By Emmanuel Udodinma
Badejo Sports Academy in conjunction with a Nigerian philanthropist, Chief Maruf Gbolahan Odele organised age grade tennis competition to uplift the children under the ages 12, 14 and 16.
Badejo Sports is the brainchild of the award-winning coach of Federal Airports Authority (FAAN) Tennis Club Ikeja, Mr Dele Badejo.
The Tennis event will run from Monday 21st August, 2023; till Saturday, 26th August,2023.
At the Opening ceremony of this year tournament held at Police College Tennis court, Chief Gbolahan Odele ably represented by his sister, Mrs Ekundayo Odele lauded the organiser of the tournament and urged all meaningful Nigerians to support the age grade sport competitions.
She said, ”Sports has always been a game changer for getting children off the streets, building discipline and team spirit. If we get them early like this, the better for us all.
” I urge all meaningful Nigerians to pick a sport and support it. There are many ways to support Tennis. Again; support the kids, tournaments and find any way to support the game. It is important for us to make little changes in age grade tourney and make big impact.
”Any of the sports we play competitively in Nigeria, we need to be deliberate in grooming talents across all stages and sport them as they grow in their careers.”
Odele later urged the organiser to continue moulding raw talents for Nigeria, African and the world.
Meanwhile, Coach Badejo promised to continue developing young talents and turn them to world stars.
Badejo said, “We focus on children’s tournament so that we can catch them young and impart the skills of the game into the kids to become world champions tomorrow. As a coach, I have taken it upon myself to monitor the progress of these children and continue to encourage them at every given opportunity.”
The Coach begged the government to provide more sporting facilities in schools for the athletes to develop their skills.
