We Need Good Training For Our Tennis Coaches In Nigeria – Captain Martins

Captain Steven Owolabi Martins, the sponsor of the recently concluded Azimuth Shipping Lines Junior Tennis Championships, believes that Nigeria needs serious training for the coaches.

The former tennis player made this assertion on the sidelines of the finals of the junior tennis championships, where he explained that apart from the age long challenge of sponsorship, good tennis coaches also add to the quality of the players.

In a chat with Nigeria Tennis Live before the Boys’ U-16 final between Daniel Adeleye and David Dawariye of Ekiti and Rivers States respectively, Captain Martins noted emphatically that there’s need for constant training for the Nigerian coaches.

According to him: “There’s always the issue of sponsorship for the tennis players because it costs quite a lot to have the players thoroughly trained over the years. But the coaches too have a role to play.

“We need really good tennis coaches in Nigeria, this will help improve our players’ performance. If we cannot take the coaches abroad, let’s invite the top coaches from outside the country down here, to put them through on these tricks.

“Good coaches, good training… as well as workshops.”

Sharing his experience with some coaching tricks when he took a trip to the United States recently, the soft spoken man explained that: “I went abroad and took up a training session, and there were some things that I couldn’t get here that within a few days when the coaches over there took on me, I was able to catch quite quickly.

“So, these children also need the exposure; they really need to be exposed at the very tender ages so that they can grow with this knowledge.”