Lagos school cricket programme targets 300,000 students
In its bid to develop cricket at the grassroots, the Lagos State Cricket Association (LSCA) has launched the Schools Development Programme, which aims to capture over 300,000 students from the age of four to 12 years by 2026.
The first phase of the programme, targeted at public and private primary schools, as well as Junior Secondary School (JSS) One, with the slogan ‘Lagos Cricket Reignites,’ was launched at the Tafawa Balewa Square oval at the weekend.
According to the association, the objective is to capture the talents and develop their skills to have a properly organised junior cricket programme in the country.
The Chairman of LSCA, Kofi Sagoe, said the association wants to get many new entrants into the sport, adding that it is targeting over 1,000 at its maiden launch and expects to reach 300,000 participants to support the Nigerian Cricket Federation’s (NCF) one million participants target by the end of 2026.
Sagoe said the grassroots development project has received support from the Lagos Cricket stakeholders and the Sagoe Family Foundation through the donation of 450 starter packs valued at about N12 million.
The LSCA chairman also stated that LSCA will have cricket infused as part of the physical education lessons in schools or after-school extracurricular activities through clubs.
The association, he added, will start developing the students and initiate a schools’ league where the skills developed and talents spotted will have means to express themselves in cricket. According to him, the initiative will have different formats, which include windball cricket, tennis ball cricket and hardball cricket.