Community Sport and Educational Development (CSED) Initiative has taken its ‘Project 2027’ netball tour to Bayelsa State capital, Yenagoa, where a two-day netball seminar for Physical and Health Education Teachers was held.
Project 2027 is part of efforts to promote the right of Nigerian girls to play netball and also bring the game to the attention of one million school girls before the end of 2027.
The netball training in Yenagoa was organised in collaboration with the Bayelsa State Ministry of Youth and Sports, as well as the state’s Ministry of Education. The event was held at the indoor hall of the Samson Siasia Stadium, between January 11 and 12, 2023.
This training was the first to be held in Nigeria since netball was demonstrated at Delta 2022 National Sports Festival. Over 25 Physical Education teachers, drawn from various schools across the state, and 10 Sports Council coaches were in attendance.
Among the newly trained netball coaches is Mrs Catherine Sasuode, who is the head of the department of sports at Bayelsa State.
The participants were taught the theory and practical aspects of netball by two Netball Africa certified coaches, Godwin Edema Fuludu (CSED National Coordinator) and Onome Fuludu (a UNIBEN undergraduate). The trainers stressed the importance of ‘safeguarding’ in netball.
Among other things, CSED Initiative provided the participants access to free online safeguarding training at the end of the event to increase their knowledge and promote the safety of their students and athletes.
Netball training kits/equipment, including two netball rims/nets, two netball balls, two sets of netball training bibs, and one packet of finger-held whistles were distributed to the participants by the organisers.
Bayelsa State Commissioner for Youth and Sports, Daniel Igali, who was represented at the closing ceremony by the Director of Sports, Braveman Wodi, said that he was excited to host the CSED Initiative at no cost to the state.
“I look forward to future collaboration with CSED Initiative in other areas of sports development,” Igali said.
On his part, Bayelsa State Commissioner for Education, Gentle Emelah, who was represented by the Deputy Director, Senior Secondary Education, Ikobho Clinton, commended CSED Initiative for the training and provision of free starter packs.
The National Coordinator of CSED Initiative, Godwin Edema Fuludu praised the participants for the enthusiasm they showed throughout the period of the training, just as he thanked Igali and others for their synergy in making the programme a huge success.
The Bayelsa State training event brings to 178, the number of P.E. Teachers that CSED Initiative has trained and activated since June 2022 in five states of Nigeria.
