Family, friends paid for me to represent Nigeria — Chukwumerije

Newly appointed Technical Director, Nigeria Taekwondo Federation, Chika Chukwumerije, recently opened up on sundry sporting issues especially as it concernsthe sport; it’s predicaments which starred bizarre revelations. Th e three time-Olympian, who has once dogged out medal at Olympics spoke to IKENNA OKONKWO.
Your recent emergence as Technical Director of Nigeria Taekwondo Federation I’m confi dent that I have what it takes to get the job done. At every point in time, there are a lot of People that have same feeling but at the end, you will be judged by the result you post. My aim and objective is to help athletes achieve more than i did so that at the end of my tenure, let it be said that either I get them to their destination on the path of success or will be on their way to get there.
Th e offi ce of the technical director should be about the athletes. Posterity will judge us. Target and Mandate I’m ambitious by nature, so I set target both realistic and targets beyond reality. I’m also quit realistic I’m my approach to things. We will ensure we move in a deliberate way by making sure we don’t leave hole in our foundation. I want to make the current federation don’t leave any stone unturned. Expected foundation Th e structure is very important.
How do we employ National coaches? What are the criteria? And if we don’t have enough that meet the required foundation, how do we get to organise programme that will improve them. How do we interact with state associations to ensure that what we are doing trickles down?
Th ere is no training facility for Taekwondo in the entire Nigeria. And I say if we can get a make shift training centre, athletes will go there to train. For me, this is the foundation. Th e athletes need a place to train and good coaches training them. We need to invest in development a lot. We need to take care of Peoples’ welfare.
By welfare, i don’t mean People should be given millions. Stipends that will sought out Peoples’ expenses like transport, feeding and other logistics. You don’t just wait or leave anyone work himself out. If the person eventually wins, you will reward him. If you reward me after I have won a laurel, I feel I earned it not that i gained a support from the sys tem.
I hope that as technical director we can have the budget that we need. Good idea will only remain except there is funding. For me, funding is key. Again, there must be a logical and qualitative way which we select our coaches. Personally, i will say for the main national team, i will prefer ex-international, not cast in stone but i know that having the expereicne is very important.
However, there are people who were not ex-internationals but understand the intricacies. So experienced coaches won’t be jettisoned. Th e knowledge of medical team is very much important. So whatever coaches we are having, we should be able to integrate the medicals so as to enable high performance of athletes fl ow Everybody thinks outside the box, its delivery that matters. Already, we have set up committees that meant to be functional and eff ective.
Th e success of this administration will be tied to the proactive, creativity and industrial drive of each of these committees. For example, there is a marketing and sponsorship committee which is expected to sell the brand taekwondo. We have been brainstorming on ways to sell taekwondo to the private body, government. Th ere is a committee called taekwondo tour event.
Th ey are meant to train athletes who are marketable. Th ey can do a lot of demonstration, interesting engaging things. And if they succeed, the marketing committee can go to various entertainment shows and ask organisers to feature our demonstration team. And some set of deals will be struck which can bring out capital. Th e federation can invest in things like printing press, cybercafé. Setting up a business can actually fl oat jot for your practitioners and give the federation a source of income generation.
We could do a lot of events and charge little amount. We want to completely exhaust avenues of corporate membership. We may not get the level of result football or basketball could make but once the corporate bodies try once or twice and it succeeds, they will increase their interest.
Athletes’ development and exploits I always accepted the fact that I’m going to compete from less preparation physically.
I’m aware that my opponents from other countries back then had a better support system in terms of infrastructure and proper funding. I accepted my fate in a system I’m born into because the situation in Nigeria exposes athletes to literarily beg for support . In most cases, I will have to solicit for funds myself from my family members and friends. I leaved with the concept that at one point in time, the opportunity will come and you have to be ready and grab it with both hands.

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