Chairman Ogbomoso United Football Club and football enthusiast, Hon. Akinwale Akinwole, has urged primary school teachers to always give adequate support and nourish talented skillful players among the pupils of primary and secondary schools in the state.
The House of Reps Hopeful, who is aspiring for the Ogbomoso North-South and Oriire Federal Constituency seat, stated this on Wednesday, while speaking at the grand finale of the Wolekanle Primary school football Competition in Ogbomoso.
During the competition exercise, which was carried out in conjunction with members of the National Association of Primary Schools, Game Masters Okeleerin zone, clinched the cup after defeating the Masifa team in a penalty shoot-out while Agboin zone won third place.
Wolekanle, as he is fondly called, while presenting the cash prizes to the winners, noted that most of the players are endowed with soccer skills that need to be nurtured and developed to make them professionals in the future.
According to him: “My interest in sports development is simply to bring out the best among the younger generations. Majority of them are talented as you can see in their performance today, and if this kind of activities continues, they will grow to be our pride tomorrow.
“Already, Coach Waheed Bello of Crown FC has volunteered to be training them once in a while. He has equally urged the teachers to do their bit by make it a point of duty to continue to train them.
“Let me assure you that this will be an annual event and, by God’s grace, more prizes would be available in the subsequent editions.”
Former Chairman of the Association and a retired teacher, Pastor Akinlabi Samson, including other members who spoke at the event, commended Hon Akinwale Akinwole for the gesture, which according to them, “was last played over 20 years ago.”
“We are proud of you. We thank you for your interest in sports, especially sponsoring of football competition among the primary schools, which happened last over 20 years ago. So, we are grateful and we want you to continue to support our vision in developing the younger ones in the zone,” they said.
A cash reward was also presented to the best goalkeeper and the best player.
