Over the years, there has always been much excitement and anxiety over the start of the Secondary Schools Football Competition. The crowd support for these matches quite naturally tends to create a great atmosphere among the players, and a fancy dribble or two can easily get a player on the leading sports page in the dailies.
Somehow, the quality of play has not been as progressive nor productive in terms of players individual and technical skills, and by extension, organised teamplay. It is not unusual to see new faces on some of the top teams in the schools league, mainly because new talent is upgraded from junior secondary senior stage, a perfect stage for the secondary schools go in search of any talented prospect from the junior schools.
There is also a growing problem in the quest for success in certain schools to have registered students who, although very talented, do attend school on a regular basis, something which should not be encouraged by school principals, parents and the Ministry of Education itself.
Maybe it is wise to remind the stakeholders that education is primarily academic and is supported by sport, culture and the arts, all promoted by school authorities. At the end of each school year, while we may read of the successes of the outstanding athletes in the school, we may wish to pay equal attention to the time and devotion to studies. The percentage of failing students is disheartening. Regardless of how many goals or runs they score, their transcripts should be as easy to recognise as acceptable to the teachers, principals etc.
I heard recently where one student who had convinced one of the country’s leading Pro League clubs that at the age of 15, he was brilliant enough to guide the destiny of his future towards football. The parents of this potential football star actually approached the principal of a secondary school to allow their child to miss two full school days in order to practice football on those days.
One begins to wonder how many parents and team owners are thinking this way and what guarantee of success are they expecting from the students involved. Somehow, I have always been of the belief that life at all school levels is integral to the overall development of children and just the interraction among themselves at school is a process of learning which no teacher can relay to students. Maybe these misguided parents and other supporters of this procedure do not realise that education is a vital part of athletes to understand the sport of their choice.
Speeds, heights, distances, climatic conditions, geometry, mathematical systems, human psychology are all ingredients needed for the production of a well-balanced student. No wonder we are witnessing the deficiencies of our current athletes to build their performance level on solid technical terms. I have often wondered why the Ministry of Education has not paid sufficient attention to the complete progressive stage of students, as opposed to having coaches, games masters and fanatical sports enthusiasts dressed as teachers, guide the destiny of the children.
I have always maintained that a carefully planned six years in the life of a student in secondary school, marshalled by dedicated school teachers, principals, and school supervisors, will not only produce better quality children, but it can save the ministry the headache of having police posts on the school compound.
Any presence of police on a school premise has, maybe indirectly, been the responsibility of parents and a level of carelessness on the path of school authorities. Football or any other sport, should not be the major priority for school recognition, unless it is accompanied by good behavioural pattern, commitment to work in the classroom and most importantly, regularity and punctuality in the school systems. Then and only then will the measure of success in the other areas of school life be cherished by all and ultimately we shall produce a better brand of school/athlete.
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