary School, Ambrose Okonofua expressed satisfaction on the outcome of the training which he described as very impactful.
“We are pleased with the training which has impacted positively on us and our students. The programme has in the last two days engaged the minds of the students and I am confident of seeing world champions emerging from these badminton outreach training events in Nigeria in future”, he said.
Coach Olalekan Fajimiyo commended the schools for their massive turnout and their show of passion displayed adding that it was one outreach with very high number of participants in attendance at the grassroots level.
Edo State Commissioner of Education, Dr. Emmanuel Paddy Iyamu commended the sponsors for their commitment towards the development of badminton in Edo State and the country in general.
He also applauded the turnout of secondary schools and said that it is a reflection that Edo State is the hub of sports in Niger
The commissioner, who was represented by the Principal of Ujoelen Grammar School, Ekpoma thanked the Trustees of Francis Ibhawoh Foundation for bringing badminton to their door step.
He also expressed the hope that other prominent sons and daughters of Esanland will strive to bring pro-social activities that will have positive impact on the people of Esanland.
It would be recalled that in the past three years, BFN has embarked on using the outreach training and their Shuttle Time training to spread the development of the game in different towns and cities across Nigeria.
This has made BFN the friendliest sports federation to students and teachers in Nigeria. Interestingly, the BFN has also taken the game to Internally Displaced Persons Camp in Uhogua.
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