The need for both government and private sectors to encourage investment in the development of sporting activities in schools have again be reiterated in order to breed highly productive next generation leaders.
Barney Wilson, deputy director of Education among other stakeholders made this call while speaking at the 2018/19 Sports day which took place at Greensprings School, Lekki campus, Lagos State.
Wilson reiterated that the school believes in developing the whole child, adding that the students are strong academically as well as outside the classroom.
On the relevance of sports to academics, he said: “Sports teaches you to come together as a team, it teaches you about collaboration, it teaches you motor skills and so your brain is connected to your physical body; when you are totally in shape it means you are in shape in terms of sports and you are in shape in terms of the classroom.”
Speaking at the event, Lai Koiki, executive director, said sports day and the days leading up to it, create opportunities for students to build their gross motor skills which are useful in many ways.
“Team spirit is always high as each member of the community is rooting for their team to be victorious while appreciating the skills of all the other competitors.”
While stating the importance of sports to youth development, she said sports takes a lot of focus and practice and it is usually the same set of students that are doing well in class that are leaders within their space and are the sports people because they are focused and they want to lead in every sphere of life.
She urged the winning the team to keep practicing and continue to do better and they should know that nobody wins all the time.
At the end of the sporting competition which witnesses spectacular displays of track and field, March past, relay races, I can do race and other events, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa House emerged the overall winner with 47 gold, 20 silver and 23 bronze medals; Moremi House came second with 29 gold, 23 silver and 20 bronze medals; while Nnamdi Azikiwe House came third with 23 gold, 14 silver and 22 bronze medals.
