The captain of Will-B Excellence Secondary School, Ikotun’s junior football team, Daniel Hassan has sensationally opted to seek a career in table tennis instead of soccer, and he is taking some of his colleagues along with him.
The fair-skinned Hassan has always shown a love for table tennis, as his profile on social media has a bat and one of his hobbies is the sport made popular in China, which the lad says he believes can propel him to take after the like of Atanda Musa, Yomi Bankole, and Aruna Quadri.
A hint in this direction was provided last weekend when Hassan turned up at the sports hall of Teslim Balogun Stadium, Surulere, Lagos in the company of three schoolmates, with the intent to begin weekly training sessions under technical experts of the ping-pong sport.
However, of the four lads that turned up on an epochal day in May to commence training under the guidance of Coach Ope and his assistant, Coach Lawal, only Hassan and his pal in JS3 at Will-B School, Anthony Chukwuzubelu were specifically meant for table tennis, while their classmate, Samuel Clifford, and SS2 pal, Desmond Ojieh were for athletics.
As it turned out, though, Desmond and his colleague arrived late for track and field drills under the care of Coach Dennis and renowned Olympian, Enefiok Udo-Obong, such that they ended up joining Hassan and Anthony at the table tennis pool in the sports hall.
As it were, Anthony emerged table tennis champion at the recent mini-sports festival of Will-B Excellence Secondary School, during which he beat Clifford in the final, while Hassan ended up in third place, such that it was not any surprise when the sports master arranged for them to start getting proper training and exposure under the charge of the Lagos State coaches.
They were so opportune that their arrival at the sports hall coincided with preparations for the 2021 National Table Tennis Championship at the same venue, and the youngsters quickly signified their interest in being part of the contest that is scheduled to begin this Tuesday.
The story took another dramatic turn when information about their visit to Surulere was part of the weekly news bulletin on the assembly ground of their school by members of the press and debate club, such that other ping-pong talents of the institution also started expressing interest in being part of the new zeal.
That has led to a situation in which other top performers during the recent sports festival are also now thinking of joining Hassan et al this Saturday for the next stage of weekly regimented training and preparations for the national championship.
The line of hopefuls includes another JS3 student, Abibat Musiliu, who stole the show on the first day of the mini-sports festival by winning gold in the female junior and senior events at the table, such that tongues started wagging about her becoming a rare gem in furtherance of the girl child making a huge mark from the school owned by Elder Williams Folorunsho Olaoye.
The buzz is also on for the top three players from the senor male table tennis cadre also joining the spree, with the SS3 troika of Blessed Onyedinma, Awal Shuaib, and Abiola Sultan, who are all part of the school’s main football team, now also lining themselves up for a joint-visit to Teslim Balogun Stadium’s sports hall this Saturday.
It is, therefore, bound to be an invasion of Molada Okoya Thomas Hall by students of Will-B Excellence Secondary School, whose principal, Mr. Gboyega Tosin Adeuyi, is an avowed fan of Arsenal of England and Brila FM radio, as the lads, who placed first, second and third in that order during the sports festival’s table tennis event, also join the bandwagon.
Considering that Clifford was among the top three at the table during the festival, he is already thinking of combining training in athletics with spells in ping-pong, alongside all the others, but Ojieh is bound to concentrate on running, which he says is a talent he discovered only last year.
His zeal, though, is bound to inspire other members of the soccer squad to consider the following suit and hit the tracks, as the incoming senior football team captain, David Nnayere, who is in SS2, actually placed second in the 100m sprints, while the SS3 trio of Victor Adeshola, Favour Philip and Franklyn Ojieh could also decide to dump football for the tracks.
One of the ladies, Chioma Gabriel, who is currently in JS1, will also have a similar dilemma to face, as she was recently at trials with Asisat Oshoala’s youth days’ club, FC Robo Queens of Lagos at Bishop Aggey Memorial School, Mushin, alongside Will-B’s female games prefect, Chinecherem Moughalu, but they are both looking at henceforth concentrating on running.
That is different from others who excelled in the female running events during the mini-sports festival, as Precious Okereke (SS3), the SS2 duo of Kofo Oyefuga and Elizabeth Godson as well as Precious Promise in SS1, who placed first, second, third, and fourth during the seniors’ category, and JS1’s Cynthia Nnayere for the juniors, have not shown any interest in football before now.
As Saturday approaches, the onus is now on the lads to make the very best of their newfound lease of life at Teslim Balogun Stadium, where they are expected to return for the next stage of their quest for the breakthrough, as they carry the fast-growing banner of all-round sports aloft at Will-B Excellence Secondary School, in Abogunloko area of Ikotun, Lagos.
Ojieh captured the passion when he declared: “I did not know that I could run until I came to Will-B. It is here that I found out that I can run and I believe if I get real training regularly I can really make a name through athletics.”
