FCT plans grassroots sports clinic for 620 athletes

The clinic which is scheduled for the second week of December at the Old parade ground sports complex will last for ten days and is targeted at youths who are within the ages of 13 to 18. The aim of the clinic according to the FCT director of Sports, Mallam Musa Alim is to expose […]

The clinic which is scheduled for the second week of December at the Old parade ground sports complex will last for ten days and is targeted at youths who are within the ages of 13 to 18.

The aim of the clinic according to the FCT director of Sports, Mallam Musa Alim is to expose budding talents in the FCT to the rudimentary knowledge and better appreciation of the different games that exist and are practiced in the territory.

He explained that each of the six Area Councils has been asked to nominate 10 youths, within the ages of 13-18 to represent each of the wards in the six Area councils at the ten days sports clinic.

Alim said the youths would be sent randomly to about 25 games for them to watch how these games are played for them to have better knowledge, understanding and appreciation of the games.

He said: We are introducing a sporting programme which you can call a sport clinic. We call it know, appreciate and understand the game. We have asked each of the six Area Councils to nominate 10 youths to represent each of the wards in each of the six Area Councils.

“It would have been a summer programme but since the children are back in school, we have asked those youths within the ages of 13- 18 be sent to the centre. They will be here with us for ten days for a start. Within the ten days, we would send them randomly to about 25 games. Name it, golf, karate, gymnastics, taekwondo, Kungu-fu, athletics, baseball, and cricket. In fact all these games that are not traditionally known.

“These youths who have probably never seen these games played would be given the opportunity to see them for the first time played practically. The first two to three days, they might watch those athletes who are in camp play these games. In the final days of their stay, we would introduce them to one or two skills in the games and we would release them”.

Alim expressed confidence that if the catch them young programe is sustained, in three years; athletes that will know, understand and appreciate the different games would have been raised in the FCT.