As the maiden Nigeria Table Tennis Federation (NTTF)-organised elite junior and cadet training camp enters final week, players taking part in the exercise are still in cloud nine over the quality of coaching coupled with the superb organization of the 14-day training camp.
The two weeks camping exercise was initiated by one of Africa’s most decorated table tennis players, Segun Toriola and he is been assisted by national coach, Nosiru Bello and Friday Aba.
The 18 players taking part is made up of nine boys and nine girls and they were drawn from Lagos, Ogun, Kogi, Kwara, Ondo, Ekiti and Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja and they are between the age of seven and 16.
For the trio of Tosin Oribamishe, Abayomi Animashaun and Afeez Solanke, the exercise has imparted so much on them as they had acquired new skills as well as correct some of their lapses in the game.
Oribamishe, one of the most travelled junior player and the current national junior champion, believes such camping should be staged regularly. “I think we have never had this kind of camping before and I want to appeal to the federation not to make it a one-off event especially with the presence of Toriola, who has played to the highest level in the world. His presence alone served as a motivation to majority of us because we have seen some of things he has been able to achieve with the game and we are also hoping that we can follow his footstep. For me this camp has revealed my mistakes and I have been able to correct it while I also pick up new skills. So this exercise should be sustained especially for the young players,” Oribamishe.
For 12 year-old Animashaun, the camping has been an eye opener especially with the presence of his role model, Toriola, whom he said has impacted so much on him during the exercise.
His words: “In the camp, I leant that not to be on the defensive side when playing and that I must be on the offensive. Also, my top-spin as well as my looping is now perfect because they are now staying on table. Also, I have been able to adjust my movement on table which I found very difficult to correct. All these are things I have been able to do within the first week of the camping. As we enter the final week,
I am hoping that I will pick up new things.” Solanke, winner of the maiden DAWN Games, admits that been part of the exercise has been a worthwhile. “I am so happy that I made it to the camp and for me this is an opportunity for me to perfect my skills especially as I am looking forward to making it to the national junior team. I can say that Toriola has really impacted so much on us while the organisation of the camping has been so impressive since last week. We are also hopeful that this week will be more interesting than last week,” the southpaw player said.
According to the President, NTTF, Wahid Oshodi, the players were selected based on their performance in competitions sanctioned by the federation and with the aim of teaching them the basics of the game.
For the initiator of the camp, Toriola, the country is still blessed with enormous talents in the game, while efforts should be geared towards nurturing these skills to stardom.
“It is very important for former players that had represented this country to see how they can help to improve the game through this kind of exercise which I believe if staged regularly will surely help the young players to improve and rub shoulders with the world’s best. Most of the players are just playing without understanding the basics especially in pushing long ball and also the need to them to be on the attack because nobody plays defensive game these days. With what I have seen so far, I think there is prospect in the game. Also our former players should change their mind that until they become national coaches that they can contribute but they should not wait until then because we need to give back to the young ones”, the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth medalist said.
