The president of the Nigeria Olympians Association (NOA), Henry Amike, has urged all sports federations to “gear up” for next year’s Glasgow Commonwealth Games in Scotland.
Amike disclosed to the News Agency of Nigeria on Sunday that he expects the National Sports Commission (NSC) to be active in ensuring a creditable outing for the nation by rolling out proper preparatory training programmes for the athletes.
“I believe all the federations are gearing up, I’m sure the NSC and the Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC) are already gearing up too. I’m sure some federations are already preparing for their qualifiers, and I hope they qualify for their respective events,” Amike said.
The NOA president expects more hand on deck to ensure the successful transformation of fledgling grassroots talents into finished products of the Team Nigeria.
“I believe that we have seasoned coaches, but we need more hands,” he said when asked to assess the quality of the transitional coaches available for the Grassroots Sports Development Programme.
“Coaching is like education, you keep going back to learn more.
“There is need for coaches to go for refreshers courses from time to time. By so doing, we are helping our athletes to become better at what they do.”
The 2014 Commonwealth Games begins July 23 and ends August 3 in Glasgow, Scotland.
