Chairman of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) youth development commission, Sule Oluyemi has stressed the importance of a database about talents discovered during age-grade competitions as a route towards discouraging falsifications any time in the future.
Sports247 reports that Oluyemi made this assertion in the wake of this year’s Dynamic Athletics Championship in Lagos, which he used as a reference point in the search for better standards to regulate talent hunt competitions in the country.
While citing the Dynamic Athletics Meet as a major platform for identifying future track and field stars, Oluyemi restated the AFN’s commitment to the objective of discovering, developing and monitoring young talents across Nigeria, hence his applause to the organisers for aiding that task.
He thanked the organisers for creating an independent platform where athletes can showcase their potential at a gathering that extends beyond the series of events alone, as the age-grade focus provides an opportunity to identify promising youngsters at an early stage of their careers.
While promising that the AFN will continue to monitor talents discovered at such competitions, Oluyemi also disclosed that the federation has put in place a structured system that will begin at 13 years old up to 20, thereby ensuring that talents are captured in a database from an early age.
He also pointed out that combining athletics with academics opens opportunities of international exposure to young Nigerians through scholarships with higher institutions abroad, then added: “This is what we’ve been asking for and what we’ve been looking for.
“(We want) people to independently organise competitions in such a way that athletes can actually express themselves. We have seen a lot of prospects, a lot of good athletes for the future, and now it is left for the Federation to continue to monitor them as they grow.
“That way, you curb a whole lot of problems that we had before, which includes age falsification and the rest of it. You can imagine a kid that has competed at that level, you can’t change your age again for life because it is there, you will be captured on that database.”
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