New Telegraph

Administrators killing Nigerian athletes’ ambitions –Udo-Obong

 

Olympics gold medalist Enefiok Udo-Obong believes Nigerian athletes have seen their growth decimated by poor leadership in the administration of athletics in the country.

 

The former Team Nigeria captain said that administrators have not embraced new methodology in governance a development that has robbed off negatively on the growth of homegrown talents.

 

“Athletics in Nigeria could be better; it’s not developing as fast as it should.

The administrators are not developing as fast as the athletes are developing but generally, we have to work hard for a belief that sooner or later we would get it right,” he said.

 

However, he believes one other reasons the athletes haven’t developed fast is the lack of strong mentality. He said the athletes could compete favorably with their counterparts in other countries if they could work harder on developing charasterics that will help them succeed not only on the tracks but attract sponsorships from top brands.

 

“It’s a mental mindset and you have to know that you have what it takes and you have a lot of the things the brands want.

 

“Everything that is soft skills that an athlete learns – goal setting, targets, strategies, a mindset of winning; an athlete just needs to change those soft skills into saleable skills in a corporate world.

 

“Once you see an athlete like that and even, he’s still performing, companies can identify their own values in such an athlete and they can sponsor such athletes.”

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