The current trends in the world of sports is that younger athletes in tennis, football, basketball and indeed, several other sports, have taken over the top rankings as champions or top contenders. And it is not for nothing.
Call it a catch game, Nigeria has now joined the league of ambitious countries, bent on using sports as a veritable tool for human capacity building and empowerment. Joining the fray, is a great sports enthusiast and youths empowerment advocate, Segun Solanke, president and founder of Provazios Sports Academy.
Speaking on the success of the official launch and unveiling of the Ikeja centre located inside the sports arena of Lagos State Teaching Hospital, Solanke expressed his happiness on the very impressive turnout of parents, guardians and their obviously excited kids at the event.
“I’m highly impressed by this large turnout of these highly impressionable young boys and girls. It shows that they are ready to develop their various innate talents in sports and entertainment, which we offer here at Provazios Sports Academy, he remarked.
Passionate and very enthusiastic about his visions for the sports academy, which has its flagship centre in Magodo area of Lagos State, he said, “Provazios Sports Academy is not just an happenstance. It was borne out of my love for the youths and the desire to always help them become good persons and of course, responsible citizens.
“I have done an extensive research on how to further help this great country build a new generation of healthier, energetic, educated, intelligent and socially responsible people. And I know that sports, is indeed, a veritable tool to help achieve the goals.”
Solanke, who is also the president of NLO side Olumo United, went ahead to disclose that he is working very hard with his management and technical team to to ensure that the boys and girls in the various sports centres receive regular, but creative and world class lessons, instructions and trainings, according to global best practices.
“This is a massive project. We are ready to use our works to positively change the narratives, as it concerns producing world class athletes, basketballers, footballers, karatekas, judokas, swimmers and of course, records making and awards-winning entertainers.
“Nigeria is greatly blessed in all ramifications. If you know, over 60 percentage of our current population are aged 8-25 years. And you begin to wonder, what efforts are we making as a nation to channel this huge deposits of talents, intelligence and unbridled energy into positive use and advantage, through sports.”
“Provazios sports academy is on a mission that is possible and very achievable. We plan to produce World and Olympic champions, from these kids, in the next 10 years. And we’re truly committed to this goal. Towards this, we’re planning a series of programmes and events to improve, by regularly retraining our trainers, teaching our teachers newer and better lessons.”
He was however, quick to acknowledge inherent challenges and odds that comes with such swell and lofty dreams.
“Nigeria, we know, is a peculiar country and with its peculiar problems and challenges. Yes, there would be frustrations, bottlenecks, technical and financial encumbrances, but we are on a mission that is very possible and achievable.”
He rallied government, corporate organisations and well-placed individuals to invest more in youths empowerment and development, as he described it as a socio-economic reegineering and betterment of the society.
