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Published on: 1/20/2008
Last Visited: 1/21/2008
Akinloye doing what he loves, living dream
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Segun Charles Akinloye was one of those kids who saved the nickels, as many as he could, so he could buy a piece of plywood about two feet long and a foot across.He then took a pencil and outlined the shape of a racket on the wood and then, with a machete, chopped off the excess pieces.
This was what he used to play tennis.
But not at first.The first thing Akinloye used was a bone.
A scapula, to be precise.The shoulder bone of a cow.
"We'd wait around the local butcher shop and try to grab the bones," Akinloye said the other day.
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Akinloye has come a long way since he used to chase down tennis balls for nickels at the club near his house in Auchi.He learned the game - first with his bone and later with his plywood racket - from the captain of the club, Mr. Momoh.He wound up making, and playing
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That led to a job, which Akinloye has held for the last 11 years, loving and celebrating every single minute of it.
"Every day is fun for me.I love what I do.All my clients are like family for me," said Akinloye, 39, who for the last five years has been the director of tennis at the TRC.
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Case in point: On Friday, Akinloye finishes an adult clinic for close to a dozen women.
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Akinloye grew up in a small two-bedroom house in Auchi.His parents made enough to send him to school, but there were little if any luxuries.He lived close to a club that had one tennis court, and as a kid, he spent his afternoons after school chasing down tennis balls that went out of play."I would watch the adults play and thought, 'This is neat,' " Akinloye said."I had an interest in tennis.I loved the neatness of it, the expertise required to play."
His first attempts at hitting one of the old discarded tennis balls came with that racquet he formed out of bone.The net on the court had been rolled up and put away at the end of the day, but in the waning light, Akinloye and his friends would find an old vine and tie it to the net posts and knock the ball back and forth.
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Apparently, Akinloye stood out a little.
"He said that he would come back the next day and hit balls to me," Akinloye said."He fed me balls ...I was still using my bone racquet.He showed me some strokes and I started hitting balls over the net."
When Akinloye was 12, Mr. Momoh offered a compliment.
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Mr. Momoh kept it and brought it back for Akinloye.
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"It was gorgeous," Akinloye said.
He entered that local tournament and, with that cracked racket, reached the quarterfinals.That led to playing in the state tournament in Benin City, where Akinloye played well enough to be one of the top eight players who were invited to the national tournament at Lagos.He says he lost in the national quarterfinals 7-6, 7-6."I was playing a lot on the weekends and I could feel myself improving," Akinloye said.
Others could see it.
Akinloye said that in 1986, he was invited to participate with the Nigerian Davis Cup team as a practice/hitting partner.Three years later, he was again invited to the team, but did not play against Hungary.In 1990, however, Akinloye played Nigeria's opening Davis Cup match against Finland's Veli Paloheimo, losing 6-0, 6-3, 6-3.
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Between 1988 and 1989, Akinloye toiled briefly on the ATP circuit.In November 1988, at a challenger tournament in Ogbe, he defeated Frank Rieker 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 before losing to seventh-seeded Danny Sapsford 6-0, 6-0.A week later, he played in a second challenger event in Okada, beating Bertrand Lacombe 7-6, 1-6, 6-4 before losing to third seed Chris Bailey 6-2, 6-7, 7-6.In February 1989, Akinloye played in Lagos, losing to No. 2 seed Zeeshan Ali 6-3, 6-2.For his efforts, he earned a total of $2,568.His highest ATP ranking was 638.
Next stop, America
Because of his solid tennis standing, Akinloye was invited in 1990 to attend a tennis clinic held by Livingstone coach Ron Stinson, who, in addition to teaching, was looking for possible players for his team.
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"As a kid, I thought America was a different planet," Akinloye said."It was the dream of every African kid to go to America and see what it was like."
After graduating from Livingstone in 1994, Akinloye wanted to continue his education and decided upon UB.There he met Gocke, who offered him a job to fill in at the TRC when an instructor couldn't make it."I would do that sometimes for an hour or so and people started telling him that they liked me," Akinloye said.Eleven years later, Akinloye isn't just liked.He's loved.
"We can't get him off the court," Pat Glaser of Easton said before heading out to Court 6 for a lesson with Akinloye.
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Akinloye thinks it was 1998.Blake was attending Fairfield High and was practicing at the Trumbull Racquet Club while Akinloye was teaching.
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"He was a top high school player and I was up 5-3 and he got fired up," Akinloye said."He had that big forehand already.He broke me and held for 5-5.I held for 6-5 and he won for 6-6 and I said, 'Let's play the tiebreaker,' and he said, 'No, let's play it out,' and he beat me 8-6."
Akinloye hasn't forgotten that day.
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"A few years ago, when Blake was here practicing with (coach) Brian Barker and (brother) Thomas, he was on Court 5 and I was teaching on Court 6," Akinloye said.
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Akinloye is proud of a lot of things.Proud of his job.Proud of his family, his wife Tanisha, his 11-year-old son Shyheim and his daughters, 8-year-old Unique and 4-year-old Symphony.Proud of his parents, who despite whatever financial hardships they had always encouraged Akinloye to play tennis.
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