Big Leagues and Bigger Dreams: The road to big time. - Subomi Ogundele.
The path to the elite level of professional football is widely recognized as a daunting one – lined with challenges every inch of the way, with the seemingly infinite search for opportunities and the snowballing stream of competition fighting for the few available spots. On this journey, the demands are brutal. While one navigates and matches them, relenting is an unaffordable luxury. The only choice is to stand out in the brimming crowd of passionate and driven aspirants, all gunning for the same things while staying above water. When the disappointment comes, it must be turned into fuel to drive a retry, another attempt while the competition gets bigger and the terrain gets tougher.
From a distance, the allure of quitting after a few tries feels like a no-brainer. It is the easier, rational, and more sensible choice. But when a dream is involved, and one is driven by passion and love, rationality is out of the question. Even the doubts that creep in every day are filtered out because the truth is that being the easier option is a myth. The easier path in itself is also a myth. In this game, there are no easier choices, not after years of monetary and emotional investment, and certainly not when much more beyond these has been put into it. It is a dream, after all. Some might view it through the lens of the Sunk Costs fallacy. Maybe that is it, but it makes perfect sense. When you are fuelled by passion and desire and have poured years, significant financial resources, boundless effort, and emotions into the weighty dream that aspiring footballers chase, quitting becomes just as difficult as persevering.
For Subomi Ogundele, the journey and its challenges began at a tender age. She was inexplicably drawn to the beautiful game, even when society was appalled that a girl could be so interested in football. Her parents raised objections, and her refusal to back down upset them. They tried to dissuade her using all the methods they knew, but Subomi resisted everything. She was defiant and determined to pursue something that came naturally to her, something she had fallen in love with. She would enlist friends to look out and alert her when her father was returning home so she could swiftly return before he became aware of the fact that she had defied him. Predictably, her father often discovered and punished her for her disobedience.
As the battle raged on, Subomi's grandmother and mother quickly realised that her love for football was unstoppable. Seeing how ineffective the punishments were and noting her resolve, they decided to take on a more proactive approach, finding a middle ground to bring her father on board. A family meeting was convened to address the issue, leading to an unexpected turn of events.
"With everyone present—my father, my mother, my grandmother, my siblings, as witnesses—I signed a contract. Can you believe it? I signed a contract with them so I could play. Technically, this was my first-ever football-related contract!"
The contract stipulated the following terms:
Subomi had to return home on or before 6:30 pm on any day she went out to play football.
No football during tests or examinations.
If her academic results fell below an agreed-upon standard, she would be barred from playing football.
House chores had to be completed before she could venture to the football field.
Relieved that she had finally gained the freedom to pursue her dreams, she eagerly signed the contract, vowing to uphold her end of the bargain.
More than a decade has passed since then, and Subomi's dream of making it professionally remains. However, her journey has been far from smooth. Along the way, she has encountered the expected challenges and disappointments that are par for the course of an upcomer. She attributes her unwavering determination to her support system, led by her mother, who has now become her biggest cheerleader. Her grandmother and father, although now sadly no more, are her inspiration. Her father eventually coming on board, after witnessing the enormity of talent his daughter had, was perhaps her first major win.
Today, every goal she scores and every victory she achieves is dedicated to their memory. She pushes herself harder, not only to fulfil her dreams but also to honour the sacrifices of everyone who has supported her and everyone who looks up to her. In her Church, she is the example, the one showing parents of younger female aspiring footballers that it is okay for their daughters to chase a football dream.
Now in her third year at the University of Lagos, Subomi has been elected Sports Secretary of her faculty. That came off the back of her performances at the Nigeria University Games (NUGA), where she not only clinched the Golden Boot award but also earned the title of Most Valuable Player (MVP). She is the current captain of Alimosho FC Women, an amateur sports team from the biggest local government in Nigeria’s commercial capital city, Lagos. With this team, she has won several trophies and consecutive championships at tournaments like SociaLiga and Copa Femme. She also got to represent Nigeria in Qatar at the Red Bull Neymar Jr Five after Alimosho emerged as national champions. Despite her long list of achievements so far, she acknowledges that there is still so much more to do. It tells its own story, of how difficult and daunting the journey is, that even after gaining so much recognition, she is yet to reach the level her talents say she belongs.
She does not regard quitting as an option, even though she has what could be considered as fallback options. She runs her own footwear business called Sùbòmí Oníbàtà and is looking to bag her undergraduate degree in Educational Management within the next two years. She acknowledges that she feels a lot of pressure to make it professionally, because of all she has put into her dream and those looking up to her, but believes that she is up for it. She does not entertain the thought that she could fail to reach her dreams or quit, as she “does not ever give up on anything” she aims for.
She has seen many who got so frustrated and quit. She understands why they did this, and sympathises with them, especially as someone who has seen firsthand how demoralising and gruelling the journey is. Her way of dealing with potential disappointments is to aim high while keeping her expectations very low. So far, she believes it has worked for her, and it is why she can bounce back stronger when things do not go as she hopes. The one thing she would change if she could, is not starting in Nigeria because of how tough it is to make it to the elite level of professional football from here.
“Patience is a virtue, hard work pays. The 3Ds are Discipline, Determination, and Dedication. It helped me to stay focused and content. My advice to others also aspiring like me is to trust the process, nothing happens all of a sudden. Be patient, be determined, and be prayerful.”
On her dreams, she says:
“My dream is to play and win on the biggest stage, winning the World Cup with my country, and being named the best player in the world. Inspiring others to chase their big dreams, making the younger generation believe they can truly achieve all they set their hearts on. That it is possible to get an education and still be outstanding at football.”
She is cagey about the mistakes she made earlier in her career, insisting that she never dwells on them and moves on swiftly. She has a mindset geared towards prioritising the positive aspects and lessons because thinking about mistakes can be a dangerous game that sucks one in. She is also not particularly willing to give details about the false dawns she has encountered, choosing to keep these experiences close to her chest, as the journey is still ongoing and discretion is key. She concedes that what she has gained financially from football pales in comparison to the substantial investments she has made in nurturing her dream. It does not bother her, however, as she believes the sacrifices she has had to make are justified/justifiable(?).
For her, the journey has been filled with constant lessons that she is grateful for. She has met excellent people along the way and experienced profound personal growth. In fact, she admits that the journey has helped her mature well beyond her years because experience, as they say, is the best teacher. The struggles have unlocked new dimensions of her innate resilience, further exemplified by two specific instances. The first was when there were notable absences at her club ahead of a big game. Some academy girls were called in to fill the void. It was a lot of pressure on those younger girls- having to navigate the situation, and she felt the weight of responsibility to make it work. She remembers how hard it was to make everything smoother for everyone and mentally prepare them for the challenge. On the pitch, she had to play an unfamiliar position and put in a shift. They ended up getting a creditable draw while playing with their backs against the wall all through the game. The other instance was at NUGA, where she got injured just days before its commencement. It was supposed to rule her out of the entire tournament, but she rushed her recovery just to help her team. She acknowledges that she took a risk, but she was proud of her performance regardless. To end up top scorer and best player in those circumstances is, for her, mind-blowing and a testament to her unyielding spirit.
Subomi Ogundele is a girl who sees an opportunity and uses every lemon life gives her to make lemonade. This quality defines her character, and it is why the pursuit of her dream to the elite level of professional football continues to roll on. It is what fuels it. Just like she couldn’t be stopped as a kid, despite the resistance, she will not be stopped now. She is “defiant” personified, and her remarkable journey continues.