The first ever Zonal Championship by the Nigeria Tennis Federation (NTF) served off in Jos the Plateau state capital yesterday (17th of August, 2022) with five (5) states and the FCT Abuja in attendance.
The Championship which is the first of its kind is geared towards catching them young and improving Nigeria’s chances in the world of Tennis, has over 100 children in attendance between the ages of 10 and 16.
In his welcome address, the Director of Sports, Plateau State Sports Council, Simon Moven, urged the children to be disciplined and as well take their academics serious.
“In sports, discipline is very important. When you are participating in sports and you aren’t disciplined, we don’t want you. Respect your coaches, your parents and the rules of the game as all these are key to your success and progression in sports.
“As you play Tennis now, please also take your academics serious so that by the time Tennis is over, you go back and take your certificate and look for a Job. For you now, emphasis is more on sports development and grassroot development, so you are going in the right direction, your coaches are also going in the right direction.
“On behalf of Plateau State government, Commissioner of Sports, Youth and Development I welcome you to Jos and wish you all the best of luck”, Moven said.
Responding, Senior Coach and Technical Director of NTF, Rotimi Akinloye, “On behalf of the players and the technical crew, we say thank you for hosting us. Surely, this state in the nearest future will have great Tennis players.
“We have a lot of qualified coaches, and we are going to make sure we do a follow up of this program and make sure it become embedded in your sporting policies”.
On his part, Chairman Plateau Tennis Association (PTA), Nuhu Ayuba, said the aim of the Championship is to bring the game down to the grassroot in other to fish out new talents.
“Well the aims and objective of this Championship, is we want to step down to the grassroot in other to fish out new talents and also to stimulate the interest of our children into the game of Tennis.
“In the last meeting we held, we decided that, we should step it to the various zones and that of North Central is the first one that’s taking place here in Jos. The idea is that, all the other zones are going to stage similar Championships and from there we will now step it down to various states and if possible, down to the local government level.