The first ever edition of Kick a Story into Secondary School held from August 31 to September 5 2015 at the Liberation Stadium. The tournament received great accolades from the Federal Inspectorate Service, Ministry of Education, Rivers State and the Rivers State Football Association for the ingenuity in intertwining Football and Literature.
10 communities participated in this year’s edition. The Communities, Port Harcourt, Rumuolemeni, Rumuwokeada, Abuloma, Rumuibekwe, Bundu Ama, Air Force, Abuloma, Ogu and Rumuomasi, were first invited to a Football Clinic in July where the Coaches were introduced to ECCI and informed on the rules of the tournament. Each community team was given 18 copies of the book Things Fall Apart as well as the movie. Reading coaches were also assigned to the teams to adequately prepare the children for the competition.
Our ECCI team visited each of the communities to speak with the participating children and their respective coaches while they were in preparation. Though their excitement was more on football, they were eager to read the book and this showed in their concentration despite the unsightly state of their learning grounds. Some admitted they had never read a novel before and were very happy to have the opportunity to read one, most of them enjoyed the book especially as their reading coaches made the characters come alive with some scenes enacted. Some of the children had never taken part in a competition or been in the state capital. It was a fun and challenging project and the children as well as their coaches fervently expressed their gratitude to be a part of the phenomenal competition.
At the 2nd Football Clinic that held on August 23, Jerseys for the participating children were distributed and Draws carried out for the match fixtures. The teams were divided into four groups and informed again on the rules of the competition. The first 3 days were set aside for the group stage while the other days were for quarter final, Semi final and finals respectively.
Everyone that were at the liberation stadium including the organisers were astonished at the show of skill and knowledge the children displayed. Questions asked in the quiz segment grew more difficult as the games progressed but the children came so amazingly prepared even the Director of the Federal Inspectorate Service, Ministry of Education, Rivers state was impressed.
At the end of the semi finals, Port Harcourt and Rumuolemeni proceeded to the finals while Rumuomasi and Rumuibekwe battled it out for 3rd place. At the finals, the matches were goalless and the winners emerged from points gotten from the quiz competition. Rumuomasi came 3rd, Rumuolemeni took the 2nd position and Port Harcourt emerged the first ever winners of Kick a Story into Secondary school. It was an awe inspiring moment as the children danced deliriously with joy. The top 3 teams were given cheques of N200,000, N100, 000 and N75,000 as well as the Gold, Silver and Bronze trophies respectively. All the children that participated were also given Certificates of Participation signed by ECCI and the Rivers State Football Association.
The tournament endeared the children to reading against all odds. It engendered mental, physical and teambuilding skills. It brought out the feeling of accountability and responsibility towards the development of their communities as their community leaders were around to cheer them on. It ensured their long term holiday was productive, fun and memorable. Indeed, the 10 communities and over 150 children that participated will not forget Kick a Story in a hurry. Everyone is looking forward to the 2nd edition already!
