Nigerian coaches, players far from attaining top tennis ranking –Samuel

Coach Samuel is currently a reputable Tennis Players’ handler who joined coaching train after successful active playing days. In this interview, Samuel sheds light on the development of Tennis in Nigeria even as an ongoing three-week international tennis tournament draws closer in Abuja. IKENNA OKONKWO and PAUL OKAH captured his views.

My evolution as a Tennis Professional
I started playing tennis at an advanced age, so I never played Junior Championship in my life. After playing for sometimes, I qualified to become a coach and I have been coaching tennis players for the past 35 years. Even though there were no leagues in my playing days, we now have leagues. Before, we had national tournaments for tennis, which was being sponsored by individuals and corporate organizations like CBN, Ramat Cup,etc. Most players play either for themselves or for the state. I started my tennis career in Kaduna in the 1970s. Of recent, there are leagues going on, like the NCC league: sponsored by the Nigerian Communication Commission, in which players from different parts of the country participate in. It was not like that in the past.

Uniqueness of Tennis
All over the world, people tend to be more concerned about football than other sports. Tennis is my childhood game and the advantage it has over other sports is that it is a sport that can be played by anybody at any age. Octogenarians and those well above 80 years can still play tennis, which is not possible in football; because the latter sport is more strenuous and entails your running around the pitch in chasing round leather.
Tennis is an individual game. You play at your own particular pace and exercise all parts of your body, including your brain.

The speed of the ball would necessitate your taking a decision in the split of a second, so a tennis player is expected to be better than his counterpart in terms of decision-making. Tennis players, who are either students or workers in corporate organizations, will find out that they react more or cope in rigorous circumstances than their colleagues, because tennis actually work on your brain and make you sharper.

Making impact as a Coach
Since I started playing tennis at an advanced age, I didn’t play at the junior level, but I discovered that the standard of tennis, especially women tennis, was very low so I decided to do something about it. I decided to improve the standard of women tennis by starting with the coaching of my daughter at the age of five. I wanted to change the method or pattern of playing between the white and black tennis players and I have achieved a lot. Today, my daughter is one of the best junior players in Nigeria, if not in the world. She is currently the best senior player we have in Nigeria.

She has been Number one for the past six years and has represented Nigeria in several countries during the period of her junior tennis career. In terms of achievement, even if I don’t praise myself, I have embarked on several successful projects. Apart from other people I coach, all my children play tennis. This is because a professor’s children are not expected to be illiterates. So, if I can coach other people’s children to play well, then I can equally coach my children to play better. I have achieved my objectives because my children’s rankings are very high as long as tennis is concerned. The most difficult aspect of coaching in tennis is to coach your children.

My credentials
I have both national and international certifications in tennis. I’m certified by the Nigeria International Tennis Federation (NITF). I’m also certified by the United States Professional Tennis Registry, which was called USPTR then. Even though we didn’t travel out to acquire the certificate, a representative came to Nigeria to run the course and about three of us passed the exam in Nigeria. I am also a Level 2 Coach with the ITF in Nigeria, which is the highest qualification in Nigeria, so I am one of the best in Nigeria.
‘Lack of sponsors, facilities, bane of Nigerian tennis’

Tennis awareness and import
Of recent, people are becoming more aware of tennis more than it was in the past. The participation is high now. For instance, in the stadium, we have 20 courts. If you come late on Saturdays, you will find it difficult to secure a place to play and the courts are no longer empty like before. People even come to play during working hours. During the holidays, the courts are flooded with kids that are trying to learn how to play tennis.
We are embarking on grassroot development in the FCT. During the holidays, we go from one place to another, hosting tournaments and Coaching Clinic for kids. We have over 60 kids in FCT alone. Last two weeks, we were at Mambila Barracks and we have over 52 kids that participated in that tournament and we will be moving to Life Camp next. We make it a monthly affair,to make sure we develop tennis at the grassroot in FCT.

Top rankings and difficulties for Nigerian Tennis Players
The hope is lost except for the younger ones. At the age of 13-14, my daughter was at the peak of her tennis. She played ITF and got to the quarterfinals when she was 14-15. At that point, you don’t remain in Nigeria. The most problem our players have is that we don’t have sponsorship. Some sponsors want to immediately recoup from their investment, but it doesn’t work out that way. When you talk about the Williams sisters (Serena Williams and Venus Williams), Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and other top tennis players, they started from academies and progressed from there, but we don’t have such in Nigeria.

For instance, I have many kids I coach, but I don’t have money to equip and sponsor the players for tournaments, so we are in need of sponsors.

Tennis moves with age. For instance, if you get a ten year old kid and start training him, at 14, he should be transiting to the professional level. For instance, in the just concluded Commonwealth Games in Australia, many of the athletes and tennis players won’t be going back to their homes until after six months and that’s what it means to remain on top.

Sponsorship nightmare in Nigeria
Tennis is capital intensive. How many people are ready to invest in it? They want results, but results depend on funds. Trainings are expensive, whether we like it or not, because you must travel in tennis. Many of the participants at the Commonwealth Games came from America and other countries and lost at the qualifying round, first or second round. They won’t earn money, but some will still stay for the next three weeks or so. But if they leave here, there will go to another country, buy tickets, pay for accommodation, feeding and equipment. It is easy for them because they have sponsors.

They are better than us here in Nigeria because someone can identify and sponsor their talents, whereas it is not so here. We suffer as coaches. Often times, I have used my salary to equipments for my trainees because I love tennis and want to see the best in them, but the money is not even there to take them to tournaments. Therefore, it is difficult for us to equate ourselves with professionals like Federer and the Williams sisters, because we know how they started. They don’t have problems with sponsorship the way we do here in Nigeria.

We have talents in Nigeria and we will get to the top if we can get individuals to sponsor these talented kids. For instance, I once coached a boy from Israel some years back and after sometime, the father said he wanted him to play professional tennis and took him to one of the best academies in the United States of America. He spent a lot of money just for the three weeks he stayed in the US. When he came back, he admitted that there was not much difference between what I have been teaching his boy and what he learnt in America. The only major difference was that of proper organization. He doubled what he was paying me out of his own volition because of his discovery in America, so it just this sponsorship problem that is limiting table tennis in Nigeria.

Handling top Tennis Guns
In coaching we have hierarchy. I am an International Tennis Federation certified coach, but there are others better than me. Different countries try to develop their own coaches. So for a top professional tennis player to dream of coming to take a Level two ITF certified coach like me, when we have Level three, four and so on elsewhere in the world, is ridiculous. You develop to a certain stage and a higher person takes it from there. The level I am now at the grassroots to the national level, I can take a tennis player and tour with him, but there are other coaches ahead of me. Someone can be a coach or a physician, because many of these top professionals have all they need and pay them, because they get their money not only for winning a tournament but for advertisement. By upgrading myself and attending courses to develop myself, which needs money, I can be able to manage top professionals. But that would need sponsorship. For instance, if I have players that are sponsored by companies, then I can enrol in professional courses to improve myself as we move along. That will be adding to them because I can only teach what I have learned.

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