LAGOS – Nkechi Okeke, a karate coach with Delta State Sports Council, on Thursday appealed to parents to support their wards who wished to pursue interest in sports.
Okeke told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos that parental support would help motivate upcoming athletes to be committed in their training programmes.
“When a young person has an interest in a particular sport and gets encouraged by his or her parents, the tendency is for such a youth to make good progress.
“It is better to give young athletes all the necessary assistance so that their talents can come to limelight, irrespective of their gender or the sport,’’ she said.
Okeke said that parents should show support by taking their wards to training programmes and even by being spectators when the athletes participated in competitions. [eap_ad_1] “A young competing athlete will be happy to see his or her parents at the spectator stand. In fact, the athlete will go the extra mile to impress the parents,’’ the karate coach said.
According to Okeke, martial arts like karate, has fighting rules which technical officials critically inculcate in the young athletes who wish to take the sport as a career.
“The issue of creating fear or discouraging young athletes from developing a career in karate should be totally discarded because we thoroughly teach them the fighting rules first.
“It is when we are convinced that they are thoroughly familiar with the technicalities for fighting that we take them to the demonstration and fighting proper.”
The coach said that the advantage of karate, as a sport, was that it enhanced the intellect, useful for self-defence and had competition benefits.
Okeke stressed that the sport could be recommended to young people. (NAN)
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