The hockey team of St. Maria Goretti Girls’ Grammar School Benin City, has been rewarded with cash gifts for their sterling performance and recent accomplishments.
The team won a silver medal for Edo State during the National Youth Games that was held in Asaba in July 2025.
The Francis and Fidelia Ibhawoh Foundation in collaboration with Community Sports and Educational Development (CSED) Initiative presented the cash gifts at the school’s hockey ground.
Notably, St. Maria Goretti Girl’s Grammar School is the only secondary school in Nigeria that has a hockey Astro turf pitch. The school’s hockey playing tradition goes back to as far as the early 70’s, when the school was under the control of the Catholic mission in Benin City.
As part of the school talent identification programme, some of the current hockey team players are in junior secondary school.
In order to ensure that the game of hockey is taken to the next level, the Francis and Fidelia Ibhawoh Foundation and CSED Initiative have arranged for 25 preloved hockey sticks to be delivered to the school hockey team.
In addition, the two NGOs are currently exploring the possibility of providing the school hockey team players access to take part in the “Sporting Coders” programme.
This programme would give the students the opportunity to learn how to code, while at the same time playing the game (hockey) they love. The Sporting Coders programme was successful piloted in April 2024 in Bayelsa State by the netball team of Tare Pet School.
Interestingly, 12 out of the 21 netballers that took part in the Sporting Coders pilot programme have gained admission into different universities in Nigeria. This is a further example that with the right support of parents, school authorities and coaches, Nigerian secondary school students can combine their academic pursuits with taking part in sports.
Speaking at the presentation ceremony the Executive Director of the Edo State Sports Commission, Sabina Chikere encouraged the students to keep working hard in both their academic pursuit and improving their athletic ability.
She stated that they have a good example in Dr. Celestina Aletor, who represented the Old Girls’ Association of the school at the event, to look up to.
“She is not just a former hockey player who represented the school, she was so good at the game that the Federal Government of Nigeria gave her a university scholarship,” she said.
According to her, Dr Aletor is a former Principal of the school and she still plays an active role in representing the interest of the Old Girls’ Association and carrying out other mediation and negotiation work with external organisations in order to ensure that the school is restored to her past glory of being among the best girls’ school in Edo State.
In her remarks, Dr. Aletor said courtesy of the Old Girls’ Association, the school boost of a well-equipped IT lab that is second to none in Nigeria, adding that the school has acquired more than 30 sewing machines, head dressing equipment and an equipped Home Economic lab.
“The intention of the School’s Old Girls’ Association is to provide the current students with access to vocational skills development opportunities. Some of these vocational opportunities would be available to the students while they are still enrolled in the school or immediately after writing their WAEC/NECO examinations.
“To crown it all, the Old Girls’ Association recently donated what they call in local parlance a “tear rubber new chassis” school bus to their alma mater.” she further explained.
Meanwhile, as the Old Girls’ Association of the school keep raising the bar in attracting skills building opportunities to their alma mater, the Ministry of Education is expected to raise their game by ensuring that they provide the school with qualified vocational education teachers who will put the idle equipment into good use.
The highlight of the event was the presentation of cash gifts to 14 ex-students of the hockey team who graduated in July 2025, as well as 22 current students of the school.