Monday Morning Motivation – Talk to the backhand

Workout Wednesday – Tennis E. Williams

“You can’t change the past, but being bitter about it can certainly change your future!”

What do you know about the history of sport in Nigeria?

It’s a little-known fact that the first football match that I went to see was a friendly between Japan and Nigeria at the St Mary’s stadium in Southampton. I’m not a huge football fan and the weather was bleak (torrential rain), but the atmosphere was electric. The fans were incredibly friendly and also lived up to national stereotypes: there was the flashing of a thousand cameras every time a Japanese player got the ball, and the sound of the drumming from the Nigerian fans was thunderous. I LOVED IT! However, since then, I’ve not really seen or read much about Nigerian sports (although if you read my blog regularly, you’ll know how much I love Japan!)

A colleague has recently written some great articles that I think may be of interest to many people…

My name is Olaojo Aiyegbayo and I am a freelance sports’ writer. I have published two sports’ stories so far – one features ‘Pele, Arthur Ashe and the 1976 Nigerian military coup’ while the second one is on ‘Pele and the Nigerian civil war’. I am Nigerian by birth hence my interest in telling stories about Nigeria’s sporting history. My articles are written to appeal to not just Nigerians but non-Nigerians as well. You can reach me via @olaojo15 or ola@horebinternational.com

• The story of Lagos’ ill-fated 1976 professional tennis tournament
• When Pelé played in Nigeria during its civil war (did he really bring a ceasefire?)

 

Please do have a read of Ola’s articles – they are well-researched and I found them both to be compelling.

Monday Morning Motivation: Novak Djokovic

Ok, so Wimbledon may be over, but how about some Novak Djokovic for some Monday morning motivation:

You can watch the full set of three films here: http://www.jacobscreek.com/madeby/index