Igboka Blames Exclusion Of Coaches From Contingents For Athletes’ Poor Performances
Coach Johnny Igboka, founder of All Sports Foundation Academy, Nimo (ASFAN) has blamed placement of favouritism over expertise for the poor performances of Nigerian athletes at international levels.
Igboka, a seasoned Athletics coach said this in an interview with journalists in Awka on Friday.
Igboka said it was unfortunate that making technical officials and personal coaches of athletes part of contingent to competitions was now viewed more as a privilege rather than a basic requirement for a successful outing.
The veteran high jumper said it was a misnomer that an athlete working under his or her coach would set a record during qualification only to fall short of his or her personal record at the competition proper.
He called Sports Federations to address the anomaly at the national level and ensure that coaches were not traded for comradeship in the composition of contingents.
According to him, my athletes have been taken to international championships but time after time, I have never been considered for these trip and the sad thing is that most time, they under perform.
“It is unfortunate that the drive for excellence no longer determine who should accompany athletes to international competitions, how can you take an athlete to international stage without his or her coach.
“You can not rule out the power of expertise and the motivation from a personal coach and the effect it can have on the psychology of the athlete in a competition but instead, accompanying officials are appointed based on quota and favouritism.
“We must change the mentality if our performances outside Nigeria must change, let us give coaches their rightful place in the teams, how can you take athletes who do not understand you and expect them to do well,” he said.
Igboka said Nigeria could still regain her lofty height in sports if the necessary funding, training and upgrade of technical officials were taken more seriously.
He assured that coaches would continue to discover and nurture athletes while calling for a review of the country’s sports development programmes.
