Premium Ogun State public school, Iganmode Grammar School Junior, on Thursday, held its Inter-house Sports Festival amid fun and excitement as pupils and their teachers entertained guests and spectators with twinkling performances on and off the track.
The school, which is based in Ota, Ado-Odo/Ota LG area of the state organised the event at the school sporting arena as pupils competed in track races, and match past and also exhibited their talents in cultural dance and choreography.
Before the commencement of the activities, the school principal, Chief Mrs Oluwakemi Adeniji-Adeogun in her opening speech urged all participants to “portray the spirit of sportsmanship” throughout the game and thereafter.
Adeniji-Adeogun, who encouraged loyalty through the inter-house sports competition, added that such should be sustained to “create healthy rivalry, loyalty, awareness, unity and team spirits among students as well as the teachers.”
The event was kicked off with march past by all the competing seven houses in the race for one of the giant trophies donated by Nigeria’s retail chain giants – Justrite Superstores.
The houses in colours and their owners are White House – Olota House, Purple House – Adeniji House, Yellow House – Justrite House, Orange House – CWAY House, Blue House – Avon Crown Caps House, Red House – Seriki House, and Green House – Akogun Oruba House.
The jaw-dropping march pasts saw all the houses displaying all they’d painstakingly practiced for weeks leaving all watchers awed with different presentations aimed at garnering maximum points.
The track races in the different categories took the centre stage immediately after the march past as spectators were stunned by the performances of the future Olympians.
Invited schools’ 4 x 100 meters race also added glamour to the event as Iganmode Grammar School Senior dusted all comers to grab the first position in both male and female in the senior category of the race.
At the end of the sports festival adjudged to be one of the best so far in the history of the school, Blue House, which is the Avon Crown Caps House, came top on the table to emerge the overall winner of the 2022 edition of the competition.
Ogun State deputy governor, Mrs Noimot Salako Oyedele, while congratulating the school principal for a successful inter-house sports festival, urged the parents to allow their children to engage in sporting activities in order to take them off the streets and reduce vices among youths. Salako-Oyedele was represented by a special assistant to the state governor, Mr Rahman Salako.
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One of the house owners, Chief Olajide Adeniji, representing the purple house, in his remarks after the event, called for the need to revive sporting activities in schools saying such an exercise will aid talents discovery at their budding stage and as well propel the country back to the top position in Africa and global sports ranking.
However, Engineer Abiodun Abiola, an old student of the school, called on the government to provide adequate sporting facilities for schools in Ogun State if the country really needs to produce world-class athletes from the grassroots to compete at the global stage.
According to Mr Abiola, “talents abound in the country, but poor provision of facilities had over the years, impeded improvement of athletes that can bring glory to the country.” He cited pupils running barefooted and the state of the school’s track and field facilities as one of the reasons Nigeria has remained in the rear position in the global sports ranking.
Among top dignitaries present at the event include Oba Wasiu Ogungbayi, the Onitetiku of Owode-Ota who represented the Olota of Ota, former Ogun commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Chief Jide Ojuko who is also the current national president of Iganmode Grammar School Old Students Association, Mrs Tosin Aderinwale, CEO, Justrite Superstores and the Onitele of Itele who was represented by Oba Adewumi Odutala, the Onibudo of Ayetoro of Itele-Ota.
Others are the Principal, Iganmode Grammar School Senior, Alhaji Ismail Olayinka Salako, representative of Onipanu-Ota Divisional Police Officer, principals and games masters from other schools, parents and representatives of the school’s old students’ association.
