Nigeria Tennis Live has gathered that a new tennis academy will be officially launched in Ekiti State in the next couple of months.
Dr. Lekan Makinde, the CEO of Olusegun Obasanjo Foundation (OOF), and initiator of the Lekmak Tennis Academy, informed our correspondent that he had been running the foundation unofficially for a while, but decided to make it official with the formal launch.
He noted that the Academy is his attempt at putting a structure in place for kids within Ekiti State and its axis after seeing a number of potentials in the State in recent years.
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“Generally, tennis is the game I’ve always loved. When you love something, you should want to see it advancing.
“I’ve also seen a lot of potentials around. I mentor a lot of people and when I started with tennis, there’s a lot of young people who are just there without anyone helping them. I’ve also seen those making wrong decisions,” Dr. Makinde started.
While explaining that he is not a native of Ekiti State to be situating the academy there, he stated that he is simply passionate about the people there after paying a visit and seeing some of the players in action.
According to him: “I went to Ekiti for a function and saw Daniel and Seun play, and thought they were players with potentials. I learnt Seun’s father was the coach and decided to adopt him.
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“I started putting Seun in tournaments in Africa. Ghana, Togo. It helped a lot, and I’ve been doing it for the past three years to get the players stabilized.
“Players break forth like the great Duke (Nduka Odizor) and we can start somewhere. I have started with Seun, but we didn’t sign any contract to make it official.
“One of the reasons I decided to make it official is to have some kind of control and structure with the players’ welfare so that we help guide them appropriately.
“I’ve seen Coach Wunmi and his products and I believe we can work with him. We have some relationships all over the place where we can place some of these kids”.
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Dr. Makinde further revealed the end target of having the Academy, stating that: “One of the targets I set is in five years, is to have an Olympian. If we don’t reach it, we’ll be close to it.
“What the players need is a platform, an organized platform. Maybe not play all the competitions, but the important ones. If we make it official, we have a budget, we have a target and it’ll be channeled effectively.
“So, if you help some players succeed, even if some don’t remember, others will remember. My joy is to see the players succeed. If one of our players is at the Olympics, it’s enough gain for me.
“I believe in sowing into people’s lives. The essence is to give and not receive. If our academy starts, and people see it, I believe others will join us”.
The Medical Doctor who also has a number of other portfolios, explained the structure of the Academy and the fact that it will be an open organization to the public.
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“We are looking at accommodation, kits, checking up on them at their schools and monitoring their academics, feeding, as well as creating partnerships with people who can help them get scholarships abroad.
“There’ll be an understanding with their parents, and we intend to guide them properly and show them how things should be done.
“At the moment, from what we have on ground, we should be starting with about 15 players. If we can work with them and achieve success, we can build up on it.
“We’re looking at 14 and Under players. We want to start a program where we can pick kids from primary school. I’m working in Ekiti State because I see potentials that can be built on. The aim is not to stay in Ekiti forever, but we want to build from Ekiti.
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“Eventually, we might have branches across the federation, we can’t rule that out. But we want to build from where we have a competitive advantage,” the Lekmak Tennis Academy Founder revealed.
Nigeria Tennis Live will keep our followers updated on the developments from the Academy launch and other activities ahead of the official take off.
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This is impressive and inspiring. Well-done Dr Lekan Makinde.