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General Manager of Aurum Tennis Academy (ATA) Jan-Richfield said that if more of International Tennis Federation (ITF) World Tennis Tour Junior competition
could be held here in Nigeria, it will allow the players to compete and improve their performance and ranking.
He made the call in an interview in Abuja that the Nigerian junior tennis team is obviously becoming better.
Therefore if more of these ITF World Tennis Tour Junior competition could be held here in Nigeria, it will allow the players to compete and improve their performance.
“ The just concluded ITF World Tennis Tour Junior J30 and J60 competition held in Abuja which act as a premier competition to assist young players in accumulating points and rankings around the world.
“With this competition held here in Nigeria it has greatly benefit the Nigerian players ,” he said.
He said the ATA players that participated, they had clearly really improved.
“ We had four medals in ITF World Tennis Tour Junior events J60 and five medals in J30.
“ So you could see from the players that we are grooming and growing a very solid team and also we are building up in for the country.
“ We can just hope for more tournaments to come and to showcase this talented players,” he said.
He said i have been overseeing these players from the local level to the international arena.
“ Nigeria has gifted kids, in generally I could say that there are many of these players that are here and there are many of individual that have the talents who lack access to these resources.
“ Many people in Nigeria possess the skills necessary to succeed in the tennis environment.
“ But many of the players who are present lack the resources necessary for quality instruction and equipment that other players who are international players from other countries possess.
“So the talent are here. We just need to create the right atmosphere for them to grow,” he said.
ATA are therefore sincerely attempting to determine how we may assist in closing the gap.
“ As you can see from the fact that the governments and other parties are just concerned with their players and have very few resources.
“ It is possible to develop players who are below par or elite players who can advance.
“ Considering David Ekpenyong, another average player, it’s not just about being the best player in Nigeria; it’s also about pushing these players to the international stage.
“ This is actually so that we may represent Nigeria in much larger capacities,” he said.
All of the players in the area are capable of playing tennis, but there is much more to the game than just tennis.
“ Therefore our goal is to develop all-around individual players rather than just tennis players in Nigeria. And that’s essentially the area of our attention,” he said.
There are presently eight players in the Academy, three of whom are female and five of them are male.
“ In particular, Emanuella Akwange, Oluwaseun Ogunsakin, Success Ogunjobi, Divine Nweaka, Jimoh Joseph, David Ekpenyong, Ikenna Okonkwo and Mubarak Ganiyu.
“ Additionally, there is still space for more exceptional talents that we can develop right now,” he said.
According to Seyi Ogunsakin, who is also Oluwaseun Ogunsakin’s junior brother, he is a top player at the age of 13.
He played in two tournaments and won to advance; as such, he is a quality player that we are definitely searching for in order to eventually progress.
Aurum Tennis Academy (ATA) is a visionary institution set up to harness, develop, and showcase the potential of Nigerian tennis talent to the world.
