AFTER taking part in a good number of age-group competitions as a junior swimmer, both in Rivers State and nationally, MartinPeregba went on to participate, between 1975 and 1989, in a total of six editions of National Sports Festival (NSF). All these happened just before sports authorities put a ceiling on the number of outings athletes could make at the multi-sport fiesta. Interestingly, Peregba's maiden outing was when he was still a student of Holy Trinity Primary School, Port Harcourt. He went on to win gold medalsat Oluyole '79, 'Bendel '81 and Rivers '88, among others, while in secondary school.The NSF veteran, who also emerged the best competitor at the maiden Dr. Olu Asekun Inter-State Swimming Championships in 1983 at the Liberty Stadium, Ibadan - after a long spell as a competitor at junior, intermediate and senior levels, where he won medals aplenty - metamorphosed into a coach, in the process raising swimmers that could do the country proud with adequate training and exposure. Recounting his experiences to ENO-ABASI SUNDAY, the former national champion, who deplored the rot that swimming facilities in the country have become, also gave tips on how sports could be bettered.AS a secondary school student, Martin Peregba, after the Oluyole '79 NSF, had the rare privilege of being hosted by the Rivers State Government at the Port Harcourt temporary stadium. At that event, he was up close with the then Military Governor of Rivers State, NavyCommander Suleiman Saidu, alongside other members of the state's contingent to the multi-sports fiesta.A few years later - in 1983 - after he emerged the best competitor at the maiden Dr. Olu Asekun Inter-State Swimming Championships, he was again in the spotlight when he gave an interview at the Radio Rivers FM, Degema Street, recalling his exploits at the championships, which the state won.Apart from mounting the podium to be decorated with various shades of medals he won all through his competitive swimming days, the aforementioned events are a few of the many that still fill the former national champion with lots of sweet memories. Though Peregba hails from a riverine area, where swimming comes to youngsters as a natural instinct, he started off with football before being practically railroaded into competitive swimming by his elder brother, Francis Peregba, who was also a star swimmer.Unlike other kids, the younger Peregba did not encounter any problem taking to sports at an early stage. This is because Francis,apart from serving as an inspiration to him, also facilitated his parents' consent for his younger brother to join him in swimming from football, in which he had shown an initial promise. However, competing with youths he had swam withalmost all his life in his local community was a very challenging endeavour 'because they knew themselves well,' he said.'But since I was good in what I was doing, I kept on finishing tops among my peers. This was largely so because I started taking part in competitions at age nine and was armed with the spirit to excel at a very young age. So, from Holy Trinity Primary School, Port Harcourt, where I had my primary education and started competing in the junior category, I graduated to U-12 in my secondary school, then U-14, intermediate and ultimately the senior category.'It is important to state that in those days, most of what we did, as far as sports was concerned,were the things we grew up to see our elder siblings do. That was the case with me as I eventually settled for swimming after I started off playing football. My brother had a tough time talking me into embracing swimming, insisting that it was also a very interesting sport.'One person that must be credited with giving me immense support to enable me succeed in swimming is my mother. She was always spurring me up, telling me, 'my child, the sky will be your limit if you remain committed'.'Expectedly, her support translated into so many things and also explains why I represented my school as a junior swimmer in some inter-state competitions while I was still in the primary school. I won most events when I was competing in the U-9, U-12 andU-16 (categories).'The search for secondary education took Peregba to Government Comprehensive Secondary School, Lobia, where swimming was also taken seriously: 'At Government Comprehensive Secondary School, I can remember one of my good friends, Loveday Dino, who gave me real fight in the pool. There was also Ebi Agama, Thomas Jumbo, who now works with the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, Port Harcourt.'However, in the midst of many talented swimmers, Peregba secured a ticket to represent the old Rivers State in the U-9 category of in an age-group competition (for secondary schools), which took place in Lagos State in 1975. A few years after that, he represented the same state in the U-12 category in another age-group competition in the defunct Bendel State.Looking back at his active days, especially during his primary and secondary schools, he said: 'I derived a lot of satisfaction and joy just competing for my state alongside other swimmers. This is because those of us that were picked to represent the state in those days saw it as a great honour and privilege to wear the state's colours.'He recalled with great delight: 'I still remember Dr. Olu Asekun Inter-State Swimming Competition in 1983, which was sponsored by the late MKO Abiola at the Liberty Stadium, Ibadan. I started preparing for that competition when I was living at Marine Base in Port Harcourt. Then some of us used to train at Hotel Olympia and I personally used to trek all the way to the hotel for a period of one month.'As God would have it, we put in our very best and our efforts were hugely rewarded. Because of my brilliant performance at the championships,I was awarded the best competitor in that competition after winning gold in 100 metres breaststrokes, gold in 4x100 metres freestyle relay men and silver in 200 metres individual medley men.'The freestyler, who ended up becoming a veteran of the NSF, became nationally famous in 1975 as a junior swimmer after winning silver medal in the 100 metres breaststroke event at the second NSF in Lagos. He followed that up in the next edition of the festival in Kaduna in 1977 by winning gold medal in the 4x100 metres freestyle relay.By 1979, he had moved to the intermediate category and was in his fourth NSF - Oluyole '79 - at Ibadan. Again, he won gold medal for Rivers State in the 4x100 metres freestyle. His fourth NSF at Bendel '81, Peregba won gold in the 4x100 metres medley for senior men. During the tourney, which Rivers State hosted in 1988, the dark-skinned Peregba won another gold medal in the 4x100 metres freestyle for men. The following year, he won silver medal at the 1989 event, which Lagos hosted, before bidding the festival farewell.At a time pecuniary considerations did not form part of the core reasons for wanting to represent one's state of origin in a major sporting endeavour, Peregba recalled that there was immense enthusiasm on the part of his peers to be picked as state flag bearers at such outings. According to him,'that is why the competition for selection to represent our state was very keen.'Beyond this, Rivers State's swimming team was always respected by most states because it was usually star-studded whether at age-group, intermediate or senior levels. Being dressed up in those days in our Puma or Speedo swimming trunks/pants, which the then Director of Sports in the state, Eben-Spiff, usually ensured were readily available, made us feel special and had its separate attraction. Maybe that was why we made a lot of friends with kids from other parts of the country.'Now, years of competition as an athlete may be long gone, but Peregba still thinks it a wise decision taking to sports because, 'up till today, I earn a living training younger people on how to swim. If I had not taken to swimming as a child, becoming a professional swimming coach, which I am today, would not have been possible.'Looking at swimming today in comparison with his days, the coach is of the view that swimmers put in a lot more efforts back in thosedays than now. And, to the winner of the 4x100 metres event at the first Dr. Olu Asekun Inter-State Swimming Championships, 'that explains why some of the records are still standing over 20 years after they were set. Though some strokes have changed over the years, I still believe that swimmers in our days were much more competitive than these days.'For instance, look at the 400 metres freestyle record set by John Ebitoin 1975.That great butterflyer from Cross River State, who represented Lagos State, was a senior swimmer to me then. But as we speak, that record he set is yet to be broken by anybody. This shows that stronger swimmers are not coming up in all the strokes.'However, he declined to establish a link between thelack of strong and agile swimmers with the dearth of swimming facilities in the country, saying that in those days, when the country boasted prominent swimmers at national and international levels, 'there were fewer swimming pools throughout the country. The National Stadium, Surulere, was one of those and later on the swimming pool at Liberty Stadium, Ibadan. These pools were well maintained.'Unfortunately, maintenance culture among our people has worsened and you can see the state of swimming pools in most parts of the country, even though some of the pools are better than what we had back then. We only hope that some of these pool owners, including state governments, would put in a lot of efforts to maintain them because of their importance to swimming development in the country.'The Nigeria Institute for Sports Grade Three basic coaching certificate (1996/97) holder was a contract coaching staff with Rivers State up till the end of the 2011 NSF - the Garden City Games - where the state came second behind Delta in the swimming event. In fact, he was instrumental to the achievements of the host state's swimming team, as one of his wards discovered in 2000 during the first Bayelsa State Primary School Swimming Competition, Doutimi Gagbe, won six of the 15 gold, seven silver and 11 bronze medals that the state won at the festival.Less than a year before the Garden City Games, Gagbe had won eight gold medals at the Nigeria University Games (NUGA), which the University of Benin hosted. He said of Gagbe - one of his star discoveries: 'The truth of the matter is, I coached Doutimi Gagbe from primary five in year 2000 when I was in Yenagoa and she was schooling at Model Primary School, Ovum.'When she was contracted as a contract staff by Rivers State ahead of the festival, we were in camp at the University of Port Harcourt and the adequate training that she was given brought out the best in her.'Still puzzled that Bayelsa State, which two athletes, Gagbe and Dino Ebarakumo, gave Rivers a total of 11 gold, four silver and three bronze medals at the NSF, does not have a single functionalgovernment-owned swimming pool, Peregba advise the government: 'Swimming, which very many youths in the state are good at, can be of great benefit to the state.'Apart from giving it more medals at major national competitions, the affected youths can get educated through their exploits in the sport and eventually earn a living from it in later life just like I am doing. So, the state should devote a lot of attention to developing the sport and this starts with developing swimming facilities and thereafter taking the welfare of swimmers seriously because motivation is very important when it comes to encouraging up and coming athletes.'I believe if these young athletes are given scholarships and those due for employment are absorbed, all the swimmers from Bayelsa State that are doing other states of the country proud will want to come home and do their state proud.'After returning from Oluyole '79, he joined the old Rivers State Sports Council as a casual swimming coach in 1980. 10 years later (in 1990), he became a coaching assistant at the council. He was later redeployed to Asari-Toru Local Council Area as a zonal swimming coach.After the creation of Bayelsa State in 1996, in 1997 he was again redeployed to Ekeremor South in Southern Ijaw Local Council Area of Bayelsa State as zonal swimming coach. After just a year there, he was in 1998 redeployed to Brass Local Council Area in the same capacity and was eventually moved to Yenagoa in 2000, where he was till 2004 before he resigned from service.
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