Expert Lists Factors For Grassroot Sports Dev

A renowned Tennis
Coach and Consultant, Godwin Kienka, has said that the basic ingredients needed by budding grassroots talents to thrive were parental support, interest and access to facilities.
He told newsmen in Lagos that such critical ingredients were needed to propel potential world beaters on their career paths.
The coach stressed that the involvement of parents in the mentoring of their children to attain greater heights in the sport, had made the programme more interesting and competitive.
“Most of the parents are equally engaged in our programmes because of the pains they take to ferry their children from one event to the other.’’
Kienka, who spoke against the backdrop of the ongoing NNPC/Shell Open Tennis Championships for Boys and Girls between the ages of 10 and 16, noted the marked improvement in sponsorship.
“Things are getting better now with the support of major corporate organisations and the backing of the Nigeria Tennis Federation.
He said that no fewer than 150 boys and girls were participating in the competition with the youngest being eight years old with the oldest about 15 years old.
The coach said that the aim of the competition was to sharpen the competitive edge of the children through competitions, where they were made to go through gruelling round-robin games.
“In some cases the players might end up playing a minimum of two matches a day or possibly more.’’
Kienka, who is the director of the International Tennis Academy, harped on the need to develop precocious talents from when they were young and amenable to the rudiments of the game.
“Anything short of catching the players at their tender stages, will be a very frustrating experience for those involved in their upbringing,’’ Kienka said.
Asked about the steps being taken to develop the capacity of coaches training  the children for competitions, he said that tips to improve their players were done informally.
“What we do is inform the coaches on what they need to do to improve the performance of their wards.
“Our emphasis is mainly on the development of the players through competitions,’’ Kienka said.