King’s Cup Championship, Learning Process – Scrabble Coach

The National Coach, Nigeria Scrabble Federation (NSF), Victor Okwurere, has said that the King’s Cup Championship in Thailand educated the NSF’s technical team on the sport’s emerging rules.

Okwurere told newsmen that during the competition which held from June 26 to June 29, the technical team understudied new techniques of the game.

“We used the competition to understudy the new technicalities in the sport and we’ll use it to boost the technical aspects of the Godswill Akpabio Classics in September.

“And with that, we’ll be able to put up a hitch-free tournament in September without issues of bad officiating from participants because it involves a lot of cash prizes and players from across the world.

“And the King’s Cup was a good platform to use to expose our technical team to the rules,” the coach said.

He disclosed that the NSF would use the Godswill Akpabio Scrabble Classics to train players for the African Scrabble Championship in Tanzania in November.

“Apart from us using the King’s Cup as a preparatory platform for the Godswill Akpabio Classics, it was also geared towards monitoring players’ performance ahead of the African Scrabble Championship.

“As you know, we’re the defending champions for the African Scrabble Championship so we need to prepare adequately,” he said.

It will be recalled that Jighere Wiliton won the 8th African Scrabble Championship in Nairobi, Kenya in 2011.

The coach also commended the performance of Nigerian players at the King’s Cup, saying it was a positive sign of development in the sport.

“It was a good result and a positive sign that indicates we are not doing badly in the sport in the world if we have a player among the first twenty.

“We had over 250 players in the master’s category alone to tell you how prestigious the tournament is and we had players in the top forty,” he said.

The coach disclosed that Bob Okoridem emerged 14th in the master’s category, while himself and the NSF President, Toke Aka, were among the top 40.

The NSF scribe said that he was commending the players who participated because they sponsored themselves to the event.

“We did not go with our very best because we had the challenge of sponsorship, so most of the players sponsored themselves to the tournament.

“This shows that with the necessary competitive environment a players’ best can be displayed,” he said.