BY SUNDAY AKINTOYE
No football stakeholder would ever imagine that a player from Asisat Oshoala Academy of Lagos would be invited to the national team in the less than a year the academy was set up in the city of Lagos.
Despite the number of female football academies in the country, Asisat Oshoala Academy stand out considering the quality of young and youngest players in the academy and trained coaches employed by the management.The academy management put organisational structures in place to make the players feel like a professional.
When U-20 female national team coach, Christopher Danjuma released his final squad that faced Tanzania recently in the FIFA U-20 women world cup qualifiers, one of the names that surprised football stakeholders is Janet Seimeyeha who is currently playing for Asisat Oshoala Academy.
Seimeyeha who just finished her secondary school was in starting line up against Tanzania in Der As Salam and played for 70 minutes before she was substitued.
The 16 years old player gave a good account of herself in the encounter and sent signal to the football family that there are many talented young players in Asisat Oshoala Academy and it is one of the academies that can produce future players for the country.
Speaking how she was discovered and brought to the academy, Tobi Peters, Director of Asisat Oshoala Academy told our correspondent that Seimeyeha was discovered at the Police College, Ikeja, Lagos.
“A friend of mine discovered her at the Police College while playing and he introduced her to Asisat Oshoala Academy.Having watched her playing in training,i was convinced within me that Seimeyeha had potentials.
“Initially it was tough for us because her parents wanted her to become Police officer but after a lot of persuasion and pleading, she was released to us and today Seimeyeha was invited to the Falconet and her first debut for national team was against Tanzania”
“She played well in the first encounter of the FIFA U-20 World Cup qualifier against Tanzania and she played 78th minutes which is good to expose her at that stage,”he said.
Commenting on her character and performance in the academy, Peters described her a committed and disciplined player who is ready to learn saying that Seimeyeha is one of the youngest players whose performance gladdens the hearts of coaching crew.
Aside football, Peters disclosed that the academy has vocational centre where players learn hand works.He said Seimeyeha is not only playing football she is presently learning a vocational work before she would proceed to higher institutions.
Meanwhile the Asisat Oshoala Academy (AOA), an all-girls training platform, is established by the Asisat Oshoala Foundation in partnership with two renowned international organisations; Women Win of Germany and Nike Inc.of USA.
The Asisat Oshoala Academy, an initiative of award-winning Nigerian woman footballer, Asisat Oshoala, is out to build upon the footballer’s mission of providing access to sports and education for young girls in her community.
The Asisat Oshoala Academy (AOA) is designed to provide access to football and lifeskills for marginalized schoolgirls in Nigeria and the rest of the African continent.
The Asisat Oshoala Academy provide girls (ages 12 – 18) with access to 90 minutes of football training three times a week.
The program is complemented with life skills education covering a range of empowerment and rights-based topics. Graduates from the academy would be encouraged to convert their leadership skills to make a positive impact in their respective communities.
In addition to the weekly programming, the Academy host 4 ‘She Plays’ events a year. These events broaden the reach of the academy’s activities and host up to 100 schoolgirls, aged 12 to 18 years, every session.
