The Ogun State Scrabble Association (OSSA) has beening counting the benefits of sponsoring two of it’s coaches to Lusaka, the Zambian capital to expand their capacity technically at the 14th African Scrabble Championship which ended last week.
Head Coach Bukunmi Afolayan and assistant Desola Lawrence left the shores of the country aboard Kenya Airways as members of Team Nigeria for the Southern African country where the best of African scrabble players executed their strategies on the square board.
The capacity development endeavour undertaken by the women, saw them acquire more first-hand knowledge at the tournament where 10 countries participated at the five-day event.
Acquiring valuable technical experience at the continental stage by these coaches will help in knowledge transfer by enriching the state in human capacity development.
Head coach Afolayan was full of appreciation as she was interviewed by top media networks at the arrival area of the Lagos Airport as they welcomed the victorious Team Nigeria.
Afolayan who incidentally, emerged as the 2nd Best Female Player at the championship, revealed the importance of the trip to the Southern African country and the benefits scrabble in Ogun State would enjoy.
“We have learnt a lot after going to Lusaka like organisating a tournament. We’ve also learnt about some experiences which we are going to use in coaching our players the more. All these we are going to apply and use them to improve on the game in Ogun State.”
In the same vein, her assistant Lawrence remarked on the new experience she had garnered on the journey of elevating the sports in the state to a solid level.
She was grateful to the chairman for his selfless service and commitment at raising the status of the Ogun State through scrabble.
This laudable move has elevated the state as forward-looking in developing sports through scrabble.
Chairman of the Association Adekoyejo Adegbesan who sponsored both coaches on behalf of the state scrabble governing body, emphasised the importance of acquiring more knowledge and expanding their scope on managing the game technically.
“This is one of the facets of our mandate to expand the frontiers of scrabble as a sport in the state and Nigeria in general ” said Adegbesan who was elected as the President of the Pan Africa Scrabble Association (PANASA) at the tournament.
He added that these valuable experiences would go a long way in re-equipping the state technically in expanding the frontiers of scrabble.
The association under the new executive has embarked on a mission to resuscitate the sports in the state by revamping the facilities and equipping the playing hall to a dream standard.
Players across the state have also been registered and motivated as a way of giving them some sense of belonging.
Trials for next month’s National Sports Festival holding in Asaba, Delta State was well conducted within a process which produced the best who will represent the state at the country’s Olympics.
Stakeholders have lauded the initiative of the state body at raising the level of in the state specifically and the country in general.
