CSP Amaraizu outlines how community sports centres become channels to promote community safety and divert youth minds to positive actions.
Undoubtedly, every community needs a high performance Community Sports Centre to thrive and to promote its safety and security. The reason for this is not far-fetched. A high performance Community Sports Centre boosts talent hunt and discoveries of young minds in various sporting events. More importantly, it automatically strengthens resilience of the community in its peace building efforts.
A Community Sports centre therefore meaningfully engages young minds within the community and diverts their energy to positive things. It utilizes the energy of youth for overall positive youth engagements and self discovery. Thus engaged, it becomes more difficult for youth to yield to social or peer group temptations and pressures.
This is where sports play a role in preventing crime. A functional sports centre reduces the possibility of youth recruitment into membership of organized criminal groups (OCGS) and unlawful Societies for Serious and organized crime (SOC). Instead, the centre transforms youth into National Assets for greater society. Incidentally, this is the expected outcome of the Prevent SOC Policing as outlined in the Community-oriented Policing Framework of the Nigeria Police Force.
Establishing High Performance Community Sports Centres across our various communities under the community sports framework will help to create alternative meaningful pathways for youths. They serve as springboard of sporting glory for talented young minds in our society. They will definitely help in dissuading youths from becoming members of unlawful societies, Organized Criminal Groups, perpetration of substance abuse, drug trafficking, and Internet Fraud (aka Yahoo-Yahoo and Yahooplus), among other deviant behaviour. This is because Sports Centres target various children and youth brackets with deliberate sporting programmes capable of creating life changing opportunities for them and ultimately for building a functional community. Community sports centres help to improve cognitive and affective abilities of young persons including their psychomotor. Thus motivated, young minds are made to dwell around National Values, Morals, Standard and Discipline in line with the realization of the Olympic Values of Sports – Excellence, Respect and Friendship – which is needed for a functional community .
Note however, that this may not work as hugely expected without the entire community getting involved. It requires robust stakeholder engagement and commitment that cuts across relevant community stakeholders, Certified Sports Administrators and Managers, Government and Non-Governmental persons, Sports Writers and the Media, as well as Ministries, Department and Agencies (MDAs). Community Sports centres across our various communities deliver opportunity and access to sports facilities to younger minds and inspire them to greatness.
Research established that sports is a vital tool for crime prevention and that peace and young minds are found around its corridors. A high performance Community Sports Framework across all Nigerian Communities including in tertiary institutions will therefore help to address two salient issues – social vices and sports development. Indeed, for a sports centre to fully achieve the desired outcomes, there is need for a deliberate policy on community sports centres by Government at all levels. Community sports will help remove some of the social conditions and opportunities that motivate youth involvement in crime in their various communities. Community sports strengthens youth resilience, exposes them to creative and strategic thinking, and builds their confidence for a greater society.
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