By Longtong Ibrahim
Kaduna (Nigeria) – Chairman of the Beach Volleyball Committee of the Nigerian Volleyball Federation, Musa Nimrod has appealed to Northern Nigerian governors to support and bring in the Almajiris into sport activities, saying, it is one of the major tools that can be used to build them up.
Nimrod made the appeal at the closing ceremony of the maiden edition of the North-west zone Under-19 volleyball championship in Kaduna.
He said, when those Almajiri children are picked from the highways into sports, there will be development.
He cited example of 10 players from Kaduna that will represent Nigeria at the junior championship of hockey, saying some of them were picked from the Almajiri level – “Presently, the boys are happy, because they are no more on the street and are going to represent Nigeria.
“We want to bring them into tennis, volley ball, and handball in Kaduna. Let’s do it, not only in the northwest zone, but in the country as a whole,” he posited.
He said, the federation of volleyball believes in grass roots sports development, because the senior players are aging and there was need to hunt for young talents that can take over from them.
“I want to also assure you that the indoor volleyball will be rejuvenated and then, we will bring back the olden days of volleyball where it competes with football like what it use to be in the 70s and 80s,” he noted.
In his remarks, Northwest Zonal coordinator, Federal Ministry of youths, Bode Durotoye, said the competition has brought out new players that can be used for the future of volleyball in the country.
“We are trying to develop them early so that they can be good players and represent Nigeria in future; the future of the northwest zone is very bright and we hope to develop ourselves very well.” He said.
Twelve teams from the Zone participated in the competition; Seven (7) male and five female teams including Nigeria Army Academy team (Male and Female), Zaria.
Kaduna State emerged winner in the male category and Sokoto state in the female category.
