A  board member of the Ni
geria Volleyball Federation (NVBF), Alhassan Yakmut, has hailed the national under-17 male and female beach volleyball teams for qualifying for the 2014 Youth Olympics Games (YOG).
Yakmut said in an interview with newsmen in Abuja that the qualification of both teams was an indication that the future of Nigerian volleyball lay in the youth.
Both teams qualified for the YOG after participating in the African qualifiers held in Ghana from April 10 to 13.
“That feat at the Youth Olympics beach volleyball qualifier is a confirmation of the fact that clearly the future of Nigerian volleyball in terms of performance on the court is in the youth.
“And no sooner than that statement and observation was made, the dividends are beginning to show, and I think that is just the beginning.
“I see much coming from their side and if we apply the same approach to the regular volleyball teams by laying emphasis on youth aspect of the game, no sooner than the next two years, we will be able to reap some very reasonable dividends in terms of performance.
“What I will be expecting is that we are not going there as green horns, it may be our debut at the YOG. We have been doing very well in beach volleyball at the African scene.
“So, my advice to my colleagues in the federation is that we should give the best support we can to the beach volleyball youth team, preparatory to the YOG in Nanjing, China.
“But, be that as it may, this will now become the sole responsibility of the National Sports Commission (NSC) to take over the responsibility of preparing the team.
Yakmut, who is also NSC’s Director of Grassroots Sports Development, added that both teams should be given adequate preparations to have a good outing at the YOG.
“What is required of Olympic preparations is that everything has to be in place.
“A very conducive camping environment, nutritionally balanced catering arrangement, high quality of equipment and good exposure to technical and coaching crew of high standard.
“These will be able to yield dividends up to the podium level in the YOG. Anything short of that will be very difficult.
“(This is because) the players have to be very fit, exposed to scientific preparation, good medical exposure, and fantastic welfare package for motivation and good psychological state of mind.
“All these are requirements for high performance in elite championships.’’
He, however, noted that although beach volleyball had been in Nigeria for a long time, poor followership and lack of sponsorship had been the bane of its development.
Yakmut, therefore, added that plans were on to come up with strategies to attract potential sponsors to the sport.
“We have debuted a very long time ago in beach volleyball but the challenge is that we don’t have the right followership and sponsorship.
“But the only thing is that most corporate outfits in Nigeria find it difficult to invest in an upcoming sport, they only end up clustering around the ones that have been made.
“But it is easier to identify with the developing sport in order to claim monopoly by the time the sport becomes well established,’’ the NVBF board member said.
With the qualification, Nigeria will join six other African countries to hoist Africa’s flags at the YOG.
The YOG is the youth edition of the Olympics Games with athletes’ age stipulated between 14 years and 18 years.
Beach volleyball which replaced indoor volleyball is one of the 28 events to be competed for at the YOG billed for China from August 16 to 28.