jamal 
BY TEMITAYO OLUMIDE AYODELE
The Executive Chairman of Lagos State Sports Commission, Mr Sola Aiyepeku has disclosed that one of the objectives of Lagos State School Sports Intervention Programme (LASSIP) is to give games masters and mistresses the right orientation that sports can give them beneficial opportunities both when they are in service and after retirement.
The LASSIP, which was recently flagged off a few weeks ago, has seen the Lagos State Sports Commission train over 400 sports masters and physical education teachers across all the Districts in Lagos as a first step in the deployment of the intervention programme.
While speaking at the training session held during the week at the Teslim Balogun Stadium in Surulere, Aiyepeku told the participants that there are all-around benefits in sports, adding that while sports can keep them positively engaged and employed, sports can also provide platforms for them to fall back on after service.
“We have game masters and teachers who have not been taught anything new for decades and they are putting a lot of sacrifices into what they are doing. The government is now telling these people that they are remembered. The government is reaching out to them through LASSIP for these game masters to generate more value, not just for the students, but for themselves. It is very important to state clearly that sports is a never-ending story because if these people leave the service, sports will give them something profitable to invest their time on after service,” Aiyepeku said.
The LASSIP is a new innovation of the present administration of Mr Sanwo-Olu in Lagos to give the students a golden opportunity to combine sports with education, as well as reintegrate sports back into the school’s curriculum.
Aiyepeku, who was excited with the turnout of games masters and physical education teachers to the training said that “the responses we have been getting in this training is good and encouraging. We expect them to put what they have learnt here into practice when schools resume.
“As teachers, we expect them to pass on this experience to their students after which the students will have their own competitions where they will demonstrate what they have learned from their teachers.
“We should not forget that sports will not necessarily give you immediate results all the time, most time, it is developmental. The best thing, however, is to lay a good foundation by getting the right teaching for these teachers, exposing them to the new techniques to ensure that the minds of these teachers be shifted from what they have known before to the latest trends, and more importantly to lay emphasis that sports is more beneficial for a lifetime,” he said.
