CitySports Africa gears up for 5th anniversary, heads to Spain in November

Sports giants, CitySports Africa, look set to roll out the drums as the company prepares to mark its 5th anniversary in its ongoing efforts to help fill the huge gap in global sports development.

In a media briefing held at CitySports corporate headquarters, Victoria Island, Lagos, on Tuesday, Chief Executive Officer of the company, Shola Opaleye, said CitySports is driven by the desire to cultivate a global landscape where sports act as a dynamic force for positive transformation, uniting diverse individuals and communities in a shared journey towards development, empowerment, unity, and unparalleled opportunity.

Opaleye added that the vision behind the creation of CitySports is geared towards the will to globally empower individuals and communities through sports by providing the right access to comprehensive resources, elite training, competitive platforms, global networking, and transformative opportunities. According to him, by nurturing talents and leadership qualities, CitySports aims to unlock the full potential of each participant and establish pathways for holistic, personal, and professional development.

“The organisation started in December 2019 because we felt there was a huge vacuum in the sporting sector and the process of sports development. We had the idea of just putting things right as they should be to help develop students, so we put a place together to develop students as well as coaches. We believe you cannot have good sports development without the right kits, tools, and facilities. CitySports went into all of these to make sure we develop students adequately.

“Soon after that, we added other sports, and between 2019 and now, we have gone into other sports. We know football is the most popular sport, but now there is athletics, basketball, swimming, and tennis.

“We believe there are three major levels in sports development: grassroots, academy, and professional. Also, in February this year, we formed CitySports FC, and we played in the NNL 1, where we had our first season 4 months ago. Basketball is the closest one that we plan to work on, and we will have a basketball professional side as well. Athletics and swimming are also coming on board,” he said.

Opaleye added that the need to expand beyond the shores of Nigeria and reach all nooks and crannies of Africa triggered constant changes in the brand name from CitySports School to CitySports Africa. He added that the company is leaving no stone unturned to ensure that every African child is given the right opportunity to showcase their talents and fulfil their dreams in life.

“In the past five years, we have been focusing on the right route to develop sports skills, leadership skills, and academic skills because these are the basic three skills every child needs to attain their potential as they grow up.

“Our vision is to contribute immensely to the development of sports in the country and beyond, to give every child the right environment and level playing field to achieve their dreams.

“We have three success stories of students who are now doing great in their craft after going through CitySports developmental programmes, namely: Osaze, a 14-year-old footballer who is currently with Arsenal; Duke, who is doing well at Hull City U19; and one of our products in the Super Falconets,” Opaleye said.

Commenting on the company’s success story in the past five years, head of client service, Amaka Madubuko, described the journey as rewarding after starting with just 15 student footballers. She said it is no small achievement that the company has managed over 1,000 students in different sports like football, basketball, athletics, swimming, and tennis.

“It’s been very rewarding so far; it has been a great journey for CitySports Africa. We started with football with 15 students, but it feels so good to say that in the past years, we now have over 1,000 students in five different sports, namely football, basketball, athletics, swimming, and tennis.

“We have developed special programmes that cater to students irrespective of their skill level. There is what we call the performance academy, which is under football. This is the academy that prepares every student in the programme for collegiate scholarships or professional contracts. CitySports also runs programmes for people from far away who require accommodation. There is a talent trial where people come to us just to know what level they can attain in sports. What we do is put out a performance review and send it to them, and with that, they know what to go for.

“There are two programmes specifically that students lack, which we know can shape the future of our students. Those programmes are the scholarship showcase and the global sports programme. We have been to 9 programmes in the past five years to tell you how progressive CitySports has been. We have been to Spain, Stuttgart, Germany, Portugal, Zutphen in the Netherlands, Man City FC, and West Ham in the UK, and we will be heading back to Salou, Spain in November.

“The global development programmes have actually helped our students develop themselves, as well as through cultural exchange. There are countless opportunities when you have scouts on the ground to see you play. In all, we have taken over 300 students to these global programmes.

“As for the scholarship showcase, we had a partnership with Gulf United in June, and we were able to give out 30 college study-and-play scholarships for UK schools and 20 for US schools. These students are waiting for their visas to join their colleagues abroad,” Amaka said.

According to the event sports promoter of the company, Destiny Agbanimu, CitySports has continued to enjoy corporate support from multinational companies like Samsung, Access Bank, Ericsson Energy, Lufthansa, and a host of others.

He posited that the partnership can only get stronger and better as the years go by, adding that CitySports’ success stories in the past years lay credence to the fact that the company will continue to grow in leaps and bounds.

“We are grateful to our corporate sponsors for their unalloyed support over the years. We can be sure that the partnership can only get stronger each year while we look forward to having more corporate bodies on board,” he said.