Engineer Mustapha Saheed, father of Musa and Mustapha who were recently rated 1st and 17th in U-11 and U-13 in the world by the International Table Tennis Federation, ITTF, is seeking help from the federal government to enable his children maintain their world rankings. In this interview with Trust Sports, Saheed spoke on how much it has cost him to train the youngsters, the developmental challenges as well as his future plans for the young prodigies.
ITTF has rated your son, Musa as number one U-11 category and his elder brother, Mustapha is also rated 17th in the world in U-13. In concrete terms what did you do to bring them to this level?
This was possible due to frequent participation in both national and international tournaments which involves travelling to various countries. I am their first coach but I discovered I cannot coach them alone. Now, they are being coached by the state and national coaches. I also employ coaches for them. It has not been easy in terms of time and resources as it takes a lot to train them.
How much has it cost you financially to train your kids and get them to where they are at the moment?
I can say that I have spent up to N20m on them so far. With the new ranking, that means the money that will be spent on them will triple. What some advanced countries do is that once a child gets to this level, he or she becomes the property of the state and the state takes care of everything concerning the child.
The ranking they have gotten so far is not for me personally but for Nigeria as a country. My expectation now is that the government should support them on what’s the best way to keep the ranking. Such support will help the children and the family, and it will give me some more time for my family. Until then the journey is still looking a bit hard. I want to reiterate that even as I am their father, these children are federal government children for now and I seek their support, if not, to keep the ranking will be difficult for us. We will be going to Tunisia for a tournament, nobody has said, let’s assist you. It has always been like that so when the ranking came, everyone kept asking how come. They never knew how much resources went into it. I travel on behalf of Nigeria visiting a lot of places for them to have international ranking not for any personal reasons.
What support have you gotten from the NTTF in particular in developing your boys?
They have supported us even though it is not hundred percent. Anytime we want to travel, they process our travelling documents. Other financial processing, I handle it myself. Recently, we got some equipment for training from Aruna Quadri through the NTTF.
Have you made any deliberate effort to get sponsors for the children?
Yes, I have tried but it’s not been easy. What I think I’ll do now is to get agents that can follow up for me. I am an engineer and it has not been easy combining my work with getting sponsors. For now, we don’t have any response on sponsorship. At the moment, we are planning to go to Tunisia so they can start defending their rankings. That trip alone will cost N2.5 million.
How challenging has it been monitoring the progress of your sons?
It has been challenging especially in my family. My wife and my other kids are all worried that I am always with Musa and Mustapha. At a point, I got the feeling that they thought I loved my tennis champions more than I loved my other children. It has been difficult for Musa and Mustapha to combine their Islamic studies, school and training. The best way I think they can improve is for them to get quality training. It has been very difficult for them and for me too and the family as a whole. Going forward, what I think is that they should get an academy outside so that the academic calendar in the school will go in line with the ITTF calendar. This will help them to avoid missing classes or any important competitions. It has been difficult here in Nigeria because in their school, I have to go and meet the principal every time they are going to miss classes for a tournament. Whenever they miss classes, we have to go back and do what had been missed and this is not done during the normal school period.
In view of their recent achievements, would you say Musa and Mustapha have been given the deserved recognition by Nigeria?
They have been given the media coverage, yes but financially not yet. We are from Borno State so I tried to go see our governor but I have not been able to see him. I have even tried to go to the liaison office in Abuja but I am still not able to see him or get through to him. At the moment, we are trying to push their matter to the Minister of sports with the hope that maybe they can get the right support. Unfortunately, there has not been any response from there either. So, at the moment I am still spending and spending.
What are your future plans for the boys?
They need more training and I aspire to take them to where the best coaches are; China, France and Germany. I want them to be exposed to modern-day training as well.
From your experience, what would you say are the major problems hindering young tennis players from progressing in Nigeria?
Costly equipment, lack of enough competitions, sponsorships and training camps are some of the factors hampering the progress of young table tennis players in Nigeria. Young table tennis players need support and sponsorship for them to go far, if not, they will grow here and come down here. We don’t have enough competitions in Nigeria and that is a major challenge to table tennis in the country. There are no training camps as well. In the 80s, there were camps at both the state and national level but they no longer exist. Without camps, training is not easy for the kids to grow. An average family cannot afford to buy equipment for training. The game of table tennis cost a lot of money. It costs even more than football.
