NAN-S-2
Participants
By Millicent Ifeanyichukwu
Lagos, June 8, 2017 (NAN) smarting from the just-concluded Kick Boxing Federation of Nigeria (KBFN) Full Contact/Lowkick Male and Female Referees and Coaches Seminar, some of the participants say it will impact positively on the sport.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the seminar which held from June 5 to June 6, at the Mobolaji Johnson Sports Centre, Rowe Park, Yaba, examined the current trends in coaching and officiating.
Lucky Ogiemudia, a referee in the Nigerian Army, described the two-day event as a platform to thoroughly explain the latest officiating rules.
Ogiemudia told NAN that he was impressed with the quality of the resource persons that took charge of the sessions and thoroughly explained the rules in detail to the participants.
“It was an interesting session and more of interactive class because every topic was well treated and there was opportunity for questions and answers which was good,’’ he said.
Abubakar Odey, a national graded referee from the Nigerian Air Force, told NAN that his participation in the seminar was an eye opener to the current trends in the sport.
Odey said that he had realised that lots of rules had been reviewed and introduced in officiating to make competitions more reasonable.
“We are now knowledgeable about developments in the sport, for example, athletes are expected to execute an average of six kicks against the previous four to boost winning chances,’’ he said.
Richard Kenneth, also a referee from Bayelsa, applauded the KBFN for its effort in organising such a comprehensive seminar for its technical officials across the country.
Kenneth, however, added that it should be organised on a quarterly basis to regularly update officials on current developments and bring them at par with their foreign counterparts.
“The federation has lived up to expectation by virtue of this seminar, it has created a platform for officials to acquire skills, interact and rub minds for even growth of the sport in the country,’’ he said.
Coach Gabriel Kingsley from Oyo State told NAN that he was happy with the knowledge he acquired which would add value to his coaching skills.
Kingsley boasted that henceforth, athletes from Oyo State were likely to make significant impact in kickboxing championships because he would impart in them the latest techniques he had learnt from the course.
Meanwhile, Henry George, a resource person at the seminar had said that the seminar became necessary, because of the new rules introduced in the sport by the World Association of Kick Boxing Organisation (WAKO).
He said that he was impressed with the turnout of officials and their response to the sessions which, according to him, exhibited their high level of commitment at the two-day seminar.
“This seminar is basically to empower our coaches and referees so that athletes under their training will be adequately mentored in line with the international techniques,’’ he said.
NAN reports that 30 participants from the Air Force, Nigeria Police, Nigerian Army, Lagos, Sokoto, Kaduna, Bayelsa, Oyo State, Ogun, Delta, Imo, Abia, Rivers and Kano states attended. (NAN)
MIL/ERO/PDE
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(Edited by Emmanuel Okara/Peter Ejiofor)