The indoor sports hall of the Jolly Nyame Stadium Jalingo was a beehive of activity recently as the “PROJECT 2027” netball train landed in Taraba State.
The event which was jointly organized by Taraba Ministry of Youth and Sports Development and the Taraba State Ministry of Education, was powered by CSED (Community Sport and Educational Development) Initiative.
“PROJECT 2027” is a grassroots netball development programme that aim to promote the right of Nigerian girls to play the game of netball in Nigeria. Netball could have died “unnaturally in Nigeria,” if not for the small efforts of CSED Initiative and the Naija Netball Stakeholders who have strongly resisted the non-challant attitude of the NOC and some top civil servants in the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports in developing netball in Nigeria.
“PROJECT 2027” ultimate goal is to bring the game of netball to the attention of one million Nigerian school girls before the end of 2027, by training one thousand two hundred P.E. Teachers in schools all over Nigeria. These trained P.E. Teachers will be expected to impart the knowledge gained from attending the free netball training into their students.
The two-day basic netball training for P.E. Teachers in Taraba State led to the certification of 34 (thirty-four) new netball coaches. The training was conducted by two Netball Africa certified instructors, Dr Grace Ataha and Godwin Edema Fuludu. The two instructors made use of the training pack that was developed by the current World Netball Ambassador, Mary Waya, who is the former coach of Tanzania and Malawi national netball teams respectively.
The two instructors stressed the importance of the P.E. Teachers ensuring they promote the safety and welfare of their students by ensuring that they implement the safeguarding advice that they have received during the netball training. Furthermore, the Teachers will be provided with access to develop themselves by doing online safeguarding training and other online sports for change training that would be made available to them in future.
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As part of the netball training curriculum, the new coaches were trained in the theory and practical aspects of netball, which is the only sport in the world that is specifically designed for girls and women.
Some of the participants commended the event organizers and assured that the knowledge gained will be instilled into their students.