Segun Odegbami Renames School

Nigerian football legend, Segun Odegbami, has renamed his multisport school from The International Academy (TIA) to Segun Odegbami International College and Sports Academy (SOCA).


Nigeria’s first and only multisport secondary school has taken another giant step. The change became necessary to reflect the next phase in the school’s development. The school was established and named ‘The International Sports Academy’ to express its dual purpose of providing a perfect environment and training where young boys and girls with talent in sports and a passion for academics come to combine and excel in both.

The objective of the school, even though it has yielded fruits, has not done so in the expected numbers. With most parents thinking it is just a place where young boys can get additional training for their football and can be sold abroad to professional football clubs, and a non-realization of it's ‘normal fully fledged secondary school’, made up of talented young athletes, in addition to parents fixating on football as the only sport offered in the academy, ignoring others sports like Basketball, Tennis and Track & field, the name change became imperative.

In 10 years of the schools establishment, since January 2007, the school has succeeded in exporting extremely talented athletes (footballers, basket ballers and tennis players) to colleges and universities in the United States of America where they are effectively honing their sports talent and getting first class education, all on full scholar-athlete American scholarships.

This change comes on the heels of the school’s 10th anniversary in January 2017. The event will be an elaborate celebration of the school’s achievements in 10 years, a story that will be told by the products of this laboratory of learning and sports training located in Wasinmi, Ogun state.

Segun Odegbami International College and Sports Academy (SOCA) is currently admitting students into its various classes from JSS 1 – to SSS 3 with very few vacancies left in this unique school with a maximum population of only 20 students in each of the 6 classes. Its results in WAEC and SAT examinations, for entry into American Colleges, speak volumes.

The school was nominated for an international award, several years ago, by an international organisation in the UK, Beyond Sports, as one of 35 such institutions in the world using sports to drive social inclusion in the communities they are located.

The school’s website is www.socaschool.com.