Tag: NOC

President of the Association of Former Female Athletes of Nigeria (AFFAN) Dr Toyin Aluko has hailed the Sports Women Forum Initiated by SoulMate Industries.

Dr. Aluko, who spoke exclusively with Sports Intelligence Magazine from her base in Abuja started by saying:

“We know the background of most of these athletes who represent Nigeria in Sports”.

“Most of them are either from average backgrounds or poor families, residing in areas like Ajegunle and others”. “But they struggle to give their best to the nation and attain stardom from there”.

"It is going to be a huge boost for female athletes in Nigeria if SoulMate Industries have decided to promote female Sports".

Moreover, “Those of us who represented Nigeria in those days did not find it easy".

"Particularly as we combined Sports with education from those kind of similar backgrounds” she added.

Dr Aluko a member of the National Sports Commission, advised that appropriate procedure be followed in branding female athletes.

This is to ensure it conforms to standards of organizers of the competition.

She also decried the manner with which female teams are assigned to male coaches and the effect on the female athletes.

“Male coaches handle female teams most times from what I have observed". “It makes the female athletes vulnerable and in most cases won’t give their best”.

“If we have enough female coaches to handle female teams, am sure there won’t be need to assign male coaches to female teams”.

"Female Coaches should get enough support in terms of training"“So that they can develop alongside their male counterpart”.

Dr Aluko who has a knack for quality Sports development for females at the grassroots also said AFFAN is open for further partnership with the SoulMate Sports Women Forum initiative.