By Sunday Bassey
Community Sport and Educational Development (CSED), a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) has trained 46 physical education teachers on Netball in Akwa Ibom.
The National Coordinator of CSED, Edema Fuludu stated this at a two-day netball Training for Physical Education Teachers on Tuesday in Uyo.
Fuludu said that the primary target of the project 2027 was to train and equip 1,000 physical education teachers.
He said that they would in turn pass the knowledge of netball to one million students in the country before the end of 2027.
Fuludu said the training is aimed at teaching the beneficiaries the basic skills of netball, so that they can impart the knowledge to their students.
He further noted that the objectives of the training were to promote literacy through sports and to touch youths of Niger Delta and Nigeria at large.
“We want to use netball which does not almost exist in Nigeria for a long time.
“I mean that the physical education teachers will train students to become netball coaches and understand the rules and regulations guiding the game,” he said.
Fuludu, a former Super Eagles player, now a certified netball coach, said that the training had already been conducted in Delta and Edo.
Also speaking, Grace Ataha, an instructor at the University of Uyo, said that netball has gone into extinction in Nigeria.
She said that instructors were trying to revive the sport in Nigeria, adding that Akwa Ibom was one of the states that are earmarked for the training to be conducted.
Ataha said that nine Nigerian coaches and referees had been trained and certified with the International Netball Federation certificates
.
Earlier, Mr Emmanuel Ebong, Akwa Ibom Director of Sports, State Secondary Education Board, urged beneficiaries to take the training seriously in order to impact on the students.
Ebong who insisted that every Local Government must be represented, said that their participation would be monitored.
He said that any teacher, who stayed away from the training, would be sanctioned, adding they were selected on merit.
“We don’t need docile people but we need proactive teachers to represent Akwa Ibom during netball competitions in the state and at the national level,” he said.
The highlight of the event was the presentation of netball equipment and certificates to participants. (NAN)
