National High School Sports, LFA Partnership To Boost Enrolment Using Sports

By S. Siapha Mulbah
As a way to advance students’ enrolment to improve athletes’ academic development across the nation, a group under the banner National High School Sports has signed an initial two year partnership with the Liberia Football Association.

The partnership signed by the two institutions is targeted to eradicate many challenges confronting the foundational building process of football and kickball by giving students opportunities to actively grow in their desired sporting discipline and remain in school.

Launching the partnership Thursday afternoon at the headquarters of the football association in Swankamore Community, Oldest Congo town, the Executive Director of the High Schools Sports Association Dionysius Segbwe said the institution has come to support the workings of football with such a framework to benefit youth football.

With age cheating creeping daily into Liberian football along with other sad realities that have been recorded of national embarrassment to the country, Segbwe noted that the program plan of the National High School Sports is targeted at reforming the youth sporting programs for both local and national teams.

According to him, the program has the expertise to restore credibility in the national youth team’s selection and provide the necessary tools available to the FA in order to effectively track the ages of players.

He said the organization deliberately invoices a sports platform that boost school’s enrollment and they are now ready to assist the Liberia Football Association in every possible way that can better up the narrative for football stories to shape a future for the youth.

“We are here to support the enormous work of the Liberia Football Association and this collaboration is envisioned to have far reaching and impact future players across the country in LFA sanction leagues,” he explained.

The former Lonestar player intimated that the program is well structured across Liberia to implement grassroot sporting activities with the support of the LFA and other government line entities that works for the progress of youth development.

He promised the intention of National High School Sports to fully cooperate with the football house and its executive so that the program aims and objectives are met.
He described their operations in Liberia as a focus-oriented institution that is not only concerned about extracurricular activities in schools but also making sure that the students themselves see education as the way forward along the way.

The executive director of the National High School Sports was escorted to the partnership signing ceremony alongside Coach Kelvin Segbwe who serves as technical director for the institution’s sports programs.

At the event, coach Segbwe testified that the programs since its introduction to Liberia in 2016 have imparted several students and improved enrollment in nearly all participating schools.
He explained that it has become a serious challenge for students in school to balance active sports activities with the academic program. “We don’t want to encourage you to do sports and leave education or encourage you to education and leave sports because we don’t know your future.”

According to him, the solution to basic challenges with youth football programs and cheating will be curtailed in the soonest possible time with the full implementation of the partnership.
Unlike the regular Inter High School Sports Association league that usually take place across the country, the introduction of a new strategic partnership between the two entities is set to see students explore their sports careers to greater heights beyond the demarcated areas of Liberia.

For his part, LFA deputy Secretary General Mohamed Sherriff assured the gathering that the focus areas of the partnership is a guarantee that the marriage between LFA and National High School Sports is going to be cemented well.

On behalf of the FA, he confirmed that the program will actually empower the football association to deal with the long-standing situation of age cheating with an up-to-date database.