Sports
Agent Charges Nigeria On Sports Dev
A top football agent in Sage Sports Consult (SSC), Rajih Rahman, yesterday said that Nigeria could only lay claim to meaningful success in grassroot football development through the number of its exports.
Rahman told newsmen in Lagos that it was true that the nation was blessed with abundant talents but it had yet to be seen more in the international circuit.
“The truth is that we have so many grassroot sports programmes with little to show for it. The ones we have are not developmental; no monitoring of the progress of the footballers.
“The young players we have at the grassroot are amazing but they needed the right exposure in terms of exports which will be the best way to measure our performances.
“Other countries send their young ones to European countries at mind-boggling prices, and they earn good from their exports.
“Our country can also earn it big from exporting our products, especially our footballers. The developmental programmes from our grassroot are inconclusive without export,’’ he said.
Rahman, urged the various agencies of government and other organisations responsible for the grassroot sports development to come out with all-inconclusive programmes for the project
“I am not satisfied with the various grassroot developmental programmes we have in Nigeria because it is always half done. No room for monitoring of the players progress.
“The players discovered from the grassroot need to be properly monitored so as to get the required knowledge to excel; the habit of leading them out and dumping them halfway is not right.
“All the grassroot developmental agencies should evolve a way of making sure that their labours are not in vain by monitoring players they discovered which is where the profit is.
“We have more of Kelechi Iheanacho at the grassroot, some of them were discovered but not provided the opportunity to excel, while wasting our resources and time on them?’’
Rahman said that the aim of his outfit was to give the players discovered at the grassroot opportunity they were looking for which was to ply their trade overseas.
“What Sage Consult is all about is providing the opportunity for the young players from 15 to 17 years to play professionally in countries of their dreams.
“It is not just about discovering them but giving them the right exposure because opportunities abound all over the world for quality players that are abundant in Nigeria.
“Exporting them is the greatest and the pinnacle of their careers, so, we will strive to achieve that,’’ he said.
Tidesports gathered that Sage Sports Consult in partnerships with the Dubai-based Variant Sports, a grassroots developmental agency is responsible for training young footballers between ages 15 and 17.
The developmental sports outfit is currently conducting an open trial at the Legacy Pitch of the National Stadium, Surulere, Lagos, with the motive to export those to be selected to Europe.
The trials have more than 75 players drawn from across the country participating.
A well-known football pundit in the State, Chief Christopher Okonkwo has lauded the efforts and vision of the Super Eagles Coach Eric Chelle for going from one venue of the Nigeria Domestic Nigeria Professional Football League match to the other in monitoring Nigerian players, with a view to invite some exceptional good one discovered into the main stream of the Super Eagles team.
Okonkwo, who made the commendation in an interview at the Port Harcourt Club recently, described the positive move by Coach Chelle as a good step in the right direction, noting that the practice was how its been done in the past among any contracted coach assigned to tinker the Super Eagles team.
“Truly, it has been an old tradition in the country seeing any newly engaged Coach to lead the National team, visiting some our Nigeria League venues during the league matches to spot light some good talents that could be used to beef up some grey areas in the department of Eagles team”
He, however, frowned at the current situation where our coaches had continously been over depending on the use of foreign based players during invitation of players to the National camp, thereby, relegating the domestic home based league players to the background as if they have nothing much to offer to the team.
“I can vividly recall that the likes of great players in the mode of Finidi George, Taribo West, Kanu Nwankwo, Austin Okocha, Richard Owobokiri, Emmanuel Osuigwe among others started from Nigeria football league before they graduated to play in Europe through which they later invited to Super Eagles camp to represent Nigeria”
“Besides, I’m also of the view that going to secondary school football competitive games could equally serves as a a good platform to discover budding talents that could be nurtured to become great stars in near future”, Okonkwo frankly added.
Okonkwo, therefore, prayed that any football coach to be engaged by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to tinker the Super Eagles should be told not to confine himself in staying in big hotel alone but to be visiting some of our local league match venues, with a view to discover some good players that can be drafted into the Super Eagles team.
“Indeed, I stand to be challenged that there some young good players in the Nigeria Professional League. If spotted and exposed, could give the some of the invited foreign based players a stiff competitive fight in securing a postion in the team”, Okonkwo emphatically stated.
Ezechukwu, one of the youngest members of the Nigerian contingent at the championship in Ghana, said her ambition was to win the 100m title in style and cap it with a new personal record.
The fresh secondary school graduate explained that she is fully focused on contributing to Team Nigeria’s medal hopes and is determined to deliver strong performances across her events.
“My main objective in Ghana is to clinch the 100m title and the 4×100m,” Ezechukwu told Tidesports source.
“Nigeria can be assured of my very best and my commitment to the Team. I would love to set a new personal best in Ghana, but anything that comes, I will take it. The spirit in the team is high, and I think we are ready to go,” she said.
Ezechukwu, who was part of Nigeria’s women’s 4x100m relay squad at the World Relays in Botswana, said the experience gained from that competition has strengthened her mindset heading into the continental championships.
She admitted that she learned valuable lessons from her previous outing, including a difficult moment during the relay where an early error affected the team’s rhythm, but said she has used the experience to improve her discipline and composure.
“The secret is just being disciplined, training hard and trusting my coach and believing in God, and the result will show,” she added.
The teenager is part of a 41-member Nigerian team comprising 24 female and 17 male athletes competing at the championships, which begin today at the University of Ghana, Legon.
Nigeria are expected to compete across multiple track and field events as they aim for a strong finish against the continent’s elite athletes.
-
Featured16 hours agoWASSCE: RSG Distributes Science Materials To Secondary Schools
-
Rivers21 hours ago
MBA Forex Trial Adjourn To June 3, Amid Bereavement … As Court Declines Cost Application
-
Aviation21 hours ago
Passengers Stranded As Delta Airline From Atlanta Route Back Eight Hours After
-
Business21 hours ago
Customs Impound N2.35bn Cocaine, 15 Trailers of Rice
-
News21 hours ago
Xenophobic Attacks: Nigerian Lives More Important Than Foreign Investment – Oshiomhole
-
News21 hours ago
ActionAid Demands Probe Of Govs Using Public Funds For Campaign
-
Nation5 days agoEducation Commissioner Seeks media Collaboration In Rivers
-
Nation5 days agoRSUBE Holds Training For 1,000 New Teachers To Strengthen Basic Education