 |
| Modupe |
Her performance earned her a national team call up in 1975, and she represented Nigeria at several international competitions before hanging her stick in 1989 to become a coach. While admitting that getting to the top required serious hard work, Tella told ADEYINKA ADEDIPE that sports provided her the opportunity to become a top student in school and instilled in her the discipline to navigate the challenges of life.
THE decision to take to sports wasn’t a tough one for Modupe Christiana Tella (Nee Fakolade) while she was at St. Michael’s Primary School, Mushin, Lagos. The fact that she had the support of her parents also made the decision easier. All they demanded from her was to ensure that her love for sports didn’t hinder her academic progress.
Though she played around with other kids in her pre primary school days, it was at St Michael in the 1960s that her talent blossomed. She was running the 220 yards, the 440 yards and also did the sprint and the annual inter-house sports competition provided her the opportunity to showcase her skill and measure her progress against her competitors.
As a young girl, people were marveled at her instant rise to fame within her neighbourhood to that extent that when she started primary school, the Physical Education masters could not believe that she had no prior experience in organized sports.
Reminiscing on her early days in sports, Tella says hard work helped her to master the skill of running even at a tender age. “I was really good at running and I used every opportunity I had to improve myself. Despite running for fun most times, I made sure that every chance I had to be on the track was used to better my skill. Apart from doing the sprint, 220 yards and 440 yards, I was in the school relay team. I anchored the school team to invitational relay victories and my mates, who were sometimes jealous of my accomplishment, also learnt some tricks from me.”
Despite spending her time on the track, Tella didn’t lose sight of her educational pursuit, as she made enough grades in her primary six examination to gain admission to Progress College, Oko Oba, Agege in 1969. She said: “I made sure I did well in my academics as directed by my parents. I pursued my academics success the same way I did in sports. And I was successful in combining the two.”
In her first year at Progress College, Tella started with athletics, but soon switched over to hockey after watching her seniors in one of their training sessions. The availability of equipment also informed her decision to take to hockey. But she was still part of the school relay team, which also had Roseline Osadolor, Bimbola Ojo and Dele Okoromi. “My contact with the game of hockey occurred in my first year in secondary school. The way the players dribbled with the stick and scored was fascinating to me and I decided to start playing hockey, while still doing athletics,” she added.
As athletes, Tella and her teammates enjoyed preferential treatment from the school management, including being exempted from paying school fees throughout her stay in the school. So, she had ample time to focus on her educational pursuit.
According to her, she also got running and playing shoes, as well as other things needed to excel in sports from the school authorities. “Representing the school in sporting really helped me in my academics. I didn’t pay school fees throughout my stay in the secondary school and we got training kits for free. “Playing with my seniors was very interesting. Most of them were role models to me and watching them play inspired me a lot. “I learnt some tricks from them and I became a dependable defender in no time. The likes of Okoromi and Osadolor were my role models and I was just like their understudy. At that time, we played the game because of the interest we had in sports and not for the financial gains.”
Tella’s sporting accomplishment made her parents very proud and they continued to support her. The fact that she was able to combine sports with her education also made her parents very happy. “I was the only one who did sports in the family and naturally I enjoyed a lot of support from my parents and siblings.” The structure of the school curricular, which earmarked different periods for sporting activities and academics, aided Tella’s growth in her overall development.
“Apart from getting favourable treatment from the school authority, the fact that we also had time allotted to sporting activities also encouraged me to take sports serious,” she said. The Interschool Hockey competition provided an avenue for Tella to rub shoulders with some other notable players from different schools. Progress College had the likes of Jubril Martins Secondary School, Ikeja Grammar School and Queens College to contend with, but Progress College came out tops in several competitions to underline their dominance of the game in the state.
According to Tella, her school was the best at that time because they had the equipment to train to become good players. “The competition between schools was fierce but healthy. The players played as if their lives depended on winning and this brought out the best in all the teams. My school was the best despite stiff competition from Jubril Martins, Ikeja Grammar School and Queens College. “I must add again that the support we got from the school helped us in becoming future stars.”
In her second year in the secondary school in 1971, she was selected by Lagos State for an interstate competition, where she was an unused substitute, but she didn’t have to wait for long as she broke into the team the following year, and stayed there as a regular player for 17 years. She made her first appearance for Lagos State at the Nigeria Open in 1972 in Ibadan, with host, Oyo, Ogun, Bendel and some other states in attendance.
The Lagos State team, according to Tella, had the best the state could offer and it went into every competition with the sole aim of winning. However, it was not all rosy for them, as coaches Adesola, Osasieme and Ampose had to work extra hard to knock the team into a winning machine. She explained: “The early days of the team was very challenging because we had to work with our coaches to build a balanced team that could attack and defend well. “We also worked on ball possession and I was given the role to man mark dangerous players in the opposition. My work rate and my ability to carry out instruction effectively on the field endeared me to the coaches and players. My coaches gave me the opportunity to play and I turned out to be one of the stars in the team.”
While still in school, she represented Lagos State in the first National Sports Festival in Lagos in 1973. She was drafted into the intermediate team alongside another senior player to give the team needed stability. Though, the team didn’t finish in the medal zone, Tella said the experience was invaluable, as it prepared her for the task ahead.
By 1974, she completed her secondary school education and took the decision to stick to hockey. National recognition soon came her way as she was selected to represent the country at the Afro-Asian Championship in India in 1975, where the team came back with a bronze medal. “It was my first time of travelling out of the country and it was an unforgettable experience. I played alongside Osadolor and Okoromi, who were my seniors in the team. And winning a bronze medal was also heartwarming for me.
“Our preparation for the India championship was top class and the competition for places was tough. In my position alone, which was in the midfield, we had over 40 players vying for slots, while other positions also had about five to 20 players slugging it out for places.
“So, those of us who made the team did so on merit and it was difficult for anyone to get into the team unless you were very good,” she added. On return from India, she received a warm welcome from her family members and friends who were happy to see what she had accomplished in a very short time. The following year, she was off to Germany with the national team for a tournament, which failed to produce a medal.
Back to the local scene in 1977, Tella was in the Lagos State team to the 1977 National Sports Festival in Kaduna. The team had Kehinde and Taiwo Akijina, Mercy Ajuyala among others. The team got bronze after losing a grueling duel to their closest rival, Bendel State in the semi final. Tella was back in the national team in 1978 for the World Cup qualifiers against Ghana, which the Nigerian team won to book a place in Spain.
However, indiscipline cost the team dearly at the World Cup, as it failed to win a single game. “Despite playing strong oppositions like Germany, Australia, Japan and Spain, we could still have done well but majority of the players were not disciplined. The national team coach was dropped for the trip and they brought in a coach from Bendel State, who was hell bent on having all his players in the team, but I made the team with Osadalor, Okoromi and Buki Adebowale. “Our performance was the high point for the team, as the other players showed they were not ready for the competition due to their poor conduct.
“It was not a surprise that we didn’t win any game and the Nigerian Ambassador to Spain threatened to send all of us back to Nigeria if we continued to put up disjointed performances. The inclusion of Adebowale in the last game brought some sanity into the team and we put up a decent performance. “But it was too late to salvage any point. Also, most of those teams were better than us technically and the fact that we were playing on Astro turf for the first time was a big problem because we played on ordinary pitch back home.”
After winning bronze at the National Sports Festival in Kaduna, she was given employment by Lagos State, which provided for her the added impetus to excel at the 1978 edition, where she won gold, with victory over Rivers State in the final. “I was very happy to have won my first gold in the championship,” she noted.
From 1980 to 1989 (except for 1981 when she got married to Golden Eaglet late Coach Yemi Tella), she was a regular feature in the National Women Championship with the Lagos team battling it out with Bendel State, which was a strong in sports at that time.
However in 1985, she started her career as a player/coach and also won a gold medal with the Lagos State team at the National Sports Festival in 1989 before hanging her stick.She played alongside Bola Omole, who was the goalkeeper, Okoromi, Florence Egege, Sola Ewuoso, Bassey Umoh and Bola Okunnu, among others. “This gold was the best in my career because it came at the end of it. And it was also the beginning of my journey into coaching.”
Her first assignment as a coach was at Bauchi 2001 National Sports Festival as assistant to legendary coach, Henry Adesola. The male team won gold medal, while the female won silver. Also in 2002, she won gold with the male team in Edo as an assistant coach.
Tella became the head coach last year and she led the male team to win gold, while the female won silver at the National Sports Festival hosted by Lagos State. Admitting that coaching had its fair share of challenges, she said she would not forget in a hurry how fans threatened the Lagos State team with guns in 2002 if they won the hockey gold at the NSF. She said: “It is a big challenge to work as a coach in the country, but with clear focus one will excel. I like working with the players and winning gold at last year’s NSF, hosted by the state, was the most difficult for me because there were many forces against the team.”
Tella commends the state government for giving employment and scholarship to all the athletes that did the state proud at the competition.
She credits her husband for her achievements in coaching, saying, “I learnt a lot from my late husband. He taught me never to discard a good player who lacks discipline, but to instead bring that player into the team and bench him or her so that such player could work hard and try to force his or her way back into the team. In fact, I still use some of the tips he gave me before he died.”
While calling on the sports authorities to help the players by providing equipment for them as well as all their needs, Tella enjoined the players to eschew violence, train hard under the guidance of their coaches, avoid pride because only through that way would their careers blossom.
Looking at the state of hockey in Nigeria, Tella laments that the country has allowed the game to suffer and called on all stakeholders to come together to resuscitate the sport.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please, leave a comment here.....