U-15 Holiday Volleyball Clinic: 250 Girls, Boys Participating in North West
By Our Correspondent
No fewer than 250 children from the seven states that make up the zone are participating in the fourth edition of the North West Volleyball For All Holiday Clinic for U-15 Boys and Girls.
The clinic which was declared open at the Indoor Gymnasium Hall, of Ahmadu Bello Stadium, Kaduna on Thursday August 22, 2019, is solely being sponsored by the President of the Nigeria Volleyball Federation (NVBF), Engineer Musa Nimrod, according to the Head of Administration, North West Zone, Mr. Kayode Ogunleye.
He explained that it is an annual event, which is currently in its fourth edition.
“We are always doing this during the long vacation. It has been something that the children look forward to.
“It is solely sponsored by Engineer Nimrod North West Zone representative on the board as well as the NVBF President, Engineer Nimrod and the zone is in charge of organising it and inviting children from all the zones and the schools around,” he said.
When asked if he was satisfied by the attendance of participants, he described it as encouraging.
“We are still expecting more children to turn up,” he added.
On what would happen to those discovered, he said they would keep a tab on them and groom them to stardom.
“The games masters are here to pick up talents discovered. Last year, the NVBF President was here and donated balls which has contributed to development.
“What we lacked in the past was inability to replace aging players at the national team but now, we have available replacement from clinics like this,” he added.
On what the government is doing to encourage sponsorship of such outings, he said that they are doing a lot in ensuring such is sustained.
“We are encouraging the talents, meeting them one on one and we are not limiting it to volleyball, we want other sports to emulate same,” he added.
Speaking on some of the challenges faced, he mentioned funding as one of the biggest hurdles they face.
“Challenges we face includes funding and releasing the children by parents to attend such clinics. As you can see they are been fed lunch. It is not easy for one individual alone to sponsor such,” he admitted.
One of the instructors, Coach Samuel Ajayi assured that at the end of the clinic, the kids would have learnt a lot.
“The clinic is not about winning but to fishing out talents and make them useful to Nigeria.
“Most of them will be familiar with volleyball and would like to play volleyball. The clinic is all about catching them young, a Summer programme,” he said.
On what would be the long term benefits to the participants, he said that they were there to prepare them so that they can be used for national teams in future.
He frowned at parents that are shielding their children from participating in sports.
“Parents hindering children from sports are getting it wrong. They should allow children to come during holidays so we can help them fine tune their skills,” he advised.
