Summer sports clinic adopted into C/River tourism calendar… Read details here

Summer Sports Clinic, a sporting event for kids between ages of 6 to 12 years, and just concluded by the Cross River State Sports Commission, Saturday, has been adopted into the Tourism Calendar of the state NegroidHaven has garnered. Accordingly, it is expected to be a recurring decimal in the sports annals of the state. 

This information was made available by the organiser, a Commissioner in the State Sports Commission, Mr Ekanem Ekpenyong who is a Scottish FA-licensed coach for kids of the age range mentioned. According to Coach Ekpenyong, the essence of the event is to train kids of the age bracket between 6 and 12 years, inspire their interests in football and give them a sense of belonging during the long holiday. 

Coach Ekpenyong disclosed that, the event which hosted over 800 kids, is expected to be sustained as an annual event billed to hold every August. While responding to enquiries bordering on finance, he observed that sports financing is basically not the responsibility of government, he added that well meaning individuals are supposed to sponsor sporting activities. 

His words, ‘By the grace of God, we hope this programme to hold every year. Because it has been captured in the tourism calendar of Cross River State. So, every summer we are going to have this event happen every August. 

‘This is a Summer Sports Clinic organised by the Cross River State Sports Commission for kids between ages of 6 to 12 years. Right now we have over 300 kids, but between two weeks, we have had over 800 kids that passed through this programme. 

‘Basically, it’s just to make sure we try to train kids at this level, make them interested in football and give them a sense of belonging this long holiday period. 

‘My challenge have been finance, we didn’t want to involve the government, all we wanted from government was logistics. You know, the development of football and sports in general doesn’t depend on government, it depends on individuals. 

‘Because, the parents must sacrifice time to escort their children to training; the kids must create time and have interest to do the training; then for we that are organising, we need the finance. Government has provided free stadium and other logistics, we didn’t want it to be a solely government event.’

The Summer Sports Clinic lasted for two weeks, coming to an end on Saturday 18th August with 250 jerseys, 128 footballs, toiletries given out to the kids for free.