The Institute of Sport Jobs in South Africa

The need for a formalized training of coaches was felt after Nigeria’s exposure to the Olympic Games of 1952, but it was much later that a serious effort was made at harmonizing the various sporadic coaching clinics all over Nigeria.

In November 1972, the Executive Committee of the National Sports Commission (NSC) officially endorsed the establishment of an Institute for the training of Coaches, sports Organizers and other sports functionaries. A Technical Sub-committee was set up to look into the training programmes of East European countries and other aspects that were influencing the progress recorded by these countries in sports. Consequently, an agreement was reached with the government of Germany on technical co-operation. Top Physical and Health Education professionals from Nigeria Universities as well as National and State Coaches in various sports were invited to Lagos to draw up a coaching programme for the country. The exercise was later concluded at the University of Ife, (now Obafemi Awolowo University); that marked the beginning of pilot courses organized under the auspices of the National Institute for Sports (NIS) in three centres namely the Universities of Ife and Ibadan as well as Ogbe Stadium, Benin.