Sports

Rakiya in Uyo to Scout for National Volleyball players at NDSF

Published

2 years ago

April 4, 2025

Joel Ajayi

With the opening ceremony activities capturing all attention on Tuesday, contests for medals effectively commenced at the Niger Delta Sports Festival (NDSF) in Handball and Football with Volleyball national team Coach on hand to scout potential future stars.

Some other coaches arrived Uyo, the Akwa Ibom state capital as part of the Scouting and Mentorship committee that has the responsibility of picking out outstanding athletes for sustained development.

Rakiya Mohammed, the country’s U-19 Volleyball Coach in one such Coaches at the festival where she endorsed the organisers initiative which she agreed will lead to the discovery and nurturing of the next generation athletes from the region and for Nigeria.

“I’m so delighted with what the organizers of NDSF have put together to help discover talents who will take over from the ageing ones. What I find fascinating is that this event is an age grade one, which means that we, the coaches have been provided a unique opportunity to see young players up close.

“I expect the best selection of under age athletes, because grassroots events like this are the best place to identify future stars. I expect the coaches of the participating teams to come with young players who can easily be mentored and groomed for the future, having identified those with exceptional qualities. The end result is to make their parents and Nigeria proud”, she told Journalists who caught up with her at the colourful opening ceremony on Tuesday.

Aside identifying potentials during the NDSF and engaging the young athletes on the right path as mentees, Rakiya said she is also on ground in Uyo to select good players for the U-19 National team.

She has been the coach of the National Volleyball Coach since 2014 but had started with the U-17 team which she led to the African Youth Games, Botswana.

She was promoted to the U-18 team as an assistant coach and later moved to the U-21 team. She is presently the head coach of the U-19 team.

The Maiden edition of the Niger Delta Sports Festival began on Tuesday, the 1st of April 2025 with Youths from the Niger Delta region competing in 17 events which includes Volleyball.

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Sports

Montage Community Football Tourney Registration Ends October 30

Published

9 hours ago

October 22, 2026

The Gleamer

Cyril Ogar

Registration for the 2026 edition of the Montage Community Football Tournament will close on Friday, October 30, organisers have announced.

The tournament coordinator, Mr Raphael Ekpang, disclosed this on Thursday, urging interested teams across the six Area Councils of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) to take advantage of the remaining days to register.

Ekpang said registration had been ongoing since Monday, encouraging eligible teams to complete the process before the deadline.

The tournament, themed “Montage FM 99.7: Empowering Youth, Uniting Communities Through Football,” is scheduled to kick off on November 3, 2026, with playoffs across the six Area Councils of the FCT.

The grand finale will hold on December 5, 2026, at the Old Parade Ground, Garki Area 10, Abuja, where the top four teams will compete for first-, second- and third-place honours.

A total of 48 teams will participate in the competition, with eight teams representing each of the six Area Councils.

The participating teams will compete for cash prizes worth over ₦2 million and other valuable rewards.

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