Bayelsa State Set To Rule Netball In Nigeria

 

The coordinator of netball in Bayelsa State, Catherine Sasuode, has stated that the Bayelsa State netball team is ready to beat all comers in the netball event that is going to be demonstrated for the second time, at the forthcoming National Sports Festival that will hold next month in Abeokuta.

She stated that the state netball team has already started the screening of netballers that will do the state proud at the netball demonstration event. While speaking to journalists, she stated that netball is very popular among secondary school students in Bayelsa State and till date, Bayelsa State Netball Association has held three competitions for secondary school students in the past two years.

Catherine Sasuode, praised the Naija Netball Stakeholders and CSED (Community Sports and Educational Development) Initiative, for their efforts in using the game of netball to promote the social, emotional, health, and athletics development of the girl-child in Bayelsa State. Furthermore, she stated that she would want CSED Initiative to come again to the state and hold another netball training event for a new cohort of P.E. teachers in Bayelsa State.

Furthermore, she commended the four former students of Tare Pet Group of Schools Yanogoa who took part in the 12 weeks long Sporting Coders pilot programme that was held last year. She remarked that their gaining admission into various universities in Nigeria is a credit to their parents, their teachers, their former school and to CSED Initiative, for using the game of netball to empower and nurture the academic and sporting ability of some of the students of Tare Pet Group of Schools.

The names of the former beneficiaries of the Sporting Coders programme who are now undergraduate students are Victory Woyengipreye Gesiye (Medicine at Afe Babalola university) 2024/2025.

Wisdom Alaere Nathan (Political Science at Niger delta University) 2024/2025; Chloe Woyengidoubara Gesiye (Pharmacy at Afe Babalola University) 2024/2025, and Victory Peremoboerei Wenibowei (Microbiology at River State University).

It would be noted that the Sporting Coders programme was specifically designed to give the girl child access to learn new skills, while at the same time, enjoying taking part in sports in a safe and nurturing space. It was also designed to address the under-representation of girls in STEM courses. The pilot project used the medium of netball a once almost extinct sport in Nigeria, as a platform for advocating for and empowering the girl-child.

During the period of the Sporting Coders programme, the 21 students who took part in the programme were on two separate occasions, given ten thousand Naira educational vouchers, as well as free lunch, during the twelve Saturdays that they attended the programme. Furthermore, CSED Initiative, has fulfilled their promise of giving fifty thousand naira each to any of the pioneering cohort that gain admission into a tertiary institution.

Catherine Sasuode confirmed that a major aftermath of the success of the Sporting Coders programme is that some male students at Tare Pet School have also started playing the game of netball. As a result, more boys schools in Bayelsa state are likely to start introducing the game of netball to their students.

Sasuode added that netball in Bayelsa state is not static: “we lead in Nigeria, and we will not want to relent in our efforts in taking the game to all parts of the state. Our last major event was the IDSDP 2025 celebration, which we commemorated on 4th April 2025.”