Players and coaches of high-flying women’s league outfit, CATS Ladies FC of Lagos are in charge of leadership training and teaching football techniques at a two-day programme for girls in Surulere.
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The programme, which began on Tuesday and extends into Wednesday at Union Bank’s The Stable Sports Complex on Bode Thomas Road, is tagged Goals For Girls Leadership Summit 2026.
Sports247 gathered that the programme is the initiative of a USA-based Nigerian, Damilola Ogunbote, who is the executive director of Goals For Girls Initiative, with assistance from CATS Ladies’ head coach, Chinasa Mandy Ukandu, serving as the project’s country manager in Nigeria.
Ogunbote and Ukandu, who is a former player, are equally being aided by CATS Ladies’ assistant coach, Kehinde Ogunneye (fornerly based in England) and some of the club’s players in running the ongoing project.
One of the players in the 2025 Lagos State Womens’ League winning ream, Tessy Tony Oyomowo, who plays as an attacker and versatile full back, told Sports247 that the day’s activities involved three stages – leadership classes, football skills and mini-competition.
The petite player, who served as time keeper for the football skills segment, further explained that, while the leadership aspects hold in the arena’s sitting stands, techniques are taught on the pitch.
“The football skills part of our activities involve five stages. We have control, dribbling, passing, mental alertness and shooting stages.
“There are 150 students from five junior schools, which provided 30 each. So, we first take them through various aspects of leadership training, after which they come to the pitch for stage by stage of football skills.”
Oyomowo and the other players then turned to referees when it was time for the day’s climax in a mini-competition among students from all the five participating schools (which a different set will also do on Wednesday).
At the end of the matches for Day 1, which were played with two games taking place simultaneously for 10 minutes each on a round robin format, Community Secondary School placed first with ten points, followed by Iponri Estate High School with seven points and Coker Secondary School third.
Full results of the mini-competition for Day One:
1. Eric Moore High School 0, Coker Secondary School 2
2. Iponri Estate High School 1, Sanya Secondary School 0
3. Eric Moore High School 0, Iponri Estate High School 0
4. Coker Secondary School 0, Community Secondary School 1
5. Eric Moore High School 0, Sanya Secondary School 0
6. Iponri Estate High School 0, Community Secondary School 1
7. Eric Moore High School 0, Community Secondary School 2
8. Coker Secondary School 0, Sanya Secondary School 0
9. Community Secondary School 0, Sanya Secondary School 0
10. Coker Secondary School 0, Iponri Estate High School 2.
