The Chief Executive Officer, (CEO) Fun Park, Itamaga, Ikorodu, Prince L.A. Odeyemi has said that Nigeria could produce world best players, catching her talents young through well-organised inter-schools soccer competition among secondary schools in Ikorodu, which would in turn promote peace and love within the schools.
Prince Odeyemi was speaking during the competition tagged: “First M.T. Amusa (Homat) Ikorodu division inter-private secondary school 5 – Aside soccer competition,” which was held at the Fun Park, Itamaga, Ikorodu on March 17, 2016.
The Fun Park boss, who said that the tournament, which was kicked off on February 24, 2016, was aimed at uniting private secondary schools in Ikorodu, as well as provide the best platform to showcase the young folks’ valuable talents in order to groom them for the future.
The competition, which started at 4:00p.m between Homat private school and Dobar school, saw none of the team recording a goal to the end of second half.
Homat team players were found dribbling with good passes while skillful attempt were made by Dobar School team players with shots, but the smart Homat goal keeper saved the ball from entering the net.
The penalty whistle was blown at the end of the second half in order to pick the winner of the third place. The first Dobar player scored the first penalty while the first Homat player scored equally as well. The second Dobar player scored the second goal as Homat player scored his second penalty as well and that made it a 2 – 2. The third player from Dobar missed his penalty while Homat third player scored his third penalty with a shot. The fourth player from Dobar School lost his penalty as well as the Fourth player from Homat. However, the last player from Dobar who happened to be the only hope for the team eventually missed his penalty to the hands of Homat keeper and Homat team was declared the winner having scored 3 and Dobar 2. A wild jubilating scene engulfed the field as Homat team confirmed the winner of the third place. Dobar players and supporters on the other hand, though unhappy, accepted the victory in good faith.
The last two schools that played the first and second place were Strong Tower Academy and Hopeland School, whose performance attracted audience and supporters’ actions and reactions through noise and encouraging remarks when the match was going on. A more tensive match was played between the two teams as they both appeared as skillful players. Supporters and students of Dobar School were seen criticizing efforts of the school players; thereby, focusing more on the performance of their opponent on the field.
The match, which started around 5:20p.m, ended with no goal at the end of the first half. At the second half of the game, both team began on a fast note, playing themselves competitively to the delight of the audience and dignitaries at the event. Both teams were up to the task as they played all manner of shots while pressing attempt, were made in order to score from each other.
However, beaming smiles and jubilation vented the atmosphere when Hopeland School scored their first goal from Strong Tower goal keeper at the middle minutes of the second half around 6:04p.m. Not long after, Strong Tower player returned a goal and it made it 1-1. Hence, both team increased their race in the competition. Hopeland players went on and got the opportunity to dribble perfectly into Strong Towers goal net. Unfortunately, the goal keeper missed the catch. The team realized its second goal around 6:15p.m.
All efforts by the Strong Tower players to equalize the second goal was unfruitful. Hopeland, however, scored two more goals to the delight of their supporters and made the match, 4 -1. The final whistle was blow at exactly 6:30pm and Hopeland team was declared the winner of the competition. Team players of Strong Tower Academy in a saddening mood watched the jubilation as players of the winning team were carried shoulder high.
The first position went to Hopeland School, the second to strong tower academy and the third was Homat private school. In appreciating the effort of the students, the coaches and team players were all rewarded.
Mr. Daramola presented the bronze medal and the certificate of participation to the third place winners, Mrs. Olapade, Homat Private School sport’s director, presented the medal and the certificate of participation to the second place winners while Prince Adeyemi, CEO De Fun Park, presented the gold trophy to the first position. The golden cup was collected by the captain of the team, Oliko Abume, who admitted that the day’s match will be the best game in his life.
“The first time we came, we lost at the final stage and we were so disappointed; we are happy to have won today’s match, and this is because we ensured we had enough training. I am really happy. I say a big thank you to the organisers. They should continue; it is a fantastic one,” he said.
One of the dignitaries who attended the event, Mr. Wole Odulate Alabukun, commended the ingenuity of the organizers, stressing that it is the first of its kind.
“This is a maiden competition of Homat inter-private schools competition and I can see it developing our boys in terms of football up to the national level; we need to start catching them young and this is the way to do it. I hope other private school proprietors and proprietresses see reason in supporting this kind of event,” he said.
Engineer Sodiq, a guest at the event, said. “It is very impressive and we need to start keeping our youth busy with sports. We can develop our youths by observing them at the young age and engaging them in the activity so that they can be well grounded in it. Football should not be the only programme; other games like table tennis should be included. We call on other schools, principals, ministry of education and other relevant stakeholders to give positive support to this kind of event so that it can be continuous and given more publicity than this,” he emphasized.
The CEO of De Fun Park, Prince L.A. Adeyemi, equally emphasized on the zeal attached to organizing the event for the schools: “Defun Park is more or less like an entertainment industry; we have different sections such as the children park, 5 – aside football pitch and the event centre. We are strongly in support of sporting activities with Ikorodu indigenes or any individual interested in this kind of event. We believe Homat Group of School proprietor, Mr. Amusa, is an owner of foremost secondary schools in Ikorodu;, so we approached him to co-sponsor with us and in his wisdom, he has done beautifully well,” he said.
He, however, promised to take the programme to the next level before the next tournament is organized and also organize for the primary school.
In his words: “Although, we faced some challenges in the course of organizing the programme but we thank God we were able to surmount them and we will make sure we correct our mistakes before the next one. We believe in the idea to catch them young, an approach that is uncommon in Nigeria. We felt it should be introduced here and that is why the event came up. Before the end of the year, we would start organizing for private primary schools within Ikorodu, which I know would be more robust than this,” he said.
In addition to the gold, bronze and medals presented to the respective school teams, the CEO of De Fun Park presented cheques to the three schools, who took the first, second and third position. Hope land school was given a N50,000 cheque; Strong Tower Academy was given a N30,000 cheque while Homat Private Schools collected N20,000 cheque, all in the organisers’ bid to encourage the students.
Other schools that were given the certificate of participation was Balad School and Dobar School. The coach and Homat Private Schools sports director, Mrs. Olapade Lawal, said “Homat has done well; we want other private school proprietors to emulate what he has done; then, we can all carry on with the course and move from local to international.
I am happy at least that my school came third; we have the most valuable players,” she said.