Ilaji Hotels and Sports Resorts in Akanran, Ibadan, Oyo State has hosted Malaga CF Academy Head Coaches, Marcos Antonio and Diego Martins, ahead of scouting and coaching programme which has been scheduled to kick off today, today, Monday, May 4 at its sports arena.
Malaga CF Academy Head Coaches and other notable dignitaries meant to participate at the planned programme have been arriving at Ilaji Hotels and Sports Resort, the organizer of the maiden event.
While speaking during the commissioning of the Scouting and Coaching Programme, the Chief Operating Officer of Hotels and Sports Resort, Prince Adesina Araoye described the scouting and coaching programme that will last for consecutive seven days as one that will help to promote the talents in football and equally add to the knowledge, wisdom and skills of Nigerian football legends who had showcased an interest in football coaching.
Araoye, who welcomed the coaches from Malaga, Spain to the venue of a historical event, also hailed the readiness and eagerness of other notable dignitaries who would simultaneously be the participants for the fruition of the programme.
According to Araoye, “To be a leading hospitality and entertainment outfit in Nigeria and Africa as a whole through consistent and classy hospitality and entertainment services to our esteemed guests, and to be a viable platform through which sporting talents are nurtured to stardom.
“Two things which are paramount from the statement above are hospitality and sports.
“Sports and hospitality are like Siamese twins; they are interdependent and interrelated. Research has shown that sportsmen and women thrive better and maximise their potentials if groomed in a conducive environment.
At Ilaji Hotels and Sports Resort, we have been able to balance this wisely by investing in sporting infrastructure as well as a decent hospitality structure. Besides our hotel rooms which currently stands at 165, we have also built a hostel structure that can conveniently and comfortably accommodate over 300 players.
“The resultant effect of this is there for everyone to verify; we have groomed youngsters who are dedicated, focused and talented; players who within a few years of being nurtured are well ahead of their peers simply because we have put them in an environment that is conducive for the cultivation of football culture.
“The second part of our vision statement (to be a viable platform through which sporting talents are nurtured to stardom) needs strategic thinking and partnership. We have done the needful by investing in sporting infrastructure. With this arrangement, we have discovered and nurtured talented youngsters who can compete well with their peers anywhere in the world. To take our vision further upward from where it is to where it ought to be is the reason why we went into a strategic alliance with Malaga CF.
“Having studied Malaga CF as a club, we share certain similarities in terms of football culture and principles; we love to groom and nurture players to stardom, the same thing goes with Malaga. We do not doubt that their visit to us will yield positive results which are in consonance with our ultimate goal.
“I want to implore the coaches that are participating in our coaching clinic to make the best use of this opportunity. Pay attention to your instructors and take time to explore our Resort during your leisure period. We could have limited this huge opportunity to our coaches and players alone but just as Robers South says in his famous quote ‘If there be any truer measure of a man than by what he does, it must be what he gives.’ We want to be measured by being that organisation that allows others to grow while it is also growing.
“We are sure of the huge talents our society has and we are not going to close doors of opportunity on them just because they are not in our football academy.
“Once again, I want to thank everyone who has come far and wide to witness or participate in this programme, may God in His infinite mercy bless us all.”
Reporters At Large gathered that the event will showcase the likes of Chief Adegboye Onigbinde, Mutiu Adepoju, Nduka Ugbade, Busari Akeem, Festus Adegoju and other football legends in the country will actively participate.
