The Tennista Foundation has launched an initiative to develop junior tennis at the grassroots level with its maiden junior tennis tournament that began on Wednesday and concludes on Saturday (today) at the tennis courts of Rowe Park, Yaba, Lagos State.
The four-day hard court competition, which attracted 55 players in each of the male and female U-16 categories, aims to discover and nurture young tennis talents in Lagos State with plans to expand across Nigeria.
President of Tennista Foundation, Michael Nwoseh, expressed satisfaction with the turnout and support received for the inaugural event.
“It has been an exciting time for us, this competition is something that we put together to develop junior tennis in Nigeria, and we are starting in Lagos State,” Nwoseh said.
“The Lagos State Sports Commission, the Lagos State Tennis Association and the entire team have been really supportive of this project. The goal is to continue to support tennis in Nigeria, develop young talent, give them the exposure and all necessary support.”
Nwoseh explained that as a non-profit organisation, the foundation seeks funding and support to channel resources back to young tennis enthusiasts in Nigeria and across Africa.
Programs and Operations Manager for Tennista Foundation, Folakemi Ayodele, revealed that the tournament targets children already involved in tennis between the ages of 8 and 16.
“We are going to be giving them trophies, bags, rackets and other items across all semi-finalists,” Ayodele said.
“The foundation will award scholarships of N100,000, N75,000, and N50,000 to the first, second, and third-place winners, respectively, in both male and female categories”
National tennis coach, Frank Tarmena, praised the foundation’s initiative in promoting the sport at the grassroots level, saying, “We have been clamouring for individuals and corporate bodies to come to the aid of sports and tennis in particular so that we harness the growing talents we have been building over the years.
“These opportunities promote the sport, create jobs, and also keep the kids off the negative vices in the society. It’s a high-standard event and all the top geniuses are here. The intensity has been so high and we are looking forward to getting future champions here.”
Tennista Foundation board member, Gabriel Fagbohun, emphasised the connection between education and sports development.
“One of our goals is to promote education through sports and we want to encourage organisations and companies to support through CSR programs like this. We need to promote tennis, it is a unique sport that we can build throughout life development,” Fagbohun stated.
Lagos State Tennis Association Secretary, Toyin Ajayi, was also in attendance at the event, which has drawn considerable interest from the tennis community in Lagos.
