By Oluchi Tobex Tobe-Chukwu
With the opening ceremony activities capturing all attention on Tuesday, contests for medals effectively commenced at the Niger Delta Sports Festival (NDSF) in Handball and Football with Volleyball national team coach on hand to scout potential future stars.
Some other coaches arrived Uyo, the Akwa Ibom state capital as part of the Scouting and Mentorship committee that has the responsibility of picking out outstanding athletes for sustained development.
Rakiya Mohammed, the country’s U-19 Volleyball coach is one such coaches at the festival where she endorsed the organisers’ initiative which she agreed will lead to the discovery and nurturing of the next generation athletes from the region and for Nigeria.
“I’m so delighted with what the organizers of NDSF have put together to help discover talents who will take over from the ageing ones. What I find fascinating is that this event is an age grade one, which means that we, the coaches have been provided a unique opportunity to see young players up close.
“I expect the best selection of under age athletes, because grassroots events like this are the best place to identify future stars. I expect the coaches of the participating teams to come with young players who can easily be mentored and groomed for the future, having identified those with exceptional qualities. The end result is to make their parents and Nigeria proud,” she told NDSF who caught up with her at the colourful opening ceremony on Tuesday.
Aside from identifying potentials during the NDSF and engaging the young athletes on the right path as mentees, Rakiya said she is also on ground in Uyo to select good players for the U-19 national team.
She has been the coach of the national volleyball team since 2014 but had started with the U-17 team, which she led to the African Youth Games, Botswana.
She was promoted to the U-18 team as an assistant coach and later moved to the U-21 team. She is at present the head coach of the U-19 team.
The Maiden edition of the Niger Delta Sports Festival began on Tuesday, April 1, 2025, with youths from the Niger Delta region competing in 17 events, which includes volleyball.
