The Community Sport and Educational Development (CSED) Initiative, in collaboration with the Cross River State Ministry of Education, recently organized a two-day seminar on netball for physical education (P.E.) teachers in Cross River State. The seminar aimed to provide Nigerian school children and youths with the opportunity to learn and play netball in a safe environment as part of CSED Initiative’s “Project 2027.” Netball is the only sport in the world designed specifically for girls and women, making it an essential tool for promoting the general health and well-being of the girl child while empowering them to combine sports with their academic pursuits.
The event took place on May 2nd and 3rd, 2024, at the Table Tennis Hall of the U.J. Esuene Stadium in Calabar. A total of 38 participants, including P.E. teachers from various secondary schools in the state, attended the training. Three Cameroonian refugees who represented the Cameroon community-based in Adagom 1, Adagom 3, and Ukende Camps in the Ogoja local government area also participated.
The training was facilitated by Edema Fuludu and Dr Grace Ataha, supported by Ifiok Inim, a Uyo-based secondary school P.E. teacher. Dr Ping Osaji Nsagha of the Human Kinetic Department of the University of Calabar was among the newly trained netball coaches. Two students from the University of Uyo also benefited from the free netball training, which used a manual developed by Ambassador Mary Waya, a certified instructor of Netball Africa. The trained netball coaches were provided with free sports shirts donated by Lord’s Taverners, a UK-based charity.
During the training, the newly trained coaches learned the basics of the game, netball rules, applications of the rules, how to mark a netball court, the different netball positions, and the roles attached to these positions. They also learned about warming up, passing the ball, throwing the ball, the restriction of player movement in specific parts of the netball court, and how to throw and score goals. The training concluded with a practice game between the new coaches, who were divided into team blue and team purple.
Dr Grace Ataha presented a session on safeguarding during the training, emphasizing that students and athletes must participate in sports in a safe environment. The newly trained netball coaches were advised to take advantage of free online safeguarding training provided after the seminar.
Mrs. Okama U. Amos, the Director of Schools from the Ministry of Education, expressed her pleasure at the NGO’s efforts to conduct development and empowerment programs aimed at females. This was one of the reasons she approved the training course. She urged the participants to take advantage of the training to become reliable coaches in a sport that is being revived in Nigeria. She also mentioned that she would work with the Director of School Sports of the Ministry, Mr Orlando Asuquo, to monitor the use of the freely donated netball starter packs, which included a pair of netball rims/nets, finger-held whistles, two sets of netball training bibs, and netball balls, to representatives of the participating schools.
Mr. Moses Ita, the Director of Sports of the State Sports Commission, encouraged the participants to make good use of the knowledge they gained during the training. Their post-training actions would lead to the development of the game of netball in the state. Mr Ita stated that netball would soon become a medal event in the National Sports Festival. He was also pleased that a representative from the State Sports Commission attended the seminar and promised to help spread the sport to schools in other local government areas not represented at the event.
