A Call for Paradigm Shift in AFAS Sports: A need to look beyond just football

Praise Olorunfemi

Over time now, there have been questions on whether the only sport existing is the football game. The Sports Desk of AFAS Press has also joined in this questioning. In fact, in some personal discussions with other students, it seems like the only existing sport, especially in the faculty, is football. Having balanced sporting activities is quite very important, to the faculty and also to the university at large. A current argument that would even be won by the dimmest of wits at the moment is an argument in support of the rising and emerging prominence of sport in the world today. Sport is fast becoming a major contributor to the global economy in the world today. In an article dated 5 June 2020, published on the “Business Day” site, it was reported that,” Nigerians plough about $5.5 million into sports betting every day, totaling an incredible $2 billion a year”. It is however impossible for this amount not to have an indelible impact on the Nigerian economy, even if it has not been taken into serious consideration. The point is, everyone, especially in this part of the world, may pretend like sport is nothing and that it matters little. But the reality is, it is gradually becoming a lifestyle, hence it has become an important part of learning, living, and thriving in this current era.

Tertiary institutions are expected to apply the finishing touches of a number of lessons learnt and systematic, methodological and pedagogical knowledge that has been acquired over time. Hence, the idea of, an undergraduate is somebody who knows something about everything, if you read the statement again, it says something about everything and not everything about everything. It is therefore not the best practice when a tertiary institution has a lopsided balance.

However, the responsibility of achieving this equilibrium does not solely rest on the shoulders of the university alone, but also on the body of student leaders also.
If the story has not always been like this before 2019 may not really be clear, but from 2019, football has been the only tournament with a budget in the faculty, save for some board games here and there that has been played in the faculty. It would be better if the name of the public office of the sports director can be repealed and renamed “Office of the Football Director”, so it will be clear that the only sport the faculty recognises is football. This will help in not raising false hopes and expectations in some other sports. The former sports director, when asked about plans for other sports, seemed not to have any. All that was his concern at that time was establishing his “legacy” by introducing the Inter-level football competition.

A Possible Implementable Variety: Memory Sports

Although, of a truth, the faculty might not have a ready facility to facilitate certain kinds of other popular worthwhile sports that could turn out to become a career path for any student, yet, there are a number of sports and games out there that can be introduced to the faculty which will be of immense benefit to members of the faculty, and possibly the university at large. Games like Chess and Scrabble have been mentioned earlier, however, that is not what this article is about. This article is a call to attention to a global and international game called World Memory Championship (WMC), organised by the World Memory Sports Council (WMSC).

World Memory Championship is a memory sport that entails its competitors to memorise as much as possible information within a given short period of time. It is an annual event that brings together the world’s best memory athletes to compete in a series of memory challenges. The competition includes various events such as memorizing decks of cards, long strings of numbers, names and faces, historic dates, and binary digits, among others.

The objective of the championship is to push the limits of human memory and showcase the incredible abilities of memory athletes. Participants use a variety of memory techniques, such as the “method of loci” or the “memory palace” to memorise large amounts of information quickly and accurately.

The championship began in 1991 and has since then grown to become a widely recognised event with participants from all over the world. As mentioned earlier, the competition is organised by the World Memory Sports Council (WMSC), which is responsible for setting the rules and regulations for the competition. However, the sports council in the faculty can see how the rule and regulations can be set to the faculty standards if the sports will be adopted.

The World Memory Championship was invented by the English author Tony Buzan, also the inventor of mind maps; however, the World Championship Sports Council (WMSC) was founded by Tony Buzan and Ray Keene, a Chess grandmaster. It is worthy of note, that these two have authored and co-authored books that sold millions of copies in their dozens.

The first champion of the WMSC tournament was Dominic O’Brien, in 1991, who has also won the competition 8 times, 2 times in a row once and 3 times in a row twice. While the current WMSC champion is Tenuun Tamir of Mongolia, Tenuun Tamir is not the only WMC.

In 2016, a dispute ensued among the players of the WMSC, which led to the creation of the International Association of Memory (IAM). They also organise their own memory sports tournament yearly, producing a world champion in World Memory Championship since 2017. Hence, while the WMSC announces their world champion, the IAM also announces its own champion too. Therefore, the current IAM champion is Andrea Muzii from Italy.

Manner of the game

The World Memory Championship tournament is played in ten different stages or categories, or better still disciplines. The time allotted to memorise provided information in these disciplines differs from each:
One hour numbers (23712892….)
5-minute numbers
Spoken numbers, read out one per second
30-minute binary digits (011100110001001….)
One hour playing cards (as many decks of cards as possible)
15-minute random lists of words (house, playing, orphan, encyclopedia….)
15-minute names and faces
5-minute historic dates (fictional events and historic years)
15-minute abstract images (WMSC, black and white randomly generated spots) / 5-minute random images (IAM, concrete images)
Speed cards – Always the last discipline. Memorise the order of one shuffled deck of 52 playing cards as fast as possible.

Benefits of the Game

Like any other sport, memory sport also comes with it immense benefits. The first on the list of its benefits is improved memory.

Improved Memory: Together with the need to depend more on understanding what is being taught as a student, is the vitality of the need to have an alert memory. The importance of having a developed memory in order to succeed in anything in life can in no way be over-emphasised. Therefore, regular participation in memory sports can improve your memory skills. By practising different memorization techniques, one can develop an ability to recall information quickly and accurately, does that sound like a shortcut to 4.00CGPA?

Brain Training: The brain is like any muscle in the body. The more you use it, the more developed it becomes. Taking it a step further, the more aspect of your brain you train the more, the better that aspect becomes. Hence, with memory sports, the brain is challenged and kept active and engaged. Engaging in memory sports can help you maintain and improve cognitive functions as you age.

Increased Concentration: Of course, this list will be incomplete without the mention of a need for a high level of concentration. Memory sports require high levels of concentration and focus. Practising these skills can improve your ability to concentrate for longer periods of time, which can be beneficial in many areas of life, and not just schooling.

Boosted Confidence: Every student would love to stroll into every exam hall with confidence. The majority of the time, this confidence comes when a student is resting assured of what has been stored in the memory bank. As you improve your memory skills through memory sports, you will likely feel more confident in your abilities, even beyond examinations. This confidence can transfer to other areas of life.

Fun and Social: Participating in memory sports can be a fun and social activity. You can meet like-minded people and compete against others, which can be a great way to challenge yourself and make new friends.

In conclusion, Memory sports can have many benefits for mental health and cognitive abilities. By challenging the brain and practising memory techniques, memory faculty attain a higher level of development, concentration, confidence, and more. Not all students are a fan of football. Students have varied interests in other sports, and it will be unfair to the members of the faculty when emphasis is only laid on just football at the detriment of the development of other sports.