The development of hockey in Nigeria recently received a significant boost thanks to a special initiative by the International Hockey Federation (FIH) as part of the International Olympic Committee’s Olympic Solidarity sports development assistance programme.
The IOC development grant was announced in August by Nigeria Hockey Federation President Abdul Ningi, a man who passionately believes that the initiative, which sees players and coaches trained under specially-organised FIH programmes, will have a massive impact on the sport in his country.
Mr Ningi applauded the Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC) for choosing hockey as one of the sports to benefit from the project, while NOC President Habu Gumel said: “The training will go a long way to boost the ranking of Nigeria’s performance in hockey in the continent and beyond.”
The first of the FIH-led programmes took place at the end of August, with experienced coach Nadeem Bhatti of Pakistan flying in to conduct a hugely beneficial one-week intensive training course for hockey coaches to help develop the sport from the grassroots upwards.
Mr Bhatti is very much at the heart of programme. As well as hosting regular coaching sessions, he has also been given the responsibility of creating a national coaching structure, a move that will significantly raise the standard of coaching throughout Nigeria and will unquestionably benefit the development of the sport in the region for many years to come.
Nigeria Hockey Federation Secretary General Agustine Balewa said the plans currently being put in place would “reposition our coaches for the challenges ahead, helping them to be in tune with the new techniques of the game”, while NHF President Ningi expressed his optimism that the expertise of Mr Bhatti had the potential to significantly enhance all levels of the sport in Nigeria.
Although arriving too late to have an impact on Nigeria’s involvement in September’s Hockey World League Round 1 events in Accra, Ghana, where the men’s and women’s national teams finished both finished in third place, it is clear that the Hockey Revolution is very much underway in Nigeria. It will be fascinating to watch their development over the coming years.
As stated in Rule 5 of the Olympic Charter, the aim of Olympic Solidarity is to organise assistance to National Olympic Committees (NOCs), in particular those which have the greatest need of it.
This assistance takes the form of programmes elaborated jointly by the IOC and the NOCs, with technical assistance coming from International Federations, if required. To learn more about the IOC’s Olympic Solidarity, click here.
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