Greensprings Campuses Unite for Sports Day

Uchechukwu Nnaike

It was fun and excitement all the way as the three campuses of Greensprings School, as well as its newly established school for special education, Anthos House recently converged on the Lekki Campus of the school for the 2019 Sports Day.

The students, grouped into six houses- Abubakar Tafawa Balewa (blue); Enahoro (green); Queen Amina (red); King Jaja of Opobo (Orange); Moremi (purple); and Nnamdi Azikiwe (yellow), competed among themselves in various sporting activities like 25m, 50m,75m,100m, 200m, 4x100m races; agility bean bag; sack race; catching the train, among others. There was also a colourful march past by the houses.

At the end of the competition, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa House emerged the overall winner with 47 gold, 20 silver and 23 bronze medals; Moremi House came second with 29 gold, 23 silver and 20 bronze medals; while Nnamdi Azikiwe House came third with 23 gold, 14 silver and 22 bronze medals.

Speaking at the event, the Executive Director, Mrs. Lai Koiki said sports day and the days leading up to it, create opportunities for students to build their gross motor skills which are useful in many ways.

“Team spirit is always high as each member of the community is rooting for their team to be victorious while appreciating the skills of all the other competitors.”

While stating the importance of sports to youth development, she said sports takes a lot of focus and practice and it is usually the same set of students that are doing well in class that are leaders within their space and are the sports people because they are focussed and they want to lead in every sphere of life.

She urged the winning the team to keep practicing and continue to do better and they should know that nobody wins all the time.
Also speaking, the Deputy Director of Education, Dr. Barney Wilson reiterated that the school believes in developing the whole child, adding that the students are strong academically as well as outside the classroom.

On the relevance of sports to academics, he said: “Sports teaches you to come together as a team, it teaches you about collaboration, it teaches you motor skills and so your brain is connected to your physical body; when you are totally in shape it means you are in shape in terms of sports and you are in shape in terms of the classroom.”

As Nigeria’s first thinking school, he said “thinking on the track and field is as important as thinking in the classroom. Our students are prepared to solve problems so they work together, learn together and learn to love each other.”

The IB Diploma Principal and coordinator of the sports day, Mrs. Jennifer Suukanmi-Qazzeem said the event was unique because for the first time all the campuses came together and it will continue that way. She said the school takes sports seriously and will continue to build the social skills of the students through sports.

While emphasising the importance of sports, a parent, Mr. Oladipo Adeola called for a sports policy in the country to enable youths make a career out of sports because it is a thriving industry.
The best male and female athletes Kaima Oditah of Balewa House and Tofunmi Olojede of Moremi House said they engaged in constant practice and more competitions and were supported by their parents and the school.