Youth Sports Federation of Nigeria (YSFON) president, Alhaji Nasiru Gawuna has disclosed that the long camping, grooming and mentoring programme of the body’s under-17 team is meant to build another class of future stars for the country.
Sports247.ng reports that Gawuna, who is also deputy governor of Kano State, believes getting ex-internationals involved in training the lads is a major boost to the vision of YSFON producing future Nigerian heroes.
Gawuna said the team is part of efforts to maintain YSFON as the leading body in grassroots development in the country and charged the officials to ensure they achieve the target.
The team were in Kaduna and Ibadan, where former players tutored the kids on discipline and the way to go forward in their career.
In Kaduna, Garba Lawal and Yinka Salihu encouraged the YSFON stars and advised them as young lads to always to be disciplined and avoid habits which may affect their performance negatively.
In Ibadan, Dimeji Lawal harped on the need for them to be dedicated, disciplined, prayerful and focused for successful football careers.
Gawuna also charged the players to be disciplined and focused for them to realise their dreams, which YSFON hopes to make possible by taking them on a training and educational tour across the country.
He said: “YSFON’s decision of the federation to revive the U-17 team which used to form the bulk of the cadet national team of Nigeria was necessitated by the desire to restore the body back to its leading role in youth development across the country and beyond.”
