President of Legacy Volleyball Club Kayode Ladele has donated sport equipment worth millions of naira to the Sitting Volleyball teams in Lagos State to encourage the grassroots development of the game.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the handover ceremony of the equipment such as kits, balls, net and poles was held at the volleyball court of the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Surulere.
The volleyball enthusiast and board member of the Lagos State Volleyball Association (LSVA), told NAN that the gesture was meant to encourage and promote the sport among athletes with special needs.
“Today, we are presenting the equipment to the disabled volleyball teams so as to encourage them; sometimes, when we see people with disabilities, we often look down on them as beggars.
“In other climes, people with disabilities are now engaged in various sporting activities; so at the Legacy Volleyball club, we decided to encourage the Sitting Volleyball and make available some of their needs.
“We are also looking at a June date this year when we will host an invitational tournament called `Super 4 where the best team will emerge after they have played among themselves in Nigeria.
“The competition will be hosted in Lagos,” he said.
Ladele said that the sitting volleyball will require more funding at the grassroots, hence, Lagos State will first bore the first financial burden before calling for sponsorships from the private investors.
“We are also looking towards funding the sitting volleyball for the grassroots development, but before that can happen, we at the Lagos end will do our part of the funding first before calling for help.
“We have to make sitting volleyball attractive to investors, which is the first step taken by the donation of the sport equipment to kick start the journey and be one of the best teams in Nigeria.
“The Sitting Volleyball is still lagging behind in Africa because there have been international competitions all over the world in which Africa was not represented.
“To achieve our aim, we need to support sitting volleyball more in Nigeria,” he said.
The Lagos State Volleyball Coordinator, Othman Okunu commended the gesture, adding that the state sports commission also had many programmes lined up for the grassroots development of the sport.
“We must give kudos to the harbinger of this initiative, Ladele; it is about passion, and love for the game and to those that we scarcely take care of.
“In LSSC, we don’t discriminate and we also believe in ability in disability, if we abandon this people they wont have the chance to be doing what they are doing today as they are enjoying themselves playing.
“It is a motivation for us in Lagos, and we must go with the trend that the national body is saying that we should promote grassroots development of Sitting Volleyball.
“We have also lined up events and competitions to select those that will represent us later in the year at the Para National Sports Festival. I can say that the future is bright for the sport,” he said.
A Volleyball Coach, Lateef Ajao, also praised the efforts of the club while calling for more synergy to make the sport more popular in Lagos and Nigeria.
Also a player, Ademola Abejude called on other well-meaning Nigerians and sports enthusiasts to make more donations for the development of the sport in Nigeria.
NAN reports that highpoint of the event was a demonstration game among clubs present at the ceremony. (NAN)
