BY KUNLE SOLAJA.
The atmosphere was filled with overwhelming emotion as 40 student-footballers depart Greensprings School, Lekki at the outskirt of Lagos on Monday. They felt quite fulfilled as people equipped to face future challenges and overcome in their chosen vocation, football.

They were the 30 boys and 10 girls carefully selected from the Principals Cup in Lagos and Ogun states as well as the Master Cup – all secondary schools football tournaments sponsored by Guarantee Trust Bank plc. They have been camped along with 60 school coaches from Lagos and Ogun on an all-expense paid one week intensive player development and coach-training programme tagged Camp GTBank.

• The Camp GTBank coaching crew  (seated) and some of the selected secondary schools’ coaches.

It was the fifth edition after those of 2010, 2012, 2013 and 2015 all held at the IITA in Ibadan. The programme is designed to help the talents kick start their football career.

In the past seven years 170 students have passed through the programme in which renowned coaches were called up to assist in mentoring the burgeoning footballers. Perhaps, the biggest name to have emerged from the programme is Stephen Odey, a star player in the current Nigerian professional league.

According to one of the coaches at the programme, there may have been other star performers who were products of the GTBank Principals Cup and the Camp GTBank, but due to lack of tracking system, they may not have been identified.

But the camp, though very brief produced results. On Friday the female team defeated a regular soccer academy Springsoca by 6-0 while their male counterpart put up such resilience that the Eko Football assembly that had been camped for almost one year could not defeat the Camp GTBank which trained for less than a week.

The strength-testing match played on Saturday morning ended goalless. This year the coaching crew was led by former Nigerian international and chief coach, Augustine Eguavoen. Other crew members were Henry Nwosu, Waheed Akanni, Ann Chiejine, Yisa Sofoluwe, Ajuma Ameh-Ottache and Jolomi Atune. They are all proven former footballers and coaches.

They took the participants through all the aspects of football and exposed them to modern rules as well as improving their physical and mental conditions.

The players were thrilled. One of the star attractions among the 40 players was the diminutive 10-year old girl, Aliyat Saheed, a JSS 1 student Isale Eko Grammar School, Lagos Island.

• Excited Aliyat Saheed of Isale Eko Grammar School, Lagos Island enthusiastically looks forward to a promising football career.

She was already an attraction as a member of the Isale Eko Grammar School, Lagos Island which emerged champions in the girls’ category of the GTBank Lagos State Principals Cup earlier this year.

Despite her small stature and age, she was so impressive that Austin Eguavoen intuitively sprang her off her feet and carried her.  She is a small girl with big ambition.

• Aliyat Saheed of Isale Eko Grammar School, Lagos Island takes on three players of Government Senior Secondary School, Agege in the final match of 2017 GTBank Lagos State Principals Cup.

“I want to make a big career in football. I want to play for Nigeria. I want to play professionally in Europe”, she remarked. She said that it was a big privilege for her to have participated in the programme in which she remarked that her ball control, team-building and ball passing have been perfected.

Most other participants have similar remarks. One of them, Nwachukwu Onyedika, a goalkeeper from St. Finbarr’s College, Akoka spoke about his newly acquired experience.

According to him, apart from acquisition of new skills and techniques, “I learnt what is called team discipline. We were made to wake up at a specific time and perform specific roles at designated time.

“We were taught about on field and off field disciplines. I learnt about team building and bonding. I learnt how to make new friends. Imagine that all of us came from different schools, yet we all became friends”.

• Classroom time as Coach Augustine Eguavoen takes the students on team building and discipline.

The daily schedules were tightly packed. They woke up by 5.30 am and must go to the field by 6:00 for a 30 minute exercise. They then went back to their rooms for shower and by 7:15 am they filed out to have breakfast.

At 8:00 they were already seated in the classroom for team building and classroom sessions. That programme lasted daily for an hour before the players filed out to the field at 9:00 for three-hour field training.

After lunch they resumed the one hour classroom session at 1:30 in the afternoon. The field training resumed at 2-30 in the afternoon and lasted the duration of a football match. The participants then went back for showers and then dinner before having a two hour time out for games and socials. At 9pm prompt, they were in bed.

The coaches also had exciting time handling the players as well as the 60 secondary schools’ coaches drawn from schools in Ogun and Lagos states. Henry Nwosu, a product of schools football and member of the Nigerian winning side in the 1980 Africa Cup of Nations said his rise to stardom was a motivation to the various school footballers hoping to make mark as they were taught the basics which their various games masters in schools may not have imparted to them.

It was the fifth time out for Yisa Sofoluwe who had been with the Camp GTBank from inception. Waheed Akanni, who also played for Nigeria at both junior and senior levels before becoming a chairman of the Lagos State FA, said the coaching crew emphasized on discipline both on and off the field for the students if they hoped to make a successful career in football. “But above all, we told them of the need to also take their academics very serious.