By Mary Agidi
The First Lady of Ondo State, Arabinrin Betty Ayanwu-Akeredolu on Thursday inaugurated 2021 committee members of the State Summer Tennis Clinic.
The members are Wife of the State Deputy Governor, Mrs Oluwaseun Ayedatiwa as the Chairperson, Mr. Lanre Famakinwa (Vice Chairman), Hon Sunday Oladeji, Member House of Assembly Akure South, Hon Oluwole Ogunmolasuyi, Member House of Assembly Owo constituency, Hon Folawe Sipasi Aluko, Executive Chairman Ese Odo Local Government, Sir Ogechukwu Emmanuel Odor, CEO Ceci supermarket, Akure, Mr Divine Ogbonnaya, CEO Divine Sports Management Company, Lagos.
Others are Mrs Morenike Alaka, Mr Mayowa Sunday, Tennis Coach, Akure, Mr Philips Egbuwa, Tennis Coach Ibadan, Ms Oluwatobi Fademi, Senior Special Assistant on Media, Ondo State, Mr Seun Betiku, Coordinator/Public Relations Officer and Mrs Pamela Elekwachi as the Secretary.
Congratulating them, the First Lady who founded the Summer Tennis Clinic, charged them to work collaboratively in order to achieve the purpose of the initiative.
Mrs Akeredolu explained that the event which has been an annual event could not hold last year due to coronavirus.
According to her, the Summer Tennis Clinic was aimed at tutoring and promoting the interest of children between ages 4-13 in Tennis and make them future champions.
“The aim of this event is to give hope to some children to achieve their dreams. This is already yielding positive results as one of our children was selected as the under 16 player in South-West.
“It is the responsibility of parents to give the children enabling environment to realize their dreams. We cannot continue to depend on government for everything, individual should also support to move the State forward.
“Parents should be educated on the need to get their children prepared for the game. We must start training our children to discover their talents”, said the First Lady.
Earlier in his opening remarks, the coordinator of the programme, Mr Seun Betiku, affirmed that the summer tennis clinic founded by Arabinrin Akeredolu has helped to discover talents.
He appealed to parents and guardians to key into the programme which he added will go a long way to help their children and wards in future.
Speaking on behalf of other committee members, Mrs Alaka, thanked Mrs Akeredolu for the love she demonstrated towards children in Ondo State, through her numerous impactful intiatives.
She urged her fellow members to see the event as theirs and work together in unity to make this year’s edition better than the previous ones.