Swim...

I went to a 3 day swimming championship for 12-16 year olds "Age Group Swimming Championship" at the new Teslim Balogun Stadium in Surulere, Lagos today.

It was nice to see the place, a fairly new complex over the road from the dilapidated National sports stadium. Though one question came to my mind, as to why on earth was the money not spent on rehabilitating the National stadium rather than building another one nearby. Friends just smiled and gave the wink that means people wanted to 'chop' contract. ('chop' means eat in Nigeria, and they were suggesting that people were making money from the deal.)I was disapointed to see that the roof of the seating area around the excellent 50m outdoor swimming pool already had numerous holes in the corrugated iron roof

Out of a possible 36 states only 7 were in attendance at the event; Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Delta, Edo, Lagos, Ondo, and Kaduna. with individuals competing in the outdoor 50m pool in all styles, from butterfly to front crawl.

The Nigerian Swimming Federation held the 3 day event which was the first one in seven years,
Apparently the former Governor of Rivers State Peter Odili used to be the patron unfortunately management issues ofver the funding were abound and the event finally wound down.
Recently, some of the State coaches had managed to organise the event from their own pockets and the Championship was reignited.
According to friends, there is to be an international event in Mauritius which they hope to attend with a national team early next year.
It was fantastic to see the organisation, these children are not particularly from privileged backgrounds; talking to the Chairman of Delta State Swimming Association; Chief Chinoye Daphey, it became clear that the kids from Delta state actually train and learn in a natural pool, that exists in the River Ethiope at Obiaruku. The team actually won this championship.

As she says, though the river is free, its far from ideal! Her dream apparently is to open a swimming academy there with a real pool and proper facilities. As is the way with these things it may take a while before this dream is realised.
The nature of sports sponsorship and support from governments in Nigeria is a shattered one. Football is the most popular sport here, and corporate bodies are generally keen to help out with some spponsorship. However the other sports are less fortunate. It was noticeable at this event that there was no funding of note. The trappings normally associated with such an event in Europe were not apparent, keeness of participants was strong but it lacked what felt like support from the public and corporate bodies.

There is a crying need in Nigeria for more Sports sponsorship. Nigerians do love all sports, table tennis can be seen on nearly every street corner in Lagos, football of course is ever popular, a walk around the stadiums in Surulere at the weekend, shows numerous groups playing basketball, tennis, etc. When you find yourself driving early in the morning it is common to see Joggers shadow boxing on the roads. Sport as in the West can be seen as a way out of poverty. With greater help from business and Government funding this can become a real reality. After all this population of over 140 million should naturally have talented sports people within it.

It is unfortunate that most sportsmen and women feel the need to move to another country to ply their trade. A cursory look at the British Athletics team for example shows that many personalities are Nigerian in origin.

If only Sports marketing was more developed and Business realised the benefits to themselves and the consumers perhaps the desire of people like Chief Daphey may be realised, and the talented children could have the opportunity to grow into the sports stars of tomorrow and stay in their country.

The keeness of the children is not in doubt, it is now up to the government and business to assist them.