There's a popular saying that "all work without play makes Jack a dull boy". Among the very many benefits of sports is that it helps to foster unity among individuals and sets of individuals. Indeed, everyone needs the togetherness that births where there is a leisure sports. For the on-the-go professionals, leisure sports is a way of refreshing the mind off routine activities and it has a way of boosting productivity, relieving stress and surging collaboration among team members.
In my locality, from church to professional bodies to non-governmental organisations and more, leisure and ceremonial sports is a known recipe. Yesterday,m the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE), Uyo Branch decided to include novelty football matches as part of their 2021 Engineering week/Conference. This time, the matches were fixed against the Sports Writer Association of Nigeria (SWAN). This followed a 7km Road walk earlier which was aimed at fostering the need for extra-curricular activities, leisure, fitness and relaxation among its members.
The engineering profession is synonymous with hard, cognitive and stressful jobs and times as these created foe leisure sports is simply priceless. Those involved in outdoor site inspections and construction may have to leave holes as early as 7 am only to return at nights daily to be able to meet up with datelines and draw profits. Indeed, the 2021 Engineering Week which prioritized relaxation and refreshment for its members is an awesome one.
Below was the formation adopted by the NSE team called "NSE Machines" for the match. It was a 4,3,3 formation that stressed a offensive game. I found everything wrong with this formation when it was first released by the team coach as it's more effective for a team that has strong midfielders. Being a novelty match, it wasn't really about the goals but having the ball in contact and doing as much touches as possible to have the body well expressed. The formation, 4,3,3 has the deficiency of handling a counter attack by the opposing team when it arises.
Alas, the formation was utilized and we ended up losing 0: 2 to the SWAN side. I would say the Sports writers are closer to the sports terrain as their journalism is based on sports. They had advantages over the engineering side. Though we lost, but it was indeed an exciting time playing with the sports journalists in the State. Asides the scoreline, this reinvented a more cordial relationship between the two professional parallels.
Indeed, no profession is an island, we all need each other to have our work well cooed and served. Thanks that the leadership of the Engineering sect found it wise to broker this synergy while helping the engineers relax, refresh and get fit for their work.
The match was played in the training bowl of the Godswill Akpabio International Stadium, located in Uyo, Nigeria. The Stadium is one o Nigeria's finest with 30,000 capacity and it 's the home stadium for Akwa United FC and Dakkada FC currently playing the Nigerian Professional Football League.
Saturday was a fun-filled day for engineers in Uyo and we had a bite of our fitness pill during the walk, the training and the novelty football match. Indeed, Leisure and Ceremonial Sports is a Therapy for the Mind and Bone and every Professional Needs it.
Note: All Images used are drawn from social media handles and Chat rooms of the Nigerian Society of Engineers, Uyo Branch.