Tennis umpire urges former players to help budding talents

An Umpire with Nigeria Tennis Federation (NTF), Saidu Musa, on Sunday called on former national players to assist budding talents in the sport to achieve their dreams of becoming professionals.

Musa told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos that former players should be able to give back to the society that made them.

“I am calling on players that benefitted from tennis in the country to make positive impact on the sport by sponsoring programmes.

“The sport gave them the fame and made them and so they should reciprocate by sponsoring programmes,’’ he said.

Musa, a member of the NTF technical committee, said that the National Sports Commission could not carry the sport development alone without the help of the federation itself. “The development of tennis should not be left for government alone, but rather a collective responsibility of the past players in collaboration with the national body,” he said.

Musa said that the coaches also need to regularly acquaint themselves with the current trends in the game.

“If we must move forward at all, coaches must update their knowledge regularly because technical rules keep changing.

“Let them watch video tapes of international championships, read and study the do’s and don’ts of tennis.

“The more they involve themselves in workshops and seminars, the better for them in their career,’’ he said.

According to him, everything is not about the players, coaches needed experience too and that nobody buys experience, it is acquired.