The Taraba State Ministry of Youth and Sports Development and Ministry of Education, in partnership with a non-governmental organisation, Community Sport and Educational Development Initiative (CSED), has trained 34 women coaches to promote netball in the state.
The initiative, tagged Project 2027 is a grassroots netball development programme aimed at promoting the right of Nigerian girls to play netball in the country, targeting one million Nigerian school girls by the end of 2027.
The programme, which also targets the training of 1,200 primary education teachers in schools across Nigeria, is expected to impart the knowledge of netball into the school girls as part of catching them young initiative.
At the training, Dr Grace Ataha and Edema Fuludu, both certified netball instructors, called on the teachers to ensure they promote the safety and welfare of their students by ensuring that they implement the safeguarding advice they have received during the netball training.
Fuludu said: “As part of the netball training curriculum, the new coaches were trained in the theory and the practical aspects of the sport, which is the only sport in the world that is specifically designed for girls and women”.
Director of Sports in the state, Mr George Shitta urged the participants to carefully listen to the teachings of the instructors, who have held similar basic netball training events in five other states of Edo, Delta, Akwa Ibom, Enugu, and Bayelsa.
He thanked CSED for coming to the state and urged private organisations and individuals to complement government efforts by investing more in grassroots sports development with a view of engaging the youths in pro-social activities that would be beneficial to them and the society in future.
