Developing grassroots athletes, catalyst to Nigeria’s sports upliftment

Way back in the early 70s and beyond, sports in Nigeria, especially football, has been a grassroots project or phenomenon. Notable sports men and women who held sway during their days include, Obise Nwankpa, Power Mike and even Kiliwi Nwachukwu all rose from the grassroots. Others are Chairman Christian Chukwu, Emmanuel Okala, Segun Odegbami, Best Ogedengbe of the then Green Eagles, all rose from the grassroots.

The list won’t be complete if we don’t mention the recent grassroots stars, such as JJ Okocha, Kanu Nwankwo, Finidi George, Sampson Siasia and so on. But what do we have today? Total neglect of the grassroots sports. And no wonder the sports fortune is dwindling  by the day.

It is therefore important to mention the likes of Clement Westerhof and Bonfrey Joe that came and embraced the grassroots for their scouting and discovering of budding talents in sports, especially football during their days as Nigeria’s National team Coaches or Technical Advisers of the Green Eagles and now Super Eagles respectively. It is on record that the duo performed excellently well in their days.

It is important to note that apart from football or soccer, several other sports exist at the grassroots,with abundant talents to tap from at that level. For the records, there are other sports such as wrestling, swimming, boxing, table tennis, handball, basketball, netball, squash, cricket, rugby, among others at the grassroots waiting to be developed.

So many countries have also taken advantage of this abundance at the grassroots to enrich their teams and they are happy for doing that. The nations that readily come to mind in that direction include South Africa, North African countries, such as Algeria, Morocco, Egypt, Libya and Tunisia. Others are European countries and the United States of America. This, they did, through the age-grade sports, academies, among others.

Countries such as South Africa, the US have harnessed their talent in rugby and basketball to the admiration of the world, while Nigeria still grapples with the importation of ready made internationals to prosecute our sports, especially football. No thanks to the recent coaches of the Super Eagles, in the persons of Gernat Rhor and Joe Peseiro who solely relied on Nigeria internationals to lead the national teams.

At this juncture, it is important to mention some of the benefits attached to sports in any given society. First on the line is physical fitness. This, of course, is the fundamental gain of sports in time immemorial. But over time this attribute has been relegated to the background, as more emphasis is now placed on the economic gains of sports.

Sports currently could be described as a business and money spinner to all concerned, be it the athletes, managers or even scouts. The scarce foreign exchange could be readily gotten from sports and the supplier of sportsmen and women is the grassroots. These days, insecurity induced by unemployment is staring everybody in the face, owing to lack of jobs. This malady could be ameliorated through sports, and grassroots is the hub for athletes’ generation.

It is an open secret that sports provide the highest number of employment on the surface of the earth and not meagre salary jobs, but impressive remunerations. It is a statement of fact that Nigerian ex and current sports internationals are about the highest paid employees outside politicians, whose earnings remain questionable.

All credits of course should be given to the grassroots sports. It is now incumbent upon us, especially on our leaders, to tap from the fountain of life, by engaging coaches who would beam their searchlights on the grassroots and get the best out of the excess reserve of athletes at the grassroots.

This is not to say that using the already arrived sportsmen and women is not good, but our emphasis is that tapping from the grassroots is better, cheaper and more progressive.

Even the coaches or trainers could also be shopped from the grassroots. It won’t only be cheaper, it would be logical, and nationalistic. That is the way to go now that over N1,500 is exchanging for $1. That is the philosophy behind the Local Content Act of the Federal Government.

To lend credence to this position, the Sampson Siasias, the Stephen Keshis, the Emmanuel Amunikes, all gave a good account of themselves as indigenous coaches and even as grassroots football products. The point is that everything humanly possible should be done to explore the grassroots in terms of sports development. The efforts should not be limited to football, the entire sports spectrum should be explored.

Swimmers, the hand/netball players, squash, cricket, rugby, badminton, tennis/lawn and table all have athletes at the grassroots at affordable prices. Sports is a great way to curb restiveness, social vices and other sundry crimes. The earlier we invest in it, the better for us as a nation.