Taekwondo can help foster peace in the north – Yusuf

What has been your involvement with the game of taekwondo? My name my name is Abdulmumin Yusuf. I competed for state and the country. I was in the national team till 1996. Presently, I am the national protem-chairman for Northern Taekwondo Union. It is like a foundation for all taekwondo practitioners up north. What we […]

What has been your involvement with the game of taekwondo?

My name my name is Abdulmumin Yusuf. I competed for state and the country. I was in the national team till 1996. Presently, I am the national protem-chairman for Northern Taekwondo Union. It is like a foundation for all taekwondo practitioners up north. What we do is to propagate and encourage the game of taekwondo in schools. At the moment, I am coaching a club called Sunnyvalle taekwondo club in the FCT and I am also the CEO of Tycoon Taekwondo Sports Academy.

What informed your decision to float the Sunnyvalle taekwondo club?

It’s for talent hunting.  I started early at the age of three and I grew up to become a national champion and national team player and also the most valuable player at the level of the Nigerian Universities Games. So we have to start from somewhere. The future of the sport in Nigeria is bright but that is if we catch them young. Our plan is to make sure that taekwondo spreads far and wide.

What is the response from the parents?

The parents have been very responsive. Most of them are enlightened and they know the importance of what is going on here.  They know what they need for their children but a lot more needs to be done. Most of them have confessed to the general improvement in the mental and physical development of their children. Therefore, they are giving us all the necessary support.

How are the children themselves responding to the physical demands of the sport?

They are fantastic children. They are willing to learn and they are always excited to be here for training. And you know a child needs to expel his or her energy. Instead of them to concentrate so much on watching computer games, TV programmes and stuffs like that, and eating all snacks that make them add unnecessary weight, they come out for training which enables them acquire fitness and healthy bodies.

But what are you doing to discourage or prevent abuse of the taekwondo skills the children are learning?

Fundamentally martial arts are about learning self defence and discipline. And in the physical aspect of it, it is learning how to absorb pain rather than to give pain. It is also about learning how to be more pious. The values of taekwondo are humility, perseverance and ability to withstand pain. Records have shown that nobody who learns taekwondo is seen fighting on the streets. I can challenge anyone on that. They know that they would be applying a dangerous skill and are always having that restriction. Moreover, the discipline is the military type or even more. It is not something you can achieve easily. None of them will abuse what they are learning here.

You are also the National Protem Chairman of Northern Taekwndo Union. What has the union achieved so far in terms of taekwondo development in the region?

The Northern Taekwndo Union or Foundation has achieved so much in the sense that we have brought together the-ex players who have moved into their various fields of and we have been able to host championships. The Union is using Ngo approach. We are doing what is called community action through sports, CATs. What we are doing is to send instructors to various schools in the north to so that they can help in discovering and training future champions. In addition, we have organized championships that helped in propagating the sport in the north.

The Arewa Consultative Forum, through its sub-committee on sports is making moves to revive sports in the region. To what extent do you think the proposed Arewa Sports Festival would help in promoting sporting activities in the north?

This is one of the most brilliant steps we have seen. This would help in bringing back the lost unity and values in the country, most especially in the north. Interestingly, we had mooted this idea some years back. We did series of activities but for the simple reason that parents and so many factors were against us, we have not been able to consolidate. As a matter of fact, we hosted the IBB championship in Minna three years ago where over

45 clubs all over West Africa attended. We also hosted Unity Cup championship five years ago in ABU Zaria where over 500 players in West Africa attended. Many northerners were so happy. Now that our parents, via the Arewa Consultative Forum have decided that they would use sports as a tool of unity, we would try to cue in. We have made contacts with the chairman of the committee on sports. Taekwondo is the best tool that we can use to unite the north because it is individual and team sport. An individual who can spend three years to get a black belt in a military like sport, I am very sure he or she would not like to misuse it. It is a sport that encourages self control and discipline.