MAPOLY Sports: Going down the drain?

Sport is the epitome of hard work and dedication. To get to the pinnacle of one’s sport, even the most naturally gifted athletes have to give it their all and train consistently so as to remain in form.

However, this is not the case at Moshood Abiola Polytechnic (MAPOLY), Abeokuta, where students have not given athletes that have a passion for other sports aside from football enough opportunities to showcase their talents.

Findings revealed that sporting activities at MAPOLY are yet to get to where it should be, a few or no competitions are organized for students by the Directorate of Sports of the school. Though departmental associations on Campus have been engaging students in football competitions for the past few years; yet, they have neglected other sports like badminton, Lawn tennis,  basketball etc.  Other games should also be considered. Facilities of these other games should be properly maintained by the polytechnic.

Recently, the Sports Director of Association of Mass Communication Students (AMACOS) Azeez Akorede (K-solo), decried the poor state of sports in the school, faulting the abandoned facilities by the concerned quarters.

Instead of using the sports centre for what is meant for – sporting activities,  the arena was used for lectures years back. Maybe this time, we can utilize the facilities as students.

As sports especially football is loved passionately by students, there is no gainsaying that their engagement in sports while on campus would drastically reduce any form of immoral acts they may want to indulge in.

Sports has become the roots of success for some youths including Kelechi Ihenacho, Asisat Oshoala, Neymar jnr, Lewis Brown, Serena Williams and so on and it also added fame to their image.

Emphasising the need for talents to be discovered in grassroots, tertiary institutions especially our MAPOLY where numerous talents are subdued, should consider bringing these multi-talented students to limelight for national glory. Little wonder that Channels TV does organize  Channels Kids Cup for primary school pupils and GTBank partners states government in Nigeria to organise annual principal cup for secondary school students.

As Ogun state government plans to organize Gateway Tertiary Institution Games (GATIG) for all tertiary institutions in the state,  MAPOLY needs to have second thought on this and when there is no proper and adequate planning for students of MAPOLY, how will they showcase their talents to the people of Ogun state during the GATIG games slated for this month.

I urge the private sector, Ogun state government and dignitaries in the state to come to rescue of dying of sports in MAPOLY and bring it back to life.