Making of Champions

A couple of weeks ago on the Sports Tonight Show on Channels TV, the show’s host, Toyin Ibitoye and Making of Champions Founder, Bambo Akani, discussed the appointment a couple of weeks ago of the former 100m World Record holder, Maurice Greene, as Team Nigeria’s Relay Coordinator for the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in July/August and the African Championships in Marrakech in August. The appointment has been seen as controversial in many quarters, not least by Nigerian Olympic GOLD Medallist, Enefiok Udo-Obong, who did not mince words in his blog when saying that he felt it was a waste of resources, especially given that 2 other Americans, Angie Taylor and Eric Campbell, are already at the helm of Nigerian Sports, as National Performance Director, and Performance Director for Athletics.

Despite Greene’s legendary status in the World of Athletics, questions are already being asked as to what appreciable impact he could possibly have on our athletes in 3 months, especially given that since his running days, he is more renowned as a pundit for Eurosport, and for a brief stint on the television show Dancing with the Stars…indeed the poor performance of Team Nigeria at the Mt SAC Relays in California over the weekend suggests that he will have his work cut out for him ahead of the Commonwealth Games – watch this space for more updates!

Hi All,

Hi All,

Making of Champions does football! To round off 2013, we just wanted to bring you some news about a new documentary project leading up to the 2014 World Cup in Brazil! The Road to Brazil is the 2nd documentary from the MAKING OF CHAMPIONS’ stable!! Come with us on the journey of following the progress of Nigeria’s Super Eagles as they prepare for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil! In this Road to Brazil teaser, we journey to Salvador, Brazil’s third largest city – a city infused with food, culture, language and religion heavily influenced by Yoruba slaves taken there hundreds of years ago! We were in Salvador during the World Cup draw, and the World Cup FEVER and EXCITEMENT was palpable!! Here’s what Brazilians and an Argentinian fan there think about Nigeria’s chances at the World Cup!!

The Making of The Road to Brazil: “Salvador”

The Road to Brazil was shot over 4 days in Salvador, during the period of the World Cup draw, where Nigeria was drawn against Argentina (once again!), Bosnia and Iran in Group F. It was an amazing journey of discovery – it was particularly fascinating to note the immense impact that Nigerian culture has had in this region Brazil, where most of it’s inhabitants proudly identify themselves as descended from Africa. They have their own versions of some typical Nigerian food like Akara and Moinmoin (called ‘Acaraje’ and ‘Abará’), and besides Christianity, the main religion practised here is Candomblé, which developed as a form of ‘Syncretism’ between Catholicism and the traditional religion (mainly Yoruba) of the slaves who were taken to Brazil from Africa between 1549 and 1888, and were made to go to Catholic Church – instead they took each one of the Catholic Saints as one of their ‘Orishas’ (Yoruba gods), and Candomblé developed from there…

Not many people would know this in Nigeria, but interestingly, Obafemi Awolowo University in Ile-Ife in Nigeria offers a Portuguese degree, and every year for the past 20 years or more, they have sent a small group of students doing the course for a year abroad programme at UFBA (Universidade Federal da Bahia) in Salvador to master their grasp of the language. These students did an amazing job of supporting the Road to Brazil shoot, making themselves available to interview the locals in Portuguese and doing some translation work to help with English subtitles for the documentary! In the near future we’ll release some more Road to Brazil teasers, featuring these amazing exchange students sending the Super Eagles and all Nigerians messages of encouragement (in Portuguese) to come to Brazil to support the Super Eagles at the World Cup!

The icing on the cake for the Road to Brazil shoot was the involvement of former Nigerian International, Richard Owubokiri, in the project. Known fondly as Ricky in Brazil and Portugal, he achieved legend status in both countries, after being one of the top scorers in both the Brazilian league in the 80’s (with Vitoria Football Club of Salvador) and the Portuguese league in the early 90’s (with Boavista). Indeed, the contrasting story of his careers for club and country and why his fortunes at International level for Nigeria did not quite match his glittering, prolific club career, is one of the untold stories of Nigerian football that we will bring you in The Road to Brazil: “Salvador”!

Watch this space in early 2014 for more news on The Road to Brazil – More pictures and video teasers coming soon! In the meantime, share this teaser – all Nigerians need to see this and get behind the Super Eagles to do wonders at the World Cup – “In the final – Nigeria and Brazil!”

It’s been a long road, but the International Roadshow for Making of Champions: “The History”, which has taken us to 4 different cities across 3 continents, is finally over! It’s been a gruelling schedule, but over the past month, we’ve hosted viewings of the film in London, Lagos, Abuja, Atlanta, and we finished off where we started, in London on Saturday! It’s been an amazing journey, and the reaction to the film has been overwhelming! Some of the highlights of the roadshow included showing the film to the AFN President, AFN Technical Director and Nigeria’s new Performance Directors in Abuja, to Innocent Egbunike in Atlanta, and to Glory Alozie in London!

Glory Alozie is the last Nigerian to win an Olympic Silver medal in Athletics, at Sydney 2000. Despite having competed for Spain in the latter part of her career, in an awesome show of support for the film and for Nigerian Athletics, she travelled all the way from her base in Valencia to join the final viewing of the film in London! This undoubtedly added immeasurably to the occasion – following the viewing, Alozie, who features in the film, participated in the Q&A with the film’s Director, Bambo Akani. Alozie’s presence certainly put the gloss on the occasion.

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Nigerian Athletics fans may recall that in one of the most tragic stories in the history of the sport, Alozie lost her then fiancé to a car accident in Australia, literally days before the Sydney Olympics began – despite being right in the midst of that period of grief and mourning, she still picked herself up to win an Olympic Silver Medal for Nigeria in the 100 metre hurdles, only missing out on Gold by 3 hundredths of a second!

In one of the most touching moments of the Q&A, the realisation of the enormity of her feat back then drew an emotional applause from the audience…She is one of only 3 athletes ever (and the last one) to win an Individual Olympic medal running for Nigeria (Onyali and Ogunkoya were the other two – Ajunwa and Okagbare both won Long Jump medals). Since Alozie’s Silver at Sydney 2000, Nigeria has only managed 4 Bronze medals in Track & Field at the Olympics – 2 at Athens ’04 and 2 at Beijing ’08!

The Q&A was filmed, and we’ll be releasing snippets of the recording in the New Year. Watch out for upcoming news in the New Year, about the plans for Making of Champions: “The History” in 2014 – Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all!

“This film has changed me.” These were the words of Innocent Egbunike, Nigeria’s Head Athletics Coach from the London 2012 Olympics, after the Atlanta viewing of Making of Champions: “The History”, on Monday. The film was once again very well received, and generated lots of discussion afterwards, on all the possible ways forward for Nigeria in Athletics. Here are some pictures from the roundtable discussion which followed the film viewing, and lasted well over an hour!

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Many thanks to the Parks & Recreation Office in Atlanta for hosting the event, and to Innocent Egbunike, for gracing us with his presence. He features quite prominently in the film, so it was fantastic having him there to support. He also attended with one of the athletes he’s currently training – Reggie Witherspoon, who happens the be a 4x400m GOLD medallist for the USA, from the Beijing ’08 Olympic Games!

The next stop is London tomorrow! Here are all the details you need – it’s the last stop on the International Roadshow (at least for 2013), and Glory Alozie, an Olympic Silver Medallist for Nigeria, has flown in all the way from Spain to attend tomorrow’s screening – you don’t want to miss it!

LONDON, UK, with Glory Alozie!!! (Facebook Event Page: https://www.facebook.com/events/218165215029279/?source=1)

Date: Saturday December 14^th 

Time: 7 – 9.30pm

Venue: The Chapel, Jesus House, 112 Brent Terrace, Brent Cross, London, NW2 1LT

 Glory Alozie, another one of the stars of the documentary, will be joining the Atlanta viewing! Alozie is the last person in all of Nigeria, to win anIndividual Olympic Medal on the Track, when she won Silver in the 100 metre hurdles at Sydney 2000. In 2001, she switched nationalities to compete for Spain and has lived there since – but in a monumental show of support for the film, Alozie will be flying in from her base in Spain to join us at the London viewing! Her achievements while she represented Nigeria are no small feats either!:

– 100m Hurdles World Championship Silver Medallist (1999)

– 100m Hurdles Olympic Silver Medallist (2000)

– African & Commonwealth 100m Hurdles Record Holder (since 1999!)

Refreshments will be served at the beginning, and Q&A with the Director and Glory Alozie will follow the screening tomorrow! Thank you for your attention, and we look forward to seeing you at one of the viewings!

Images from the Abuja  screening of  Making of Champions: “The  History”, including the Director Bambo Akani sitting  and chatting with the new Performance Directors Angie Taylor and Eric Campbell (front row)

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On Tuesday, Nigeria unveiled to the world the signings of two new performance directors to overhaul Sports in the country, Angie Taylor and Eric Campbell. Angie Taylor, a Track & Field coach for over 20 years at various American Universities and USA head coach at the 2003 World Championships, has been hired to oversee Athletics (Track & Field), Boxing, Taekwondo, Weightlifting and Wrestling at the High Performance Centre in Abuja. Eric Cambpell, who was previously a Track & Field Coach at Georgia State and the Youth and Junior National Team Coach for Saudi Arabia, was hired as the Performance Director of Athletics specifically.

These hires could signal a turning point for Sports Performance in Nigeria, and are clear indications that the current Minister of Sports, Mallam Bolaji Abduallahi, is intent on making a big impact in a sector where Nigeria has long performed below its potential. Indeed, besides football, Africa’s most populous nation with 170 million people has not even begun to scratch the surface of its sporting potential.

One might recall that in August, immediately following the World Championships, the Honourable Minister held a 3-day strategy session, flying in three consultants from London (including Making of Champions Founder, Bambo Akani) to help chart the course for installing a High Performance System for Sports in Nigeria. At the time, he boldly stated that there would be some important announcements come November, and he has proved true to his word.

“The Fire can only come with Reward” – Bambo Akani answering a question during the Q&A which followed the Abuja screening of the Making of Champions film:

Somewhat fortuitously, the arrival of the new foreign Performance Directors in Nigeria coincided with the Abuja screening on Monday of the Making of Champions: “The History” documentary about Nigerian Athletics, that we’ve spent the last year making. As such, the two new hires attended the screening as guests of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) President and Technical Advisor, Solomon Ogba and Commodore Omatseye Nesiama, who were also in attendance.

AFN Technical Director, Commodore Nesiama commenting on the film after the viewing: “The Making of Nigerian Champions begins now!”

It will be very interesting to see how things begin to unfold in Nigerian Sports in the coming months and years. The new Performance Directors will need at least one Olympic cycle (4 years) to get Nigeria firing on all cylinders in the respective sports they have been mandated to focus on. The one question that will have to be answered, if the goal is for Nigeria to, for example, one day rival the Jamaicans and USA in Athletics on the world stage, is whether two American Performance Directors can take us to that promised land – only time will tell. One thing is for certain, the whole world will be watching, with baited breath, to see what Nigeria does, as we enter a new era for Sports in the country – let the Making of Nigerian Champions begin!

The journey we embarked on almost exactly a year ago, to understand why and how Nigerian Athletics has fallen by the wayside on the world stage, has reached a critical and momentous phase. The Making of Champions Film, “The History”, is now ready for private screenings, with the intention of getting it on TV across the world next year!

Making of Champions – “The History” is an 80-minute film capturing Nigeria’s full Olympic medal history in Athletics (Track & Field) and lays the foundation for how Nigeria can return to reckoning on the world stage and even dominate the sport in years to come! Here’s the Title Sequence (the first 2 minutes of the film)! 

It is with great pleasure and anticipation that we embark on the Making of Champions International Roadshow, to host private viewings of the film in Nigeria, the UK and the US! Starting next week, we will be on the road to show the film to the key stakeholders for Sports and Athletics in Nigeria, to Corporate Nigeria, and to friends, family and well-wishers around the globe!

We’ll be starting this first phase of private viewings in London on Mon Nov 11^th! Please see the details of the viewings in each city we’re coming to. For the November viewings, please RSVP by Sunday Nov 10^th to makingofchampions1@gmail.com (with the viewing venue and date, your name and the names of any guests you’re bringing) to be added to the guest list for your chosen viewing.

Space is limited, particularly in Lagos and Abuja, so please do RSVP as soon as possible to avoid any possible disappointment!

LONDON, UK

Date: Monday November 11th

Time: 7 – 9.30pm

Venue: The Chapel, Jesus House, 112 Brent Terrace, Brent Cross, London, NW2 1LT

LAGOS, NIGERIA

Date: Wednesday November 13^th 

Time: 7 – 9.30pm

Venue: SS Lounge, 7 Sapara Williams Close, off Idowu Martins Street, Victoria Island, Lagos

ABUJA, NIGERIA

Date: Monday November 18^th 

Time: 5:30 – 8pm 

Venue: Nicon Luxury Hotel, Plot 903 Tafawa Balewa Way Area 11, Garki, Abuja

ATLANTA, USA

Date: Monday December 9^th

Venue & Time TBD

LONDON, UK

Date: Saturday December 14^th 

Venue & Time TBD

Q&A with the Director will follow each screening! Thank you for your attention, and we look forward to seeing you at one of the viewings!

Many thanks,

Bambo Akani

Director, Making of Champions: “The History”

CEO, Making of Champions Limited

http://www.makingofchamps.com

Now that this year’s athletics season is over, I wanted to leave you all with perhaps one of the most outstanding performers in Nigeria’s colours in 2013. Given Blessing Okagbare’s double medal haul at the World Champs broke Nigeria’s 14-year medal drought in that competition, one might be forgiven for thinking that Nigeria has become a one-athlete nation. Not so. Regina George is an up and coming star for Nigeria, and I’ve made the following teaser celebrating her performances for Team Naija over the last 2 years – she is “One-to-Watch” for Nigeria in the run up to the 2016 Olympics!

In an era where some Nigerian athletes have switched to compete for other countries over the years, what is amazing about Regina’s story is that she has gone the other way – she was already competing for Team USA at the World Junior (U-20) Championships in 2010. Interestingly, even though there were a couple of Nigerian girls who beat her in that competition in the semi-finals and final (She finished 7^th in the final behind two Nigerians), her progression into Nigeria’s best quarter miler today has been impressive to say the least, and could potentially be meteoric, if she continues the same way over the next few years.

What I especially like about her attitude to competing for Nigeria despite some of the obvious challenges is how she has embraced her colleagues in Team Nigeria as family, as she expresses in the following interview in Moscow, which was conducted after her amazing 49.8s split in the 4x400m Semi-Finals at the recently concluded World Championships. Even though her Personal Best in the individual 400m event is still 50.84s, her sub-50 split in the relays is perhaps an indication that there could be much more to come from Regina…

When I caught up with Regina in Calabar during the Nigerian trials in June, she had just broken 51 seconds for the first time, with 50.99s, which brought her a second consecutive Nigerian title – she’s been Nigeria’s best quarter-miler from the moment she switched from the US. Now that she’s lowered it further to 50.84s, her next goal in the next few years will undoubtedly the 50 second barrier. If she can become a consistent sub-50 runner by the next Olympics, then she just could be in the mix for medals by then. Ofcourse nothing is guaranteed in sport, so one can only wish her the best in her continuing progression as a world class athlete! Regina’s ambition is clear – even though Falilat Ogunkoya’s Nigerian and African Record is an incredible 49.10s, she has made that her target – one can only hope that she is able to achieve that in her career eventually. Here’s to hoping that she can even go beyond Rio 2016 and make it all the way until Tokyo 2020!

Hopefully, as Nigeria starts to discover and develop more world class athletes, there will be an increase in corporate endorsements and sponsorships for these athletes. Given the relatively small sums of prize money and appearance fees in Athletics, we should remember that for the elite athlete, the major earning potential over the course of their fleeting careers will come from endorsements. One study shows that the average earnings for a name recognition US Track & Field star will be close to half a million dollars a year, and this mostly comes from shoe contracts. At the very top of the sport, it was widely reported that Usain Bolt made $20 million last year, mostly from endorsements – $9 million came from his deal with Puma alone. In particular, Nigerian companies need to throw their support around athletes like Regina, who have the potential to bring glory to Nigeria on a global stage. Once we look after our own, the international endorsements from the likes of Puma and Nike would come flooding in for Nigerian athletes within a few years!

Thankfully, some people in Nigeria are beginning to take notice of Regina’s performances in the Green-White-Green. Immediately following the World Championships last month it was reported in Nigerian newspapers that Delta State’s sports loving governor, Dr Emmanuel Uduaghan, was throwing his support behind her to go for medals at the next Olympics, much in the same way he has provided financial support for Blessing Okagbare. This is a great development, and one can only hope that Nigerian companies will follow suit and throw their support behind our athletes as well!  

Hi All,

In celebration of the end of the Athletics season (the final Diamond League meet is in Brussels tomorrow!), I would like to share with you my latest article, Could the next Usain Bolt be from Africa?, which was published in the Mandate Men’s Conference Magazine released yesterday, for the ongoing Mandate Men’s Conference at Jesus House in London.

Everyone has been asking me when the Making of Champions documentary will be released – for now, all I can say is that I hope to be able to make a definitive announcement about this in the next couple of months. The project was initially envisioned as a 4-part series, or as a one hour or feature length film, but we are currently starting conversations in Nigeria about converting it into a full season show, such has the project grown over the 9 months we’ve been shooting!  So please do bear with us, and I hope to bring you some good news about Making of Champions soon!

I think that this article is a very nice way to summarise the progress we’ve made since we started this project, and a great way to wrap up the season, especially considering Mr Bolt’s comments yesterday at the Brussels press conference, confirming that he intends to retire after the 2016 Olympics (assuming he continues to dominate until then ofcourse). Considering the Jamaican conveyor belt of sprinters, with the likes of Yohan Blake, Nesta Carter, Nickel Ashmeade, Warren Weir and Kemar Bailey-Cole all waiting in the wings, the next Usain Bolt is odds on to be a Jamaican – but could Africa bring itself into the conversation by 2016? Read on – only time will tell!

Could the next Usain Bolt hail from Africa?

200m World Championship Medallists at Moscow 2013 (L-R – Cote d’Ivoire’s Ahoure won Silver, Jamaica’s Fraser-Pryce won GOLD and Nigeria’s Okagabre won Bronze)

Nigeria’s Blessing Okagbare and Cote d’Ivoire’s Murielle Ahoure (both double medalists at the recently concluded World Championships) are testaments of talent existing in West Africa, but both have needed the American collegiate system to begin realizing their immense potential. When will Africa, like Jamaica, stop outsourcing the development of its best talents to America? When will we take action? Only time will tell, but I am hopeful that Making of Champions will not just be a documentary that talks about what needs to be done, but a movement that galvanizes people into action. This is not just about restoring some global pride and glory to a nation and region (which would obviously be nice), but also about materially impacting the lives of people through participation in sports, and thus giving thousands of youths a way out of poverty. After all, there are thousands of footballers in West Africa who may never become football superstars, but just might have enough sprinting potential to be the next Usain Bolt!

Note: Will update with better quality pics when I have returned from my travels!

Over the weekend I was very privileged to be part of a strategy session on Nigerian sports hosted by the country’s Minister of Sports, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi. This 3 day retreat was held in Abuja from Friday through to Sunday and was arranged by the Honourable Minister following the completion of the World Championships a week ago. During the Championships I received a congratulatory message from the Minister for my blog article about Blessing Okagbare winning Nigeria’s first World Championship medal since 1999 in the Long Jump – until now I am unsure how exactly he came across the blog. If that was a surprise, one can imagine my initial disbelief when the day after the Championships ended I received a follow up email from his special assistant inviting me as a consultant for the strategy session in Nigeria by the end of the week!

Despite my recent chops as a filmmaker and blogger (both of which got the Minister’s attention), travelling as a consultant to Nigeria has become second nature to me over the last year, so I quickly pulled together some slides and on Thursday night, 3 days after the session was called for, the National Sports Commission flew me out with two other sports consultants from London to Abuja to join the retreat at the Nicon Luxury Hotel. This was no ordinary session – the Minister had called for the Federation Presidents (or other representative) of the 5 sports which have been identified as the highest potential medal sports for Nigeria – Athletics, Boxing, Taekwondo, Weightlifting and Wrestling. This was likely the most high profile meeting about sports in Nigeria since the session that immediately followed London 2012, where Nigeria went home with no Olympic medals for the first time since 1988. The Director General of the Sports Commission, Gbenga Elegbeleye and his special advisor, 5 time Olympian Mary Onyali were in attendance as were Yakmut Al-Hassan, Bolaji Ojo-Oba and Dr Abdulkadir Mu’azu from the Sports Commission. Representing the Federations we had Solomon Ogba (Athletics President), Commodore Omatseye Nesiama (Athletics), George Ashiru (Taekwondo President), Azania Omo-Agege (Boxing) and Emmanuel Osoma (Weightlifting), to mention a few. The Wrestling Federation President, Daniel Igali is a World and Olympic Champion for Canada, and he cut short his trip there by 3 days to attend this session in Abuja. It was clear to everyone that the Minister meant business – he clearly does not want a repeat of London in Rio!

The agenda for the session was setting up a High Performance System for Nigeria, and it was very quickly agreed that the new system should have both Elite and Developmental components, to support both the urgent need ensure we get medals of any colour in Rio 2016, while also laying the groundwork for more medals in 2020. I am pleased to say that my contribution was quite significant – on the first day I presented the pyramid framework for thinking about High Performance Systems in Sports. Basically, a good system should have the wide base and good depth (that is, as many people as possible partaking in the sport from a young age) and it should be designed such that the very best rise through the system at each stage to get to the top of the pyramid – this framework was well received and the Federations have already started adopting it as the template for their respective high performance systems.

On the second day I presented slides showing the business models of how Athletics is funded in the US, UK and Jamaica. Interestingly, both UK Athletics and USA Track & Field have publicly available financial statements, so I stressed the importance of that level transparency which we have to aspire to in Nigeria to pave the way for increased corporate sponsorship in sports. On the final day, I kicked off the session with a video of an interview I conducted with a rising star of Nigerian Athletics who only switched from competing for the US a couple of years ago. I used it to emphasise the importance of getting our athletes their training grants on time, and to show how we need to start marketing them better so that Nigerians actually know that we have some good athletes, and to increase the athletes’ chances of securing corporate endorsements in Nigeria and abroad!

Obviously there was plenty more discussed over the 3 days and such was the passion and energy that the Minister brought to the discussion, it does give me hope that some real change is on the way in Sports in Nigeria. Particularly, watch out for some key announcements regarding the High Performance System for Nigeria before the end of the year. IF this system works, it could be completely transformational for Sports in Nigeria. Athletics (Track & Field) did somewhat dominate the proceedings during the session – for me the intense focus on that sport re-affirms my staunch belief that Nigeria can dominate Athletics globally in a few years IF we get the system working properly. This is not to discount the other 4 priority sports – Nigeria’s first three Olympic medals came in Boxing, which has brought us 6 medals in total (compared to 13 Olympic medals from Athletics).  In more recent years we’ve won a medal each in Weightlifting and Taekwondo, and of course Daniel Igali won Gold in Wrestling, albeit for Canada. Clearly Nigeria has a strong potential in power-based sports, so I’ll be keenly watching to see if we can capitalise on the momentum started by these meetings to return to winning ways at the next Olympics!

Undoubtedly, I look forward to other sports coming into the High Performance System discussions at some point. Particularly, it would be great to see Nigeria build on the first ever appearance by the basketball team at the Olympics in London (D’Tigers are currently in Cote d’Ivoire contesting the FIBA Afrobasket Championships in the quest to become African Champions for the very first time)! I think Table Tennis has always been popular within Nigeria, so it would be great to see the country produce more Olympians in that sport too. All in all, it was an absolute honour to be included in the very highest level of discussions on sports in Nigeria, and I wish the Honourable Minister the very best in getting Nigeria’s High Performance System working! Ultimately, the system has to be an enabling environment for the youth to play sports to the highest level and get an education while doing so, and a transparent environment for Corporate Nigeria, because as we can see from most countries around the world, it is impossible for Sports to thrive without corporate sponsorship which remains the vast majority of sports funding the world over!

Given the mixed fortunes of some of our former sportspeople after retirement, the minister has already suggested what should be the topic for my next documentary: “What does life after sports hold for our ex-sportsmen and women?” That’s a good one, so you never know, watch this space…