Monday Musings on Sports – The Ride or Die Crew

Last week I started my Monday Musings on Sports – my random thoughts on how I got into sports and my experiences so far.

Today, I’ll tell you a bit about staying the course, through thick and thin. I look at professional athletes and I can feel what it must have taken to get to the pinnacle of their sport. The values of sports such as Fair Play, Equity, Social Justice, Inclusivity, Equality and diversity, Self-Reliance, Discipline and Sportsmanship also serve as valuable life skills required to navigate life and its many curves and succeed at any endeavour you set your mind on.

I was fortunate to imbibe them at an early age because I got into sports very young, and these values have served me well over these long years. However, there is one particular value I didn’t mention earlier but if, truth be known, is probably the most important of whatever role you will play in sports or anywhere else for that matter, and that is TEAMWORK. Nothing teaches you how to succeed faster than imbibing the value of teamwork, and in sports, you cannot succeed without your team – your fellow players (in team sports like football, basketball and hockey), your support structure (in solo sports like tennis and athletics), your mentors and those who may or may not necessarily be members of your sports structure but are along for the ride you have chosen to take.

I call this last set of people The Ride or Die Crew…and everyone needs them to be on board for the journey to be worth it. They are the people who will support you through thick and thin, be there when your doubts try to get the better of you and mess with your mind….but also tell you the honest truth about whatever venture you are about to embark on – sensible or hare-brained. Everyone needs a Ride or Die Crew and I have been fortunate to have one at ever stage of my foray into sports. The thing about this set of people is that there will be several sets in your life. Some like family will be with you from Day 1 until they are no longer able to be there for you. Others like school mates might stay along for the entire ride, but even when they are not there regularly you know you can count on their support, however remote. Still others will come in during your professional career and be the rock that enables you to push ahead with your plans. I’ll tell you about three different sets of support structures I have had and also have now and how in their various ways, they have always seen me to the next level of my sports journey.

First off…my parents. Despite their despair at my involvement in sports at an early age, they gave me their support because, you see, they were sports people themselves. My dad played tennis and billiards and my mum played netball…stubbornly insisting on playing novelty matches even when she was in her forties. Then she would come home with a sprained ankle and we would have to nurse her through pain and agony, only for her to go back and play again….with the same result. I learnt persistence and perseverance from her. My dad was a brilliant billiards player and from him I learnt patience and perseverance, but also letting go when something wasn’t working. Remember that 800m I ran in school? My school house had nobody to run for them, so I bravely entered the race. My parents were in the stands watching me. I have never wanted to give up on something more than during that race. It was hard, but each time I came round the bend, I looked at where my parents were sat…and they were on their feet cheering me on. I finished the race, but my dad very firmly told me he wasn’t sure athletics was for me. I didn’t need him to tell me, The experience was enough to convince me to set my sights on some other sport. My dad always told me his thoughts about whatever sport I was involved in and how my involvement would serve me in good stead if I stayed focused. His support has stayed with me to date, though he and my mum are no longer with us.

My school mates in Queens College Lagos. Once I decided that solo sports were not really my thing then (more on that in another piece), I turned to team sports and we were fortunate to have the then Lagos State Sports Council send us coaches to take us in extra curricular sporting activities. Two of the coaches sent were field hockey coaches – Coach Ampos and Coach Adeyemi. They set me off on my love for hockey, which lasted for thirteen years. Prior to Queens College, I had never played hockey, but I was fortunate to have as classmates, others who had played in primary school in Kaduna and they formed the bulk of the Queens College hockey team who went on to represent the school in Federal Colleges Games (as it was known then)…far away in Sokoto. We were Form 3 then and it was a 3-day journey to Sokoto. My dad was working in Kano and he drove down to Sokoto to watch us play. That bond established on the hockey field way back then, still serves me now…and I am glad to have Maryam, Binta, Umma, Ndidi from that crew still interested in what I’m doing in sports today, offering their brand of love and support, coupled with advice on where they think I might be getting it wrong. Other school mates who didn’t play hockey but supported us strongly as part of the clapping brigade also throw in their two-penny bit today and show up whenever I ask them to. They constitute my second Ride or Die Crew and I value their contributions today.

My third crew is my team at work….the members of Sport Nigeria LTD/GTE and the Sports Industry Thematic Group (SITG) of the NESG. With the SITG, you know these are people who have bought into the dream of a viable sustainable sports industry in Nigeria and have put in the work over a period of over 8 years and counting…unpaid. In fact, they have volunteered their time, money, resources and knowledge to push something that started with just a 13-page framework in 2011 but which has resulted in where we are today – a National Sports Industry Policy that has opened up the sector to private sector interest and the attendant socio-economic benefits to the society. The SITG has over two hundred and fifty members of which about sixty are actively involved in driving the processes and work plans to ensure the sports industry takes a strong foothold here in Nigeria, spending their own money and giving up their time whenever I call them, as Team Lead. I couldn’t have got this far without them…and they know themselves.

With Sport Nigeria, that is the most incredible thing because many on the Board were not really sure where we were going with this organisation seeing as there really was no template anywhere per se for an organisation of this type, but it sounded interesting enough that they accepted to serve. They have been supportive but not hesitated to let me know what may or may not work and the fact that we stand here today, organising the very first summit that seeks to position sports as an industry in Africa through targeted investment into infrastructure – The Sports Africa Investment Summit #SAIS – is a testament to their resolve to continue on this journey that I introduced them to. ?The management of Sport Nigeria form a fiercely loyal but vocal crew and I’m standing because they stand with me. The crews at SITG and Sport Nigeria make up the last of my Ride or Die team as I think of them.

Everyone should have at least one crew. I am fortunate to have three – Family, School Mates, Professional (Work). Together they keep me balanced, ensuring I don’t go off on a wild goose chase but free enough to explore the limits of my dreams and goals for sports. ?I couldn’t do it without them and you’ll be hearing a lot more about some of them and the particular roles they played on my journey in sports,

That’s it for today. Do let me know what you think, and leet’s meet again next week Monday. Have a great week at work…or play, and I do hope you have your crews intact.

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