After launching Team Chika Chukwumerije Sports Foundation (CCSF) in Abuja penultimate Monday, 2008 Beijing Olympics bronze medallist, Chika Chukwumerije, has said the aim of the team is to engage the youth in meaningful activities that will affect them positively.
The 2007 All Africa Games (AAG) gold medallist said: “It is true that one of our goals is to produce national champions within the first three years, continental champions within the first six years and Olympic medallists within the first decade.
“However, this is not what our focus will be on. Our focus will be to help young people discover and express themselves. Our focus is to help young people learn a lot of soft skills not taught in traditional learning institutions.
“Our focus will be on building their character, and helping them appreciate all the virtues that mankind holds dear – humility, hard work, kindness, team work, indomitable spirit, loyalty, patriotism, courage and many more.
“This is what drives Team CCSF; the desire to see young people come to us with empty minds, and end up with open minds that see opportunities to be harnessed from every situation and challenge.”
The scion of the late Senator Uche Chukwumerije is teaching the youth to fight adversity with determination.
“We teach them to fight hard, to fight strong and to fight fair. We teach them to look adversity in the face, and refuse to back down. We teach them to be kind and honest, patient and hardworking. We teach them to constantly improve themselves and learn new things. We teach them to watch out for each other and be the ultimate selfless team players,” he said.
For 18-year-old Itiku Peter, the event is a dream come true. “Since we started training a few months ago, we feel a lot more confident about the future. We do not just do taekwondo training, but we do many other activities, like language course, event management courses and sabon. Chika is also hammering us on our behaviour and character.”
Also 13-year-old Bukola Ogunnusi, a JSS 2 student of the Government Secondary School, Garki, described the launching as an avenue for her to build herself.
She said: “This is like the second event we have had in three weeks. We have learnt so much about organising events, and it has built our character. We love the hard training, and all the extra activities that go with it. We are very happy and hope we can get a lot of support for our team.”