LSJA’s ‘Judo to School’ project kicks off

To raise judo awareness, Lagos State Judo Association (LSJA) has organised a training programme for students of Babs Fafunwa School.

The exercise, which was conducted by principal coaches in Lagos, took the students through the fundamentals of martial art.

The training, tagged: ‘Judo to School’, is intended at generating more consciousness of judo across the six educational districts of the state.

LSJA Chairman, Sheriff Hammed, said that the ‘Judo to School’ project would assist and teach students the act of self-defense and mental alertness, which is important at the formative stage of life.

He also said it is “a way of promoting Lagos State government initiative of taking sports development to schools.

“We are taking the programme to more districts and schools across the state. After the training programmes, judo clubs would be opened in the schools and the association would provide facilities for training and send our coaches to train the students and it is a continuous project.”

Hammed added that the initiative was part of his administration mandate, which is in tandem with Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s agenda for youth development. He, however, thanked the government of Japan through its ambassador, who promised to donate mats to the state.

Director of School Sports in the Lagos State Sports Commission (LSSC) Oluyomi Oluwasanmi, commended LSJA for their efforts to popularise the sport in Lagos.

“Bringing judo to schools would assist and develop children in the skills of self-defense and also make more students involved in sports while studying.

“Lagos State’s core values in taking sports to schools have been well carried out by Lagos State Judo Association. Judo is a good sport and more children should be encouraged to take part in it to improve their mental and physical well-being,” she said.

The LSJA team thrilled the students with their demonstration, which attracted most of the students to enroll in the sport.