The Chairman Anambra State Sports Commission (ANSC), Mr Patrick Estate Onyedum, Thursday, said a total of 610 schools have enrolled to participate in the State 2023 Sports Festivals.
Onyedum, who disclosed this at a press conference in Awka, noted that the enrollees for the sports festivals which begun since May 17th, included Primary and Secondary schools across 21 Local Government Areas (LGAs).
According to him, the grassroots development programme was borne out of desire to take Anambra State back to her days of glory in sports when she produced national champions in different sporting events, including the CKC 1977 team that won the World Academicals in Dublin.
“We are confident that at the end of this tournament we would have raised a generation of young athletes that would surprise the country at the National Youth Games scheduled for September this year and by extension at the National Sports Festival scheduled for Ogun State next year. We will not only use sports as a tool for empowering the youth but as a grassroots mobiliser to create awareness on the exploits of solution administration and galvanise support for it.
“We are determined to make Anambra the number one talent hunt destination for national and international scouts in different sporting events. The sports commission has entered into agreement with institutions of higher learning in Europe and America which offer scholarships to talented students. School sports festivals provide a veritable platform for identification and nurturing of potential beneficiaries of that opportunity.
“In no distant time, Anambra children will start to find their way to studying abroad through sports sponsorship. The festival is designed to touch every community. Schools that win at community level will compete to emerge as their local government representatives where they will in turn compete at the Senatorial District levels. The finalists will proceed to the State finals taken place in different venues between June 21 and June 24 where they will compete for glory for their various schools and local government areas,” he added.
