{"id":124512,"date":"2025-12-18T14:38:34","date_gmt":"2025-12-18T13:38:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/?p=124512"},"modified":"2025-12-18T14:38:34","modified_gmt":"2025-12-18T13:38:34","slug":"sports-powerful-tool-for-social-inclusion-for-youths-soludo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/sports-powerful-tool-for-social-inclusion-for-youths-soludo\/","title":{"rendered":"Sports, Powerful Tool for Social Inclusion for Youths \u2014 Soludo"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">By Oscar Okhifo,<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The First Lady of Anambra State, Mrs. Nonye Soludo, has described sports as a powerful instrument for character formation and social inclusion among youths in society.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">She made the statement on Wednesday in Awka while flagging off the second edition of the Nonye Soludo Volleyball Championship.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The four-day championship, scheduled to run from December 17 to December 20, 2025, will feature group-stage matches from December 17 to 18, with the finals slated for December 20.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Dr. Soludo explained that the competition was designed to promote youth development, teamwork and healthy competition through sports. According to her, the tournament forms part of deliberate efforts to positively engage young people, discover hidden talents and instil discipline and unity among youths in the state.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cThis competition will also serve as a platform for nurturing future volleyball stars,\u201d she said.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cI encourage our youths to take the tournament seriously because sports remains a powerful tool for character building and social inclusion.\u201d<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">She commended the organizers, coaches and participating teams for their dedication to the success of the championship and urged athletes to display sportsmanship and fair play throughout the competition.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Also speaking, the Chairman of the Anambra State Sports Development Commission, Mr. Patrick Onyedum, described the championship as a laudable initiative aligned with the state government\u2019s commitment to youth empowerment through sports.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He expressed confidence that the tournament would further boost the growth of volleyball in the state and beyond.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In his remarks, the Anambra State Commissioner for health, Dr. Afam Obidike, stressed the connection between health and sports. He also\u00a0 disclosed that 15 out of the 21 expected teams, representing the 21 local government areas of the state, were participating in the championship.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The event attracted sports administrators, youth leaders, volleyball enthusiasts and supporters, as teams from across the state compete for honours in the four-day sports fiesta.<\/div>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Related Posts generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Oscar Okhifo, The First Lady of Anambra State, Mrs. Nonye Soludo, has described sports as a powerful instrument for character formation and social inclusion among youths in society. She&hellip;<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Related Posts generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":116283,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-124512","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Sports, Powerful Tool for Social Inclusion for Youths \u2014 Soludo - Pointblank News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/sports-powerful-tool-for-social-inclusion-for-youths-soludo\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sports, Powerful Tool for Social Inclusion for Youths \u2014 Soludo - Pointblank News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Oscar Okhifo, The First Lady of Anambra State, Mrs. Nonye Soludo, has described sports as a powerful instrument for character formation and social inclusion among youths in society. 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