19th January, 2015
Damilare Okunola
As part of its contributions to carrying out a holistic development of Nigerian tennis, the International Tennis Academy, ITA, has sent four Nigerian players to the Clarke Francis Tennis Academy in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, to learn the latest tricks in tennis coaching.
The players, who have been at the Clarke Francis Tennis Academy in Dubai since last year include Bolaji Olawepo, Kehinde Alade, Ambrose Ajoga and Samuel Omoile.
According to Godwin Kienka, Director of the Academy, the idea behind sending the players to the Academy is to ensure that when they do come back, they can help tennis in Nigeria grow to the highest possible level.
Mr. Kienka, a former international official of the ITF, also noted that with the consistent rise of the junior players over the years, he expects a huge need for coaches who can take the youngsters to the next level.
He said: “It is just one of the ways we are trying to build the tennis programme in the country, ” he said.
The junior players have been training and competing, and we have all noticed the improvements over the years. However, you cannot train players for the future with coaches that are not knowledgeable.
“Our partnership with Clarke Francis afforded us the opportunity to send those players there, to enable them acquire a good knowledge of the game and come back stronger just like Coach Babatunde Abe who went to United States on training and came back to help with the building of tennis in Nigeria.
“You can see the difference Coach Abe made with Moses Michael who won the Lagos Governors Cup last year under the Edmund Ajoge tennis programme.”