Ace broadcaster and Assistant Director of Programmes at the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN), Funke-Treasure Durodola, has announced a pet project for girls named the Funke-Treasure Table Tennis Championship (F3TC).
Durodola said the championship is aimed at developing the girl-child from low income families through sports and empowerment sessions in life skills. The competition, to be held annually in Ibadan, will kick off in September 2018.
Ahead of that, in August, there is to be a table-tennis novelty match in Lagos and Ibadan with the theme: ‘Media for F3TC ‘. Besides creating awareness for F3TC, the aim will be to engage accomplished female media professionals, as championship ambassadors to support the girls.
According to Durodola, who has worked at the FRCN for eighteen years, the maiden edition will involve more than a hundred students, launching them from School to Spotlight.
“We want to reduce the rate at which girls dropout of Junior Secondary level in schools, we want to keep them engaged through sports and give them the opportunity to use sports to create value for themselves and negotiate their continued stay in school. We hope to double this every year until we create a critical mass of aware, informed and fearless girls who will mature into womanhood with knowledge and key skills,” Funke-Treasure explained.
She further explained that the Championship is in three categories namely: the Competitors, who will come from public and private schools in the 13 local government areas of Ibadan City; the Basic Learners, aged between eight and ten years and who cannot play the game. They will be picked randomly and mentored over a period of eight years to prepare them for global competitions like the Olympics; and Trainee Coaches: these will be girls to be trained as coaches and who will easily feed into the F3TC as well as the Tennis Federation in Oyo State.
During the four-day programme, which includes a coaching clinic, the championship hopes to host, on a daily basis, about 145 girls in the three categories; 46 teachers/games masters; 10 coaches and 10 officials; LOC members and not less than 100 guests and spectators daily during the 4- Day event.
There will be empowerment sessions for the participants to address various life-enhancing issues, including financial literacy; drug and reproductive health education. In addition, there will be a cervical cancer vaccination for all the girls and women and attendees, Funke-Treasure assured.
F3TC is proud to work with 5 -me Table Tennis Olympian; Level Two High Performance Coach (ITTF); and Sports & Exercise Analyst, Ms. Bosede Kaffo; on this championship, amongst others.
