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Officials
of the Nigeria Rugby Football Federation (NRFF) say plans are afoot to
hold a rugby skills clinic for secondary schools in Lagos.

The clinic, billed
to take place in the middle of next month and to be known as the
Cowbell Lagos iTry Schools Rugby Skills Clinic, will see students from
selected schools being taken through a skills programme and a
conditioned game.

Commenting on the
programme, Jide Afolabi the NRFF National Youth and Coaching
Coordinator, said: “From the middle of April we will be distributing
equipment to the participating schools at the Cowbell Lagos iTRY
Schools Rugby Skills Clinic. There participating schools will converge
on five Lagos venues and partake in a skills programme and a
conditioned game”.

He added: “We will
also be launching the 30-school Cowbell Lagos iTRY Rugby Schools League
where participating schools will be able to enter an age group based
side”. He also went on to add that just before the league starts, each
school will receive a set of rugby shirts that have been provided by
Cowbell Flavoured Milk.”

Big programme

Afolabi said the
iTRY programme is the biggest rugby coaching programme in West Africa.
He says: “The plan involves rolling out the programme across all 36
states during the next four years. The aim of Rugby4Nigeria is to
develop a core of youth players who are well grounded in the good
fundamentals of the game and life, which they will hopefully employ
throughout their lives.

Meanwhile, NRFF
continues with the Cowbell Lagos iTRY programme with its goal of
providing a boost for development of youth rugby in Lagos State. Maalik
Ahmed, one of the coordinators of the programme in Lagos, said the
programme has been making tremendous inroads into schools in the state.
He noted that in the coming weeks, “the number of players being coached
on this programme, will increase”.

The iTRY Schools
programme was originally established by London Nigerian Rugby Football
Club in 2000. Over 10,000 children have participated and it has been
one of the most successful club-driven coaching programmes in the UK.
Since 2003 it has been sponsored by FBN UK and has also received many
endorsements from the Rugby Football Union, Middlesex Rugby Football
Union, Sport England and many London boroughs.