Arthur Jumbo
Arthur Jumbo was a guest at the monthly round table meeting with journalists in Port Harcourt tagged, the SWAN/ Rivers Platform.
Jumbo pointed out that getting a hockey medal at the 2024 Olympic Games will not be a big deal if there is a total dedication within the ranks.
“I do not think it is a big thing to achieve. It is about dedication. If we have exposure and consistent tournaments then we can be on the right path to achieving this.
“We must also go back to schools because that would be building the very foundation for them.
“The Olympic Games is still seven years away and I tell you that you can even get a fresh player to start playing hockey today and he will be ready for the Olympic Games in 2024,” Jumbo said.
He reiterated the need for competitions after the talents are searched out from the schools.
“There must be lots of competitions which we do not have in right now in Nigeria.
“Here we have just one tournament and you can never achieve much with that. You cannot even achieve anything with it, but the most important of them all is the schools.
“We need to teach kids the basics, get them to love the game. The fundamentals need to be learned at a young age,” the former Rivers State hockey boss said.
“Seven years is a long time to plan and we can get these players exposed and ready for the big time. We also need a foreign coach.
“I am not against Nigerian coaches, but we are talking exposure here. We need to get a foreign coach to aide what we do in the schools and I believe in seven years we will be ready,” Jumbo enthused.
Arthur Jumbo, at the SWAN/ Rivers Platform spoke on other issues from why he is going to the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission, ICPC to petition certain members of the association over missing funds that led to his stepping aside as chairman and many others.
The SWAN/ Rivers Platform is a monthly roundtable meet between a sports personality and the media in the state and is powered by the Ufuoma Egbamuno owned Foskolo Media.
