Nigeria’s premium malt drink, Maltina in partnership with the Nigeria School Sports Federation (NSSF) launched a grassroots school sports project to promote the development of kids through sports and also build their interest and participation from an early age.
This project which was unveiled on Friday will see students participate in major track and field events which include the 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m, 4x100m relay, long jump, high jump, shotput and javelin.
When you think of Maltina, one thing comes to mind – sharing happiness. Speaking about happiness, the Corporate Affairs Director of Nigerian Breweries, Sade Morgan said “By competing in sports the students do not only develop themselves but the spectators who will also be cheering on get the happiness hormone (dopamine) released into their systems which is a good thing.
She then explained how Maltina will go about ensuring that the children imbibe the sports and fitness culture through challenging parents to lead by example and exposing them to great sports legends who can be sources of inspiration to them.
“We have to lead by example as parents and participate in sports with our children no matter where you live, even if it’s going for a walk,” she said.
“Also, we have great role models and legends who have distinguished themselves in the Nigerian sports industry. And for Maltina as a brand what we would do is ensure that these role models participate in mentoring and coaching our young individuals because they also need this exposure. It’s important they get that exposure to the right examples and iinspiratio. So start from home but also give them that exposure and opportunity which is what we want to do with the Maltina School Games.”
For Olabisi Joseph, President of the Nigeria School Sports Federation (NSSF) who will be partnering Maltina on this project, she spoke extensively on the importance of participating in sports.
“Physical activity has a way of bringing happiness and the importance of participating in sports is enormous.
“Most of the time, the life skills you will need like team work, discipline, determination etc is beyond the classroom and you will learn them while participating in sports,” she explained.
“Sports cuts across barriers and when you participate in sports you make friends, learn team building, set targets for yourself and achieve it through training. It has also shown to be important in health and wellness and research has shown that sports stimulates learning. So if you participate in sports you are likely to improve physically, mentally and health wise.
“Another thing we are thinking of are schools without facilities due to large population for instance in Lagos. So they can consider shared facilities where schools can have a timetable on how to use the facilities around them because we are going to encourage mass participation in sports.
“Sports brings so much happiness so thank you Maltina because this is a very big step in the right direction,” she said.
Registration for the Maltina School Games is expected to commence this week and last till about the 15th of February. After which each state is expected to have their games to ensure that all schools participate. Winners from the state level would come to Lagos for the national finals, which would take place in March.
