Grassroots Sports Development: The Lagos State Model.
When at the beginning of 2016, the Lagos State Sports Commission (LSSC) rolled out its plans for sports development with focus on the grassroots, many took it with a pinch of salt.
For the outgoing year, grassroots sports in Lagos have set an agenda for other states to emulate because it is a blueprint that can engender sports boom for the country.
One wonders why a country with a population of more than 170 million people and an estimated more than 90 million youths cannot produce world beaters in sports.
Obliviously, Nigeria as a country does not lack the human capacity to provide sports icons, but government’s inaction or failure to set an agenda has been the bane of sports development.
Some sports enthusiasts say that Nigeria as a country lacks the fundamental sports development programmes which is grassroots development. It also lacks proper coaching and sports facilities support.
The issues that are more related to sports and physical education are no longer in many educational institutions and systems.
While the country has the population to drive its sports, only a small fraction of the school age youths take part in any organised sport.
Then the question is: Who will give the youth opportunity?
Nigeria has truly neglected the benefits of grassroots sports which include a reservoir of sportsmen and women instead of reliance on foreign-based and ageing athletes.
The Chairman of the Lagos State Sports Commission, Deji Tinubu, laments that a sound sports development at the primary and secondary schools through training of physical education teachers as coaches in their chosen sports had been forsaken.
He adds that the introduction of compulsory physical education and sports in all educational institutions to attract more participants from where talents can be discovered and groomed are not attended to.
To make Nigeria a force to reckon with in sports, it needs to develop mass appeal to sports among youths and use the string as a conveyor belt for sports development, Tinubu says.
Although, many states in Nigeria will argue their inability to promote grassroots sports on lack of funds, yet they neglect private sector partnerships to cushion the effect through well laid out plans.
For the private sector to participate in grassroots sports, government as the biggest stakeholder must commit to a transparent agenda to allow for trust.
Money invested in such venture must be properly accounted for because past experience shows that money invested by government was not
judiciously used.
Apparently, having observed the lacuna in sport development, the Lagos State Government rolled out plans to effectively engage the grassroots in sports with focus on school sports as the driver.
Tinubu says that part of LSSC’s mission is to fill the gap, drawing from the participation of its active youths and developing a structured and well articulated training content for the different sports.
He says the plan also has in-built mechanism to monitor progress and keep students on track with their goals.
The discovery made at different sports competitions should be transferred to various sports associations which should provide a new level of professional focus for grassroots sports in the country.
The role grassroots sports should play in sport development cannot be over-emphaised according to Tinubu.
He predicts that talent hunt for Olympic medals can be achieved over a period with consistent training of athletes; adding talented youths will be identified and supported to achieve success.
A number of sports, including Athletics, Cricket, Judo, Swimming and Hockey and even less known sports such as Traditional Games are targeted in an attempt to effectively engage the youth.
“No doubt, grassroots sports are a nursery for sports development. (NAN)
