Former Nigerian International, Femi Ajilore has continued to create platforms for kids in Abuja to excel in football, the latest being the ‘U-10 Kids Super Cup’ held at the Wakanda sports arena, zone 5, Abuja last weakened.
It was indeed a gathering of most of the best U-10 soccer Academies in the Federal Capital Territory slugging it out for the prestigious trophy.
At the end of the day, one of the convener of the event, Femi Ajilore spoke with our correspondent on what necessitated the Abuja Kids Super Cup and he has this to say.
“It’s actually the continuation of the Abuja soccer league but this one is not the league, it is a tournament. We tagged it the Kid’s Super Cup. The Kids have experienced the league and we want a continuation for them where they can continue to develop and compete. That is the idea behind the Kid’s Super Cup.
“We have eight teams competing for the trophy and the eight teams are the once we have been looking at. They are good academies, they have been training and it is also important that for them to compete, you know for them to grow mentally as well.
“This is actually the brain behind this competition. And you can agree with me that what we have experienced has been entertaining, it’s been good. We have seen some fantastic players that have grown. We have seen a lot of improvement in some of them, and this is what we are looking at, for them to grow in the right path so that when they get to the right age to represent the Nation they already know the basics of the Game. And it won’t be a challenging situation for them,” he said.
Speaking specifically on how the teams that participated at the competition were selected, he said,
“We have been monitory some of the teams and we are looking at the teams that truly train, come every weekend, or during the week to train. And we think these once are the right team to enroll. There are many teams we did not allow to participate due to some factors or reasons. Based on our standards we always want teams that would honour their games, teams that align with the developmental process. Those are our criteria’s for selecting these teams.
“This is the U-10 category, we are still looking at the U-8 and we are still looking at the U-13. And of course we are still looking at the FA, but before we proceed to the FA, we would still re-run the league so that we can get more teams, and after getting more teams we would now do the proper thing with the FA so that they can begin to experience some of the things they have been seeing on TV,” he said.
The event was partnered by an Abuja-based NGO, Tee, & The Boyz, and the representative of the NGO, Adekunle Idris, popularly called Mr. Kay told our correspondent why they deemed it necessary to partner with Femi Ajilore and his team in organizing the event,
“We felt this is an opportunity to work together with a football group to make sure we develop football from the low level, from the children’s level. We felt it is important for us to partner with them because if you look at football in Nigeria there is a whole lot to be done, in terms of sponsorship, in terms of funding, and so on. We are not there yet but we partner with these academies so that with time we would be able to develop the children in Nigeria. This is why we are partnering with the Kids Super Cup. We believe in what they are doing, it is so noble and also so interesting. When you see an opportunity for boys to come together instead of having them on the streets doing all kinds of vices we take it,”
Mr. Kay used the opportunity to educate Nigerians more about the NGO, “Tee & The boyz is an NGO, and what we do is to create a platform for the boy child to thrive so that their voices can be heard. There is a lot of awareness about the girl child, everybody knows about the girl child, and all attention is concentrated on them. But Tee and the Boyz have brought a different dimension to it. Showcasing and looking at the boys, gives them the platforms to talk, for their voices to be heard because we believe that it is not only the girls that are abused, the boys are also abused.
“So, basically our aim is to help develop the boy child. And when you come to football its their passion, even when they are sick they still say they want to play football,” he stated.
The event had in attendance top football dignitaries like Former Wimbledon fc of England striker, John Fashanu, former FCT FA board member and also a former chairman of FCT coaches Association, Godwin Bangboye, current AMAC FA chairman, Chuks Ijeoma and a host of others.
Femi Ajilore reserved special gratitude to his other co-conveners, Coach Paschal Clement, Coach Lawal Esq and Adekunle Idris (Aka.Mr.Kay). ‘Tee & The Boyz ‘ partnered with us.
“I want to say a big thank you to my other colleagues. The success of this event was due to the collective efforts from all of them,” he concluded.
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