"I reached out to the females in the department to represent but to no avail"; Sports Director Cries Out

By Aishat Bello 

Before we get into your manifesto, I'd like address disturbing information that has gotten to the press

Football competitions have held and Special Education football team wasn't registered for any. Not only that, we also have information that you're playing for another department in the current SIGMA cup while the department you're serving is not even participating.

What do you have to say to that?

Sigma Cup is not a departmental tournament, it was organised for players to choose the best team they want to play for and participate in the competition

And I never played for any department outside Special Education.

The team I represented was NUESA CLIPPERS not a department. In the competition I doubt if departments registered as teams. 

How many players from Special Education joined you?

2. Also to respond to the earlier question, the only football competition that has been organised in my tenure as Sport Director was the SEALS CUP concluded in 1st semester.

And the reason for not participating was due to financial constraints as well as the fact that the information for the modality of the competition got to me late

Did you inform the DCC of the financial constraint during the Seals cup?

No I didn't.

Concerning the Sigma Cup ASSE female team is participating which means departments are allowed to register for it

Yes they participated.

I was informed that the female category can be registered as department

I reached out to the females in the department to represent but to no avail. They didn't turn up for trainings and I realised that it'll be wrong to register them and then we end up not showing up during game days. As such I didn't register them

Through what channel did you reach out to them?

I met them after their classes on 2-3 occasions. The other ladies that weren't around, I reached out to them physically and individually

Were these ladies already members of the football team or you were trying to recruit?

The football team for females is presently undergoing a process of reformation due to lack of players

What I mean is, we don't have a present football team unlike Last session and we're trying to build one.

I was trying to recruit them to participate in representing the department

Usually when trying to recruit, the go-to method is a publication

What was the idea behind you meeting these ladies physically?

What were the criterias considered before you met with them?

Lastly don't you think there ya chance you could have overlooked someone who was interested with your method of recruitment?

Definitely and I initially did the publication but that didn't work out.

The idea that prompted the physical approach was due to the earlier stated reason. I had to try this physical method of appealing to them and telling them the benefits of representing the department.

For criteria it wasn't much of a high standard. I wanted everyone to turn up and then we'll begin to train and build a team from there. I also took into consideration the females who generally likes football and then tried to convince the others to come and they would be trained to play football

Yes, there still exists the possibility that I might have missed some people and overlooked some that's why I'm still reaching out to everyone I come in contact with so that in the upcoming deans cup, we can participate fully.

When did you run the publication that didn't work out and how long did you run it for?

I ran it in 1st semester until my phone unfortunately crashed.

It ran for a month

Alright. Shall we move on to your manifesto?

Okay ma

You had quite an interesting manifesto yet a large portion of them remain unfulfilled; introduction of unpopular sports, awareness and sport trivias, sportsman/woman of the week/month, accommodation of persons with disabilities in sports, mixed gender sporting activities, friendly matches with other departments, a social media page for sports update in collaboration with the P.R.O

Why have you not honoured your promises mentioned above?

One reason why i have been unable to carry this out is due to the non participation in sports especially in first semester due to the academic workload of the students.

Also, due to unforeseen circumstances that I was indisposed online, I was unable to drop the names and pictures of the student for sportsperson of the week/month.

The mixed gender sporting activities have already commenced.

Last semester we did an aerobics session in collaboration with ASSE and ADE. Not to mention training that has incorporated both genders.

And to further improve this, the committee planning the Dean's Cup took my suggestion to make one event a mixed gender event. This will also make the mixed gender sporting activities fulfilled.

As for friendly matches with department we had scheduled 2-3 in 1st semester but due to the tight academic calendar, it couldn't be accomplished.

I'm working towards fixing one before the deans Cup commences.

The Social media part have been down because of I have been unavailable online.

Accommodation of persons with disabilities in sports? You stated that you planned on inviting special schools for a friendly match, you included that you want to introduce indoor games too. These and the unpopular sports were not mentioned in your response

You also attributed your inability to the work load of first semester, second semester is already slipping through our fingers. What do you have planned for the department that is not a faculty activity like the Dean's Cup?

To respond to the first part, i had planned to, but the plan couldn't be achieved. 

Yes I intended to introduce indoor games but the department are presently short on these board games.

I have a plan to rectify this and fulfill it. 

The unpopular sports to be partaken of are the likes of volleyball, track events.

And this is slowly coming to light as two 100 level students have been visiting the count to train and I intend to speak to the coach to fully introduce them and others who might be interested. 

For the track, I'm working on building a team that can participate in the upcoming deans Cup and to that effect we have begun training.

Aside, the deans Cup, I plan to organise a games day to incorporate the indoor games and also to have an aerobics sessions for NASESITES .

Depending on the availability of NASESITES, one of the two will hold this semester

If the department is short on indoor games, why was it not listed as part of your budget to the DCC or do you plan on funding it with your own money?

Yes ma, For the games day, I plan on funding and sourcing for the games we're going to use.

This is in order to reduce the financial burden on the association.

Alright. Do you have any final remark?

I want to say Thank you and I hope the press can also help me in encouraging NASESITES to be more involved in activities of the department especially in the sporting aspect.

Alright

Thank you ma'am