Coach predicts doom for Nigeria at C’ Wealth Games
• Wednesday, Feb 15, 2006
Inadequate preparations could mar Nigeria’s chances in athletic events of next month’s Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Australia, says a former national coach, Tobia Igwe.
According to Igwe, “Nigerian athletes will not make much impact in athletics at the Commonwealth Games due to poor arrangements, as well as preparations”.
Igwe told our source at the weekend in Abuja that “lack of proper planning and inconsistent training programmes will affect our performance at the Games”.
He accused officials of the sports ministry of inconsistency in arrangements, planning and organisation of training programmes to boost athletes’ performance and morale.
According to him, “unlike other countries, Nigeria has been using a trial-and-error approach, rather than long-term planning for the Games”.
He said the Athletic Federation of Nigeria (AFN) had been changing national coaches at will, “without due regard to capability and continuity.
“This type of situation does not give room for continuity and tends to retard the progress and growth of our athletes and officials,” Igwe noted.
The coach asked the AFN to introduce grassroots-oriented programmes, “in order to discover hidden talents and long-term training programmes for the future development of Nigerian athletes
Athletics Federation of Nigeria’s Technical and Performance Director, Sunday Bada says the next round of training for Nigerian athletes would be stiff in view of the expected opposition at the coming Commonwealth Games.
Speaking in an interview with Daily Independent in Abuja, he said he was impressed with the time returned by the athletes at the AFN/NNPC/Mobil Trials Championship in Abuja.
Bada, commended the level of participation at the trials, saying “the level of participation at this championship is very high and the time returned by the athletes impressive. We are working on a way of programming them in a manner that they will be able to do well at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Australia”.
He stated that the Athletics Federation of Nigeria would sustain the ongoing camping of the athletes, after which the athletes will move into training tour before the games proper.
The athletes are currently in camp and we intend to sustain the camping. The camping will be an ongoing thing, and thereafter we will move into the training tour from where we will actually finalise our preparations for the main games proper by engaging in stiffer training, preparatory for the tough opposition that would be witnessed at the games.
Bada, who described Nigeria’s chances at the Commonwealth Games as bright, refused to promise anything, saying “we are saying that Nigerians should expect the best from us and we are making all efforts to make the country proud at the games. We are not promising anything but we know that we are promising the country an impressive outing at the games, come March 2006”.
First, i’d like to know which athletes are in training camp and where.
Second, most of them are not training at all this week because they are in quest to obtain visa for Russia or Australia or other places where meetings will be held. Travelling from a town to an other to go to the ambassy means 10 hours travel in car. At the embassy, an other fight starts : try to prove they are professional athletes. The only thing the Federation do to help them is a single letter (which proves nothing). Even showing the passeports with dozens of visa is not enough to prove they are pro athletes. The next step might be to bring their Olympic medal to the ambassy? Several hours are required to prove themselves with phone calls and blabla, if not, they have to travel again to an other place to get other documents.
Now tell me how can they not have “inconsistent training programs” in these conditions? Can you imagine Asafa or Justin wainting during hours in ambassies? This is not funny at all.