Why We Organised Lagos Sports Summer Camp – Gafar

Director General, Lagos State Sports Commission, Mr. Gafar (middle) at the closing ceremony of Lagos Sports Summer Camp at Teslim Balogun Stadium in Surulere.

 

The Director General of Lagos State Sports Commission, Mr. Oluwatoyin Gafar has said that the just concluded Lagos Sports Summer Camp was put together to give the participating children the opportunity to be exposed to different sports featured in the program.

The Summer Camp, which featured eight sports (Athletics, Volleyball, Basketball, Judo, Takewondo, Swimming, Squash and Table Tennis), involved children from ages 9 and 16 years. The Camp, which was held from 31 August – 5 September, saw the participants not only engaged in sporting activities, but were taking through vocational and entrepreneurial training where they learn different skills.

To The Director General of the Sports Commission, who was the brain behind the program, there are a lot of children who do not have the chance to be exposed to sports, while there are some who have not found themselves among peers of the same ages for social interactions.

“We came up with this Summer Camp to give the children the opportunity to be engaged during the holiday, and more importantly for us to unearth different talents which God has deposited on them.

“I am happy to say that that during the camp, the children were taking through vocational training in tie and dye, tilling, make up, interlocking and drama. While in camp, we saw how the children practicalised what they have been taught, it was amazing and encouraging to us that we are doing the right thing to develop these children.

“We also had a 15-year-old who had never been exposed to any sporting activity, but now he has been able to pick interest in one of the sports, table tennis within a very short time of training.

“These children are so wonderful and learn very fast. We will select some of them for further grooming to monitor their progression and expose them to better competitive environments,” he said.

“We also organised this Summer Camp in line with the vision of the Government of Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu that grassroots sports development is fundamental to the quest to make Lagos the sports hub of Africa, I must give kudos to the Governor for supporting us for the success of this program as we plan to expand the camp to cover more areas of the state in the next edition, which we hope that it will be bigger.

“In this first edition, we have participants from densely populated areas in the state, as children came from Ajegunle, Ikorodu and even faraway Badagry,” he said.

Some of the children display their certificates at the end of Lagos Sports Summer Camp.