Starfield School Proprietress Makes Case for Sports

Uchechukwu Nnaike

Considering the health, social and economic benefits of sports, the Proprietress of Starfield School, Lagos, Mrs. Juliana Eigbe, has appealed to parents to show more interest in sporting activities to encourage their children to increase their participation.

She said this during the 10th inter-house athletics competition of the school recently.
While highlighting the importance of the event to the students’ social development, she said the school would continue to give the students the best in all areas of their development, including skills acquisition.

She said this year’s event was unique because it was the first time the primary and secondary units of the school jointly participated in the competition.

“It is also the first edition since the outbreak of COVID-19, which prevented us from bringing students together like this to compete against one another in athletics.”

She urged the competitors to display the spirit of sportsmanship, as there will be winners and losers. She also called for a high-level display of fairness, impartiality and transparency among the officials.

The sports teacher, Miss Matilda Feyijimi, underscored the importance of sporting activities in schools. She said the cognitive, effective and psychomotor domains must go together towards developing a total child.

She added that during the COVID-19 lockdown period, she encouraged students to do minor classroom exercises to make their joints flexible.

The chairman of the occasion, Mr. John Okoye, advised the school to put more effort into sports to enable the students to also stand out in sports in addition to academics.

A parent, Mrs. Olufunke Adebayo, said sports make students healthy and cheerful. She said she will always support her children to participate in sports, but they must acquire education.