Primary and secondary school athletes in Delta State will arrive camp today for the state’s School Sports Festival, which starts tomorrow at the Stephen Keshi Stadium, Asaba.
The athletes will stay at the National Youth Service Corps Orientation Camp at Issele Uku for the duration of the event.
About 1,500 athletes from public and private primary and secondary were billed to participate in the developmental sports fiesta, which take place between February 5and 7.
Delta’s Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education is organising this event, which had been in limbo for many years.
The events to be competed for are athletics, basketball, volleyball, handball, badminton, tennis, table tennis, chess and scrabble.
The Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education, Chiedu Ebie had advised all participants to compete fairly to excel at the competition.
Ebie said the Governor Ifeanyi Okowa administration was committed to grassroots development in all sports disciplines.
“We are deliberately preparing our young athletes to be the best in their respective disciplines in the country. Governor Ifeanyi Okowa is committed to grassroots sports development and that is why our school sports athletes are busy all through the year.
“Apart from the school sports festival, we have many other events coming up to boost the readiness of our athletes for various national programmes. That is the way to go,” Ebie explained.
He added that it was important to identify and nurture talented athletes from tender age so that they could understand and develop the basic things and skills in their sports disciplines.
Attractive prizes would be given to athletes that excelled at the sports fiesta, which ends on Thursday February 7.