Without gainsaying, sports is one of the few potent tools that unites the world. Beyond its ability to ensure mental and physical wellbeing of its participants, it is a big inducer of social unity among nations of the world.
The engagement and viewing of sporting activities are so interesting and have invariably added to the development of the social, academic and physical wellbeing of humans. This can be traced to the relaxation from stress that it produces. Should I even dive into its entertainment prowess and the economic impact it has in the development of a nation? The numerous benefits associated with sporting activities cannot be overemphasized.
In developed nations, they focus more on sporting activities as part of tools to develop their nation because of its economic value and its ability to attract development and boost their economy.
However, this is not the case in Nigeria, not to talk about Moshood Abiola Polytechnic (MAPOLY) where sports has gone down the drain with students athletes who have passion for sports not being given enough opportunities to showcase their talents.
Research revealed that the institution did not witness sporting activities last session which was tied to the Corona Virus pandemic and so far, that trend seems to be in continuum this session.
Another major talking point when it comes to sports in MAPOLY is that the school has overtime only paid substantial focus on football to the detriment of other sports. It is almost as though football is the only sports in the school with other sporting activities not getting recognised or organized for students by the institution. Even the students union and departmental associations are not helping matters to change the narrative. Hardly will you see students engaged in other sports like badminton, volleyball, lawn tennis, table tennis, athletics, basketball etc.
Should we also narrow down on how the neglect in these areas has affected our performance in outside competitions? Games like NIPOGA, GATIG, SOWEGA among others have seen us post inglorious performances because back home we lack facilities to see our talents compete with the best from other schools.
Sporting activities, not just football, has its bearing to putting the polytechnic on the front burner of sports in Nigeria and the diaspora, changing the narrative of the institution.
Also knowing that students are mostly endeared by sports, organizing and providing the necessary facilities to aid their engagement in it will go a long way to drastically reduce any form of immoral acts students may want to indulge in.
Going by history, grassroots sports, especially campus sports is regarded as the source of success for some established sportsmen in the industry. No doubt, tertiary institutions like MAPOLY have numerous talents that are subsumed in them, as such, to ensure we keep producing stars nationally, there is a need for talents to be discovered on campus.
The Traditional SUG Sports Festival, NAOSS Cup and other competitions should return to campus to equip the mentality and physical strength of the students. The second semester is known for sporting activities but in the last few sessions, the reverse is the case: no sporting events on campus which have affected students.
Currently, the inaugural South West Games (SOWEGA) kicked-off in Ogun state with over ten institutions across the south west states. Institutions like Lagos State Polytechnic, Yaba College of Technology, Osun State Polytechnic, Iree, Ibadan Polytechnic, University of Ibadan, Federal University of Technology, Oye-Ekiti among others are partaking in it. But disappointingly, MAPOLY is not part of this competition.
Also, Ogun State Commissioner for Sports, Dr. Kehinde Oluwadare had earlier revealed that the Gateway Tertiary Institution Games (GATIG) will be back this year after years of extinction. Up to this moment, there is no greenlight from the institution that the school will participate in that sports fiesta as well.
This is a wakeup call to all sports stakeholders in MAPOLY to revive sports on campus and use sports as an avenue of projecting the image of the institution. It should as well not focus only on football, forgetting that we have other games which should also be considered. Facilities of these games should be properly maintained by the polytechnic and private sectors should key in by giving modern and standard sporting facilities.
