As Gombe State Athletics unfurl its catch-them-young talent hunt
By Rasheed Adewuyi
Talent hunt was made possible as thausands of spectators including school children thronged the Pantami Stadium in Gombe on Tuesday to witness the maiden edition of Dr. Ahmed Gara Shuaibu Gombe AthIetics Grand Prix.
The competition which featured athletes in and around the Gombe metropolis, was keenly contested in 100m, 400m, 1500m, long jump and 4×100m relay boys and girls. Other demonstrations events also took center Stage.
The grand prix-the first of its kind inside main-bowl of Pantami Stadium-was attended by numerous Schools with their pupils and students.
The competition was dedicated to the school kids in attendance and was aimed at ignitling athletics interest in a huge number of school children and convince them to take to the sport.
According to Gara Gombe who Sponsored the event, packaging the competition with a few AthIetics events was also to arouse the interest of young athletes mainly school kids who are the majority of expected talents to take to the sport.
“It’s our expectation that after the kids watched the AthIetics events, they will develop interest in the sport and finally embrace it,” Gara Gombe said.
“This would also make them take their education seriously and cut off street hawking.”
The Gombe athletics boss argued that the fund that states in the country expended on recruiting mercenaries for competitions is enough to invest in discovering and nurturing athletes in each state.
“I have commenced a comprehensive talent hunt at the grassroots in Gombe State since I became chairman of the state athletics association and I believe the result would show in the next five years,” he further said.
Over 200 primary school pupils from the 11 local government areas of Gombe State watched the one-day grand prix at the Gombe Stadium, Pantami and the GAA chairman said it was aimed at inspiring the pupils to embrace athletics
Dignitaries from the political, educational and sports circle, like marathon legend Abass Mohammed, Chairman Gombe State Sports Commission, director of schools and others, witnessed the event.
In their comments, they extolled the Sponsor and organizer of the event and assured of their individual contributions to the effort of the catch-them-young project of the Chairman Gombe AthIetics Association.
Meanwhile, the Gombe State Chapter of National Association of Technical Officials (NAATO), was inaugurated after their training on Monday.
Twelve members out of 70 participants in the training, were endorsed as executives of the chapter, and were immediately sworn-in by NAATO’s national first vice president.
Coaches that anchored the event include, Dr. Alex Miana, Mohammed Kolo, Solomon Achi, Simon Ayuba, Abass Mohammed, NAATO secretary James, among others.
In his remarks after their inauguration, Gara Gombe demanded loyalty and absolute seriousness in the conduct of officials as a unit, pointing out that the officials’ determination would spur others to join the ranks to make AthIetics officiating in Gombe State a success.
Please follow and like us:
