One of Nigeria’s leading sports for change NGO, Community Sport, and Educational Development (CSED) Initiative, has completed a two-day seminar on netball for physical education (P.E) Teachers in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

The training was held in collaboration with the Air Force Secondary School, Air Force Base, Rumuomasi, on February 26 and 27, 2025.

The training is part of “Project 2027,” which is CSED Initiative’s quest to provide Nigerian school children and youths access to learn and play the game of netball in a safe space. Netball is the only sport in the world that is specifically designed for girls and women.

According to CSED Initiative, the game of netball is an important tool that could be used to promote the general health and well-being of the girl-child, as well as empower them to blend sport with their academic pursuit.

But in line with netball’s world goal of promoting the inclusivity of the game, two secondary schools in Nigeria, Tare Pet School Yenagoa, and C.S.C.S. Itam currently have boys’ netball teams, alongside their female netball team.

Thirty-five participants from various secondary schools, including the Nigeria Navy secondary, Army Day Secondary School, private and public secondary schools, in the city, as well as two Cameroonian refugees who represented the Cameroonian community-based in Adagom 3, Camp in Ogoja Local Council of Cross River State. The training was facilitated by coaches Edema Fuludu, Funsho Ekundayo and Onome Fuludu.

The coaches were supported by Deborah Bakari (a University of Benin student), who has been playing netball for the past four years in Uhoghua (Benin City).

Some volunteers, including Gold Dappa-Wogu also benefited from the free netball training that uses a training manual developed by Ambassador Mary Waya (a Netball Africa certified instructor). The trained netball coaches were provided with free T-shirts that were donated by Lord’s Taverners (a UK-based charity).

The Commandant of the Airforce Secondary School, Port Harcourt, Wing Commander Nasir Adamu, who was instrumental in bringing CSED Initiative to Port Harcourt, expressed his excitement in seeing an NGO with passion for developmental and empowerment programmes targeted at the girl/child.

He urged the participants to take advantage of the training and become reliable coaches in a sport that is being revived in Nigeria, just as he promised to visit the schools to monitor progress and use of the freely donated netball starter packs (a pair of netball rims/nets, finger held whistles, two sets of netball training bibs, and netball balls) to the representatives of the participating schools.

CSED National Coordinator, Edema Fuludu, informed participants that the game would soon become a National Sports Festival event, and urged them to be serious and as enthusiastic as they exhibited during the two-day training event. The new netball coaches take the number of trained netball coaches under “Project 2027” by CSED Initiative to 411.