LSSC Reviews Participation, Unveils Plans for Discovered Talents 

The Lagos State Sports Commission has unveiled plans that will enhance the gains of the state from the just concluded National Youth Games held in Delta State.

Team Lagos finished second overall, maintaining the previous position for the fourth consecutive time.

Represented by over 300 athletes who competed in 33 individual and team sports events during the 10 days fiesta held in Asaba, Team Lagos amassed 62 medals; 21 gold, 19 Silver and 21 bronze.

At the post event review of Team Lagos participation at the National Youth Games, the management of Sports Commission, described the successful outing as a signpost of what to come in grassroots and schools sports development.

The Executive Chairman, Sola Aiyepeku alongside Directors and Heads of Departments, expressed the Sports Commission appreciation to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, Government agencies and key stakeholders, for the success attained at the National Youth Games.

He said Sports Commission will organise more competitions to sustain the interest of Youth and encourage them to become successful athletes that will represent the country at international championships.

Aiyepeku also called for critical assessment of the National Youth Games, seeking the re-categorisation of age range for developmental competitions in line with international best practices.

Director Sports Development, Nunayon Travih, said the athletes will be given the platform to compete with their seniors in all the trials and where they dethroned the senior athletes they will be allowed to represent the state at the next year Gateway Games. “We will continue to give them that platform to expose and they will not be denied of that as well”.

The Director Public Affairs, Oshodi-Eko Titilayo stressed that during the NYG ,the  focus was not just on the medals the state won, adding that the focus was on individual athlete performance. “Before we went for the Games in Asaba we had a “celebration series” to celebrate each athlete and to encourage others to put up a good feat. “Our youngest athlete, eight year old golfer, Oyero Beauty was celebrated for her heroic Performance having played 18 holes for over five hours on the course. Some Team Lagos Athletes have also been invited to the National Camp to represent Nigeria. Some outstanding Athletes who featured in the National Youth Games will also participate in the National Sports Festival which will come up in Ogun State next year”.

Director School Sports, Oluyomi Oluwasanmi highlighted that the pool of talents that represented the state was drawn from private and public schools.

“Lagos State came overall in swimming with seven gold,four silver and five bronze medals. So, moving from one gold medal in Ilorin in 2021, we can see the collaboration between the Ministry of Education and the private school proprietors is fast yielding a positive results”.

Uthman Okunnu Head Technical Department, stated that,  “We have our players steadily monitored here in Lagos without going to anywhere. Because we have our facilities in place.Equipment for them is abound.  “So winning might not be our goal here, but we want to see that move from one stage to the other, where they become our own property”.

Director Facilities Department,Deji Aladegbemi pointed out that Lagos is the only state that consistently organised local and international tournaments adding that the Centre of Excellence would continue to monitor the young talents closely for onward transition to the summit of their career.

The state’s achievement at the National Youth Games has been a result of developmental plans over the years with Lagos championing the growth of schools sports over the years and encouraging young people to combine sports with academics.

The annual games created to facilitate the discovery of budding talents in the country for further development produced a number of Lagos State athletes  that were selected by the Federal Ministry of Sports through the Sports Federation for further training and exposure.

Team Lagos dominated the swimming events at the Asaba 2023 for the first time in the history of the National Youth Games with mostly students drawn from private schools leading the state to top the competition with 16 medals; 7 gold, 4 silver and 5 bronze.

With the exception of Zamfara, 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory participated at the 7th National Youth Games with over 5000 athletes participating in various events.