More than one thousand young athletes have converged in Calabar, the capital of Cross River State located in Southern Nigeria, for the MTN CHAMPS Season 4, a competition organised to expand opportunities for budding talents.
The three-day athletics meet, designed to discover young talents especially from underprivileged homes in track and field, is organised by Making of Champions, a premier sports management company with sponsorship by MTN Nigeria.
The MTN Chief Marketing Officer, Onyinye Ikenna-Emeka, said that Season 4 championship was a reinforcement of the commitment to grassroots sports development across Nigerian schools.
“Over 22,000 young people have participated in the last three seasons with more than 1,300 schools competing,” she said.
She disclosed that 30 Most Valuable Players are currently enrolled in the MTN Champs Academy, noting that within one year, the athletes won 14 national medals and additional international medals with two representing Nigeria in the men’s 4x400m relay.
Ikenna-Emeka also announced the introduction of cash rewards for schools with outstanding performance, hinting that the winner would receive ₦2 million alongside attendance-based prizes of up to ₦5 million to support school sports development.
“At MTN, we recognise that talent is everywhere. With platforms like MTN Champs, we are creating real opportunities for young Nigerians to develop and compete locally and internationally,” she said.
Also speaking, the Managing Editor of Making of Champions, Yemi Galadima, said this year’s Calabar meet is the 12th under the MTN Champs series, featuring more than 1,000 athletes from 121 schools that would be participating across four age categories .
The categories are cadet (U-14), youth (U-17), junior (U-20) and senior — and nearly 100 events.
About 80 percent of the team that represented Nigeria at the African Under-20 Championships had competed at MTN Champs. This competition is a key fixture in Nigeria’s athletics development,” Galadima stated.
On the impact of the competition on children from less privileged backgrounds since its inception, she explained.
“A lot of talented athletes do not come from underprivileged homes. Now you have an organisation taking care of their training, feeding and education. It is a huge relief for parents, who are happy to see their children and wards excel.”
Also, the representative of the Nigeria School Sports Federation (NSSF), Emmanuel Ebong, said the initiative has helped keep young people positively engaged.
According to Ebong, “without initiatives like this, many of these children might be on the streets,” reaffirming the NSSF zero tolerance for age cheating in school sports.
A former beneficiary of MTN CHAMPS and Nigerian athlete, Patience George, advised aspiring young athletes to stay focused, noting “becoming an Olympian is not a day’s job. It requires determination, focus, clear goals and most importantly, hard work.”
While commending the Nigerian Government through the Ministries of Sports and Education, the organisers expressed the hope that other States would invest in developing sports infrastructure within their domain.
They said this would enable young talents take advantage of the opportunities for national and international athletics competitions.