Young Nathan Siasia was the star attraction at the grand finale of an Easter Football Clinic organized by former Super Eagles midfielder, Femi Ajilore in Abuja last weekend.
Nathan who netted 10 goals in the competition and was nicknamed ‘Goal Scoring Machine, GSM’, carted away virtually all available awards on ground- the highest goal scorer, the most valuable player of the tournament, and several other individual awards.
The performance of the young lad attracted the interest of so many ex-internationals in attendance including the current Super Eagles coordinator, Patrick Paschal, Taribo West and others.
Speaking to newsmen after receiving his laurels, Nathan stated categorically that his desire is to be a professional footballer, stressing that he has the full backing of his parents, who have both given him all the support necessary to achieve his goal.
Young Nathan receiving his award
The red-hot Nathan who led his team to thrash the Femi Ajilore young lads in the final of the event, regretted that his uncle who is a much celebrated ex-player and coach, has never watched him play.
“I have been learning my football skills in my school, Premier International School. Our school has won so many football competitions even in the United Kingdom. Yes, I really love to be a professional footballer when I grow up and my father and mother are already supporting me.
“My uncle knows that I play football but he has not watched me play for once. I really love that he comes to watch me.
“I use to support Manchester United, but now I support Juventus because of Ronaldo. Ronaldo is my idol, I love him so much,” Nathan said.
Meanwhile, the organizer of the tournament explained that they put the competition together to afford busy parents a platform to engage their kids during the holiday period.
“I and my partner, Makinz Sports Promotions Ltd, what we are doing here is the final day of the Easter football school just to engage the kids while on holiday to teach them the basic of football. And as you well know, some parents are not too chanced to stay with them at home. And a lot of the called us, they want them to be engaged especially in sporting activities.
“So, a lot of things came up and with our own initiative as well that if there is need for the kids to start learning football especially at grass root age. So these are the things we considered before going for this program and we thank God that it was a successful one and we are just hoping and looking forward to many more programs especially for the grass root.
“I am privileged to have played internationally and at the National level as well, and we discovered that a lot of the kids don’t have the privilege to train and learn the real basic of the game and you and I know that at seventeen some players don’t know how to control and pass. So, these are part of what we considered to put this program in place. Because a lot of people have been complaining about our grass root and you know we can’t continue to complain, somebody has to do something and we have step up to start and I am believing that we are not going to stop, we will continue to develop the kids with the hope that someday they will be great and participate to represent our country,” he explained.
