The Spark Magazine (Jun 2018)

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The Spark | Ignite/Connect/Achieve www.thesparkng.com Asisat Oshoala Going for Gold Asisat Oshoala is a Nigerian professional footballer who was named best player and highest goal scorer at the 2014 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup. She was also named best player and second top goal scorer with the Super Falcons team who won the 2014 African Women’s Championship. In this interview, Asisat shares her story and her hope for the future. - By Toyin Eleniyan Asisat never planned on becoming a professional footballer, but along the line, she developed interest in the game, then went for it when the opportunity presented itself. While in school in Lagos, Asisat also played football and had the opportunity of joining the national team. She eventually realised she couldn’t do both at the same time and so decided to stop going to school in order to play football professionally. Getting started was very difficult for her because her parents preferred her education to sports. She started playing football in secondary school with the boys after school hours. She would eventually get home late and get screamed at. However, this didn’t stop her as she played for fun. Joining her first football club in Lagos was a big opportunity for Asisat. It gave her the opportunity to meet a lot of senior players, and she felt if she put in more effort, she could go higher. Afterwards, she decided to move from Lagos to a bigger club in Rivers state, “Rivers Angels football club”. There she had the opportunity to play more games. She eventually had to talk to her parents, telling them about her plans for football and how necessary their support was. From Rivers Angels, she went on to U20 World Cup which was a big thing for her and her family, who had given her the opportunity to pursue her football career and now, she is still making them proud. After going for her first World Cup, she felt proud of herself and decided pursue professional football full time. For female football players in Nigeria, Asisat believes that there has to be a players association that handles the welfare of the players. According to her, their salaries aren’t regularly paid and it’s not encouraging for the younger ones coming up. “I think the board members have to do better for the female league in Nigeria in terms of salary and general welfare because their standard of living is quite low,” stated Asisat. “Keep doing whatever you are doing,” is Asisat’s encouragement to budding footballers. “Your dreams are valid. Keep putting effort and you will get the right support from people. When starting out, you might not get the support you need but eventually, when people see things are going well, they will have no choice but to support you. I went through the same thing with my parents, but at some point, they had no choice but to support me. As a matter of fact, now they pray for me more than I do pray for myself when it comes to my career. Stay focused and be respectful to those ahead of you because they will lift you up, and that will really go a long way for you.” 26 @thesparkng
www.thesparkng.com The Spark | Ignite/Connect/Achieve Start Up Football Academy 101 Koye Sowemimo is the Head of Sports at The Temple Management Company Group, a global full-service Talent Agency and Talent & Event Management Company that represents talents and manages events across the sports, entertainment, arts and public sectors. In this article, he provides a guide entrepreneurs in the sports industry can use to get started. - By Koye Sowemimo I grew up mainly in the UK but always had my mind set on returning home to make a difference within sports & society in general. I’m currently the Head of Sports at The Temple Management Company which for me is my dream job. Being able to do something you are passionate about is part of your purpose in life. My role entails me identifying the very best talents in Nigeria and across Africa that we can manage and develop to become world beaters not only from a sporting point of view but also for them to be seen as global brands in their own rights. Start Early A career in professional football is one of the most glamorous and attractive careers a young person can hope to enter, either after leaving school or before finishing school. However, it is not as easy as a lot of people think. Your journey needs to start early, as young as 5 years old. By the time you are at least between the ages of 14-16, you should already be showing promise as an exceptional talent that has caught the eye of an academy / national youth team scouts. Unfortunately in Nigeria, we don’t have a system for developing young players and that often reflects in how long many of our players stay in the game when they do make it as pros. The ideal pathway is going from school / youth leagues to centres of excellence or academies to senior football (Non-league) and then finally onto the pro league. What sets apart one talent from another is the dedication and hard work put in. It is more than just regular training, you have to be willing to put in your own work as well. Eric Harisson (Former Manchester United Youth Coach) said to me once that the reason why David Beckham, Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs, Neville Brothers & Nicky Butt (Class of 96) had such flourishing careers was because when everyone else left training, they always stayed back to practise on their own. So a young footballer needs to bear this in mind. Find yourself a structured academy with a good history of developing players and be patient as you develop. It is a crucial part of your learning. If you start too late in life, you miss out on a lot of the fundamentals. Playing Football Is Just One Of Many Opportunities Everybody wants to be footballer as the money is lucrative but in football, the opportunities are vast. This applies generally across many sports in terms of the opportunities. If you don’t make it as a pro or even start the journey to becoming a pro but love sports, you could find yourself in the administration of sports which is where I started out, working for the English FA. You get to see a full overview of the different areas you can go into such as coaching, referring, welfare, legal, player agent, IT and so much more. Coaching in particular is one that is very much overlooked which is probably why we don’t have enough coaches in Nigeria even at the grassroots level. Entrepreneurial Passion Is The Primary Ingredient Anyone starting a football academy or club must be passionate. Too many people involved in Nigeria think about the money aspect first. “How quickly can I sell one player?” Running a football club or academy needs to be treated like any other privately owned business. Investment is very key and if you can find a financial backer, that would be a good starting point. Get Your Structure Right A club or academy needs to have top facilities and training programmes tailored to the needs of players, emphasising the need to balance the @thesparkng 27
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The Spark Magazine (Jun 2018)

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