Eletu Odibo Senior Secondary School has emerged winner of the first Lagos State Secondary School Hockey League.
In the finals played at the Campos Mini Stadium, Onikan,featuring forty eight matches between male and female secondary schools in the State, Eletu Odibo defeated OkemagbaCommunity High School, Epe to win the competition with 3-2 on penalties in an evenly contested game, which ended 1-1 in regulation time.
The Director General, Lagos State Sports Commission, Mr. Adewunmi Ogunsanya who presented trophies to the winners, said the motive behind having a secondary school hockey league in the State is to take the lesser known sports to the forefront with other sports.
He affirmed that there are inherent talents and abilities in students capable of making the country great in the nearest future in hockey. “The State Government will continually provide platforms similar to this, where more talents can be discovered and developed”, he assured.
The Technical Director, Lagos State Hockey Association,
Mr. Ayo Oladeinde said that developing the idea of hosting hockey competition among secondary school children was quite challenging but the bigger picture seen at the end of the competition rekindled the hope of a brighter future in the sport.
He identified unavailability of training equipment like artificial training turf to play hockey, materials, transportation and other logistics as major challenges the just concluded competition encountered.
He however called on the State Government to create an avenue where schools can have professionally trained hockey coaches.
