The Director of Coaches, Ondo State sports Council, Martins Adeojo on Friday said the National Youth Games is a way of replacing old athletes who are wearing out.
Adeojo, who said the success of an athlete is determined by the coach added that continuous training without evaluation (competitions) is a waste of time and resources.
“I’m happy that the National Youth Games has come to stay and you know, the standard of our senior athletes these days in Nigeria is nothing to write home about. So, the Youth Games is a way of replacing the old ones who are already tired in the sporting industry in Nigeria”, he said.
Revealing the next step of the Ondo State government in sports, Adeojo told ACLSports.com that Governor Rotimi Akeredolu directed the coaches and Sports administrators to the grassroots for development of athletes.
“Immediately Governor Rotimi Akeredolu came into power, he gave an executive directive that we must go back to the grassroots. And that we should lay emphasizes on developing our own indigenes and not bother buying athletes for Sports Festival though that has not been our practice”.
“With the caliber of coaches we have, I think we are going to do well at the Senior National Sports Festival next year, though we wouldn’t know where it’s coming up”, he noted.
He appreciated the Governor Rotimi Akeredolu for his support in ensuring Ondo State is represented at the just concluded National Youth Games in ilorin.
“I must appreciate Mr Governor in his wisdom to have released a substantial amount of money for to attend the third edition because if we did not feature in this games, people wouldn’t have known our standard and performance. With our performance, we have shown to Nigerians that Ondo is a force to reckon with generally in Nigeria”, he said.
