N iqERi ANs TaI<e AcWantaqe of Tennis
OppORTUNiTy AT BARbER-ScOTiA CoIIeGE
Most of them have not been home in
several years. In fact, most of them will
not go home until they've ftnisheiTschix>l
at Barber- Scotia.
OK. so it seems a little odd that a
sch(X)l with financial troubles like Barber
Scotia, one that almost had to close its
doors this yearrwould ever have tennis
team full of players from Nigeria.
? Burcollege^is" about opportunities.
And for the players on coach William
Madre's team, playing tennis is a very big
opportunity.
And they're having fun.
And to show that they have truly been
Americanized, the Nigerians have even
learned a little slang. Let's ask sophomore
Emeka Elichi how he's doing.
"I'm just chillin", he says. "But you
? know what, I'm just having a gtxnl time.
It's -wild. I'm- listening to this rap music
now and that's wild, too."
So life is fun for the team. The play
ers are getting, free education, free visit to
a very new ptace, much different from
their homeland, and they're playing an
awful lot of tennis.
The team won its first ^ 5 matches.
They are together partially because of
a problem their coach, William Madre,
says he has.
"You have to understand that the
(American) black tennis player won't
come to Barber-Scotia," Madre says. "You
won't have the exposure or facilities to
keep them here. The best will go to the big
white schools, just like basketball and
football players. You know that the deal
is."
Madre has been at Barber-Scotia for
three years, playing with his African play
ers, all coming to him, indirectly or direct
ly, from the Nigerian Lawn Tennis Associ
ation.
In 1991-92, when he started the team,
the Sabers finished 14-3 as a club team. In
'92-93, Barber-Scotia finished 19-1, and
was ranked No. 23 in the nation.
This season, the Sabers have been
~ looking to play more. ;
The problem, Madre says, is finding
opponents.
Madre says several schools have
refused to play a return match with Bar
ber-Scotia after an initial match with the
Sabers.
"They're very, very good,^ Queens
tennis coach Charles Gordon says.
"(Madre' s) done a really good job, and
he's got some really good players." But
for the Saber, this is much more than about
simply hitting balls with racquets. This is .
? 1
Barber-Scotia tennis coach William Madre (left) has a relationship with the Nigerian Lawn Tennis Association on that led to this
year's all-Nigerian team . Pictured (front to back), Murtala , Habu , Richard Osaugwu , David Matthew , A>ruzn Nwokedi and
Ganiya Ibrahim.
an experience. This is America.
Madre got hooked up with the Niger
ian Lawn Tennis Association when he was
coaching at Raleigh's St. Augustine's Col
lege in the '70's. Madre was in San Diego
for the NCAA Division II nationals and
saw a player who caught his eye, Texas
Southern's Gabriel Odudo.
He asked Texas Southern's coach
where Odudo came from. He was told that
Odudo was from Nigeria.
It wasn't long before Madre wrote the
Nigerian Lawn Tennis people and began a
dialogue. Later, he went to Nigeria to do
some tennis clinics.
As it turned out, the chairman of the
Nigerian association, while in the United
States on business, visited St Augustine's
and Madre. The two struck up a friend
ship. Soon, Madre was getting recommen
dations on potential players.
And throughout this career a with
stops at St. Augustine's, J.C. Smith, Wil
son Junior High in Charlotte and now Bar
ber-Scotia, Madre, who has a 244-38
coaching record, has never lost touch with
the association. When he cairfe to Barber
Scotia three years ago, he began to try to
t
lure a few players to come with him.
They came and they're doing well._
The players all speak English, it's
their native tongue, but there are some
adjustments.
"It took me a while to get used to the
food here," said Elichi, who is from
Lagos, one of the larger cities in Nigeria.
"There were some things I missed, like
fu-fu," which is similar to mashed pota
toes.
Last year, when the team was jn
Atlanta for a match, Richard Osaugwu saw
a younger child yelling at a much older
adult? "Richard was in shocked" Madre
says. "He said, in Africa, they will flog
you for this."
"Back home," says freshman Kyrian
Nwokedi, the team's No. 1 player, "we
live with morals. Over here, they don't
care about your age or anything. A little
boy can insult a senior. That's no good."
Not that Nwokedi and his mates
aren't having a good time living inn a less
structured environment. They live in an
apartment building, in a special arrange
ment worked out by the school.
Because most of them don't get to go
home during their four-year stay in the
United States, they cannot stay in normal
dormitories, which close for the summer
and holidays.
Elichi, for example, hasn't been home
in three years.
"I'm a little homesick," he says. "I'm
planning to go in December to visit with
the family and friends."
To help with expenses, Madre says,
his players work for a rrtomtTum wage,
around the school. They do mostly mainte
nance work, such as painting and grass
cutting. And away from work ant tennis,
the players say they arc fitting in welt.
Eliohi is a political science major. He
wants to return home one day and help run
his country. He likes the educational
opportunities here. He also likes the other
things college can offer.
"We hang out together as a team a
lot," Elichi says. "But I also hangout with
my friends outside the team. I'm sociable,
you know."
Or, as Nwokedi put it, "I'm getting an
education, we're winning all our matches.
I'm having fun."
? Langstom Wertz Jr.