By Our Correspondent

Determined to ensure the effective development of the game of badminton from the grassroots, the South-East Badminton Zone in collaboration with Community Sport and Educational Development (CSED) Initiative recently held a two-day badminton clinic at St Theresa’s College Nsukka, Enugu State, South-East Nigeria.

The grassroots outreach training was coordinated by the Badminton Federation of Nigeria zonal representative in the South East, Obiageli Edoga Solaja, and some badminton coaches in the Nsukka zone.

The clinic had in attendance students from 10 secondary schools and 12 games masters and mistresses from secondary schools in the Nsukka zone of Enugu State.

It is the first training event that is jointly held by the Badminton Federation of Nigeria (BFN) and CSED Initiative, as part of the two years’ grassroots badminton development programme that was signed in April 2022. The goal of the two-day training event is to build the capacity of the games masters/mistresses at the grassroots level and to provide Nigerian children/youths with access to learn the basic skills and technicalities that is required to develop their talent in badminton.

Students from five boys’ schools and five girls’ schools in the Nsukka zone attended the event. The boys’ schools are; St Theresa’s College, Nsukka High School, Urban Boys Secondary School Nsukka and Community Secondary School Nru. The girls’ schools are; St Cyprian’s Girls Secondary School, St Cyprian’s Special School, Urban Girls Secondary School and Queen of the Rosary Secondary School Nsukka. Also in attendance were two mixed schools – Community Secondary School, Isienu and Government Technical College.

At the end of the training event, more than one hundred badminton rackets, shuttlecocks and badminton nets were donated to representatives of the schools that attended this training event. Medals were also presented to some of the students that excelled in the demonstration games.

More than forty participants attended this event and some of them expressed their gratitude to the event organizers for taking their grassroots badminton development event to Nsukka. It would be recall that the South East produced Obiageli Solaja (nee Edoga) who was in the 1980s the African women’s badminton champion.