Top-rate coaches to train athletes from Heriage Bank-Lagos State Skoolimpics – Tinubu

The Chairman, Lagos State Sports Commission, Deji Tinubu, says the state government will employ top-rate coaches to develop the athletes discovered at the maiden Heritage Bank-Lagos State Skoolimpics.
Tinubu made the assertion while reviewing the events at the competition held from November 2 to 4 in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria on Wednesday in Lagos.
He said: “To monitor the athletes discovered at the Skoolimpics and ensure their proper development, the state will employ the services of expatriates to redefine their ambition and involvement in sports.
“To train those discovered from these games, we will be working with top coaches that we have in Lagos State and also see the possibility of engaging some expatriates.
“The idea is that if you don’t export your products, then, you are not getting it right.
“The question is: do we have child development experts in Nigeria?
“This is a culture we are trying to generate.
“A process of engaging the young ones like raw materials and refining them for the future with the right training.
“Developing young talents is a gradual process.
“Now that we have identified them, we will put them in a programme that will be continuous and building a right template.”
Tinubu said that skoolimpics was a proper sport development channel for talents discovery and nurturing to stardom.
He said: “What we are trying to do in Lagos State is proper sports development.
“We cannot succeed in sports development if we are looking at athletes above 20 years.
“If we truly want sports development, we must get our athletes in their formative years.
“I mean children that we can put into programmes where we can monitor them.
“We will make sure that they are on the right track and also give them proper training because they are potential for stardom in the future.
“We also hope that programmes such as this will take our kids off the streets where they think about non-socially acceptable pursuits, but instead we will make them champions.”
Tinubu told NAN that the state was building athletes discovered at grassroots competitions for the future engagements, adding that for sports to have a sustainable development, it must have grassroots as its bedrock.
He said: “When we focus on developmental Games, we are preparing for the future.
“Year in year out, when we do these Games, we are forming a cycle.
“Lagos is building athletes for the future.
“When we have the young ones, we will be able to understand them better because we engage them in their formative years.
“We will understand their psyche and teach them the right values.
“We want to have athletes that are responsible, disciplined and above all well-educated.
“Athletes that will realise that the period of stardom is short and not live on it.
“Those selected from the Skoolimpics and other Games like this will go into a programme which holds on weekends where they will be counselled and properly mentored.”
Tinubu also told NAN that to encourage private sector investment in sports, the government would provide an enabling environment and good programmes.
He said: “There is value in what the Heritage Bank has done in organising the Skoolimpics.
“They must have seen a good course for them to invest in the developmental project.
“On our part, we need to present ourselves in a way that the private sector knows that there are benefits in this collaboration.
“I hope that this type of initiative will be enduring and we will also try to create a sports culture in Lagos that every single person is involved in.”
NAN.