By; JACOB ONJEWU DICKSON
After just 10 days in a special combined camp at the Ahmadu Bello Stadium, 30 male and female volleyball players spotted and invited by Nigeria Volleyball Federation (NVBF) FIBA Technical Director, Boskovic Alexander are upbeat about the nation’s spotlight worldwide few years from now.
The players who were spotted by Boskovic from the recently concluded Premier League are in high spirits, with burning desire to learn more.
When newsmen visited their Ahmadu Bello Stadium Kaduna camp on Monday October 17, 2022, they were seen undergoing some drills from Alexander, who was assisted by individual coaches of the national teams.
It was gathered that the mixed camp, comprises of both senior and junior players, who are all thirsty not just to wear the national colours at international outings, but to make a mark at such engagements.
The Captain of the Senior Female National Team, Ebere Mercy Promise in a an interview with sports writers on the sidelines of their training, said that it is a training camp comprising junior and senior teams.
“We have been here for ten days. The training has been great, quite intensive and practical.
“This has been a great training, where we have been told that consistency is the key to outstanding performance, that’s what we have learnt.
“The technical adviser’s main focus is us being consistent, he has really taught us a lot.
“If you watch our game now you must have observed while watching that it has improved tremendously,” she said.
For the captain of the Senior Male Team, Samuel Ogwuche, being at the training camp has been a rare privilege.
“It’s a great privilege to have the technical adviser train them us on key aspects of the game.
“This is a new buildup, which is a mixture of senior and junior, in the next five years, we would do great at Africa and the world,” he said.
Speaking further, he said that they are preparing ahead, and are optimistic of a brighter future for the game of volleyball in the country.
“I believe from next year, there will be huge differences. Currently there are no competitions on ground and yet we are training, there’s a great difference, volleyball is a tactical game and we are getting a lot of information. It’s a good opportunity for us to develop our skills,” he said.
On the welfare of players in camp, he praised the NVBF and its Oresident, Engineer Musa Nimrod for the excellent spirit they are in.
“The federation is doing its best and we the players are also doing our best at the camp. The welfare in camp excellent,” he said.
Nigeria’s U-19 Male Volleyball Coach, Vincent Unogwu while fielding questions also on the sidelines, saud thay the technical and tactical coach that was assigned to Nigeria by FIVB, would be on ground for one year to help develop the game.
“He chose 15 boys and 15 female from premier league and other competitions and they are the ones at this training camp,” he said.
He explained that in 2023, there would be international outings for both senior and junior volleyball teams, mentioning some of the events to include, Africa Youth Games (AYG), World Junior Championship (WJC) and the African Games.
On what the coaches have learnt from the FIVB technical expert, he said it has been eye opening.
“To us as coaches, this is a course because we are really learning a lot,” he said.
For the Technical Director, Boskovic Alexander, what us important for now is to develop Nigeria’s players in the aspects that they are lacking
“As you can see you came while female were training, this is a camp of ten days we try to assemble the biggest possible number of players.
“Before coming here, I had to watch the U-19 African Cup in September, we also had Premier League, from where we selected.
“We don’t talk about new ideas, in developing these players, we talk about what is necessary for them.
“We have to improve our grassroots, discover and educate future players,” he said.
