Stakeholders in Nigeria have expressed their desire to see grassroots sports development receive sustained and improved funding.
They believe returning to the basics is key.
Peter Konyegwachie, a former featherweight boxing silver medalist at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games, reaffirms that grassroots sports are at the heart of the nation’s sporting excellence.
Konyegwachie recalls that many talented sportsmen and women emerged from primary and secondary schools in various communities during his time.
He believes that all stakeholders should be more committed to funding sports development and demonstrate more dedication in organizing and administering sporting activities from the grassroots to the national level.
Konyegwachie thinks that sports talents exist in all corners of the country, waiting to be discovered and harnessed for national and international glory.
He urges the government and sports administrators to show greater support and commitment to helping young talents achieve their full potential by providing an enabling environment.
He believes that regular tournaments such as inter-house sports, inter-collegiate sports, and other community-based sporting events are the best ways to develop sports from the grassroots.
These events can help discover raw talents that can win laurels for the country when exposed.
Mr. Bolawa Akingbemisilu, a para-table tennis coach with the Delta Sports Commission, identifies funding as the major challenge facing grassroots sports development in Nigeria.
He believes that the lack of competitions and tournaments can be traced back to inadequate funding.
He notes that there have been no school sports events in over five years, unlike before when competitions were held at the school level.
Many sports talents that were discovered at these grassroots levels were sent to the state and national levels to compete.
Previously, funds were allocated for the regular organization of sporting activities at the grassroots, but now nothing is happening.
Akingbemisilu calls on the government at all levels to show commitment to funding and general administration of sports in the country.
Mr Siamtebe Emmanuel, a sports administrator with the Delta Sports Commission, agrees with Akingbemisilu’s views that regular competitions remain vital to developing sports at the grassroots.
According to him, the government’s inability to organize regular inter-local Government Areas sports competitions is one of the major factors affecting grassroots sports development.
In previous years, after school sports events, there was usually an inter-LGA sports competition, where talents in various communities came together to compete.
However, attention has shifted from sports to politics, and the government seems more interested in politics because it believes that is where the money is.
Emmanuel believes that grassroots sports can still be revived if the government and major stakeholders go back to the basics and do the needful.
He believes that motivation is the key to developing grassroots sports.
When sportsmen and women are motivated to give their best, young people will develop an interest in sports, and many of them will be discovered through local competitions and nurtured to stardom.
