Most Nigerian gals took to football long before they finally settled down to pursue other sporting dreams and a member of the national women’s basketball team (D’Tigress), Ugochi Nwaigwe, has spoken about football being her first love before she was bowled to basketball.
“Believe it or not, I was more keen to playing soccer,” 24-year-old Ugochi melts with excitement as she responded to The Nation. “I actually played it(soccer) for 11 years and stopped when I was 17 years old; I loved soccer because my dad loved soccer and I was (still am ) a daddy’s girl…
“But, when I was playing soccer, I still played basketball just not as heavily as soccer. I was on teams and, as I said, I always did well but soccer was my thing.”
Her coming through with basketball was fortuitous after prompting from her teacher when she was already in the secondary school.” It wasn’t until I was in seventh grade that I realised my potential. One of the English teachers at my school basically was like ‘yeah no more soccer…let’s focus on
basketball.’
“ I was very reluctant to let soccer go but I did start investing more time into basketball. I was on my high school team, PAL teams, and other teams at one time. I was attending camps and clinics and it came to a point where basketball began taking over and soccer was fading in the background.
“My schedule was school, then seventh grade basketball practice, and then junior varsity basketball practice, and then a club basketball practice — all the while doing my homework and still getting straight As. Eventually, two years passed by and I was just getting better and better.
“The same English teacher placed me on a AAU team and then the rest is history; I just ran with basketball ,it became my life,” remarked Ugochi who recently was in the squad that won the Afro Basketball Women’s Championship in Mali.
To say Ugochi is bold in her thoughts is perhaps stating the obvious, as she revealed so much right from the meaning of her name and other essentialities that make her stand out amongst her peers in this interview with MORAKINYO ABODUNRIN. Excerpts….
What’s in a name?
I love that this is the first question (what is the meaning of your name?). My name, Ugochi, means “God’s Eagle”. I can see myself as an eagle. It’s a bold and definitive animal that soars its wings. Eagles are typically larger than their prey, or other birds. They stand out and wherever they go, they instantly attract attention and subconsciously demand attention. I did some research and found out that eagles don’t mix with other birds because they fly at such a high altitude. I also realised that eagles never surrender to their prey no matter how much stronger or bigger they are. It’s crazy that such a question makes me dig so deep between the commonalities between me and an eagle. My parents couldn’t have picked a better name for me. I am an eagle. I never soar low, I never settle, and I never give up. I am bold and confident — qualities that my parents instilled in my siblings and me at such a young age. I come from a strong family, so I am a strong, intelligent, and independent woman. My parents did not raise a weak girl and I know they pride themselves in never having to worry about me because I always do what is right. I am a lover, not a fighter. I hate arguing and confrontation, but please do not mistake that for easy going. I am a very simple human being, believing in and loving all the little things. I am not easily impressed. I mind my own business and focus on the things I can control. I believe in quality over quantity. I have my family, my five really close friends, and the lifelong teammates I’ve met along my basketball journey. I am super stubborn, extremely shy, super silly, and always smiling. And I love God, without him, there is no me.
Likes
My likes are God, my family, my friends, basketball, winning, working out and getting better, my room at home, reading, being by myself, The Cosby Show, Nutella, bananas and cream oatmeal, 1990s and early 2000s cartoons like Hey Arnold and The Proud Family, the colour green, water, art/music, my Naija babes (my Nigerian national teammates), the village (Mbano in Imo State), the winter, teddy bears, being natural (no artificial hair/no makeup), the beach (but laying out on the sand, not going into the water) and figuring out ways to make the world a better place.
Dislikes
People who are too much of themselves. People who are neither spiritual, nor religious. People who try to show off/impress all the time, fast foods, flying, long road trips, insects, egusi & ogbonno soup, the movie ‘Love & Basketball’, weaves, makeup, drama-filled people, and liars.
My ideal partner
I am a single as a pringle. Everyone is always shocked when I say I am single. I have had one boyfriend and it obviously didn’t work out. I am looking for someone who is simple, someone who isn’t interested in trying to impress me or their friends all the time. Someone who is God fearing and as family orientated as me. Someone who knows when to party, but also knows when to stay home. I am completely fine with staying inside and watching a movie on a Friday night with my partner.
I am not into a lavish lifestyle. I am super simple and I am looking for someone who complements that. I am super stubborn and I do believe I am always right, so I need someone who isn’t going to let me win all the time. Someone who is going to challenge me and make me use my brain. A lot of the guys I have talked to, it’s been too boring and too easy. I get what I want too easily. I don’t want that. I need someone who is going to keep my brain active. Someone I can have an intellectual conversation with, but at the same time goof around with. I ultimately want to marry someone who is my best friend. If I can’t tell you anything and everything, and if you are not the first person I think of when something exciting or terrible happens to me, then it’s a no. I say no a lot because I have such high expectations of what I want in a partner. I have an amazing father and two incredible brothers. So when I am looking for a potential boyfriend, I am looking for someone I want to spend the rest of my life with; someone who has similar qualities as the amazing men I already have in my life. Also, my parents have such a beautiful marriage so it just sets my standards really high. Good luck to the guy that reaches it. I am not easy ooooooo.
Growing up years
Growing up, I look up to my parents. They are absolutely incredible. I don’t think there are enough words to describe them. A lot of my friends remind me of how lucky and blessed I am to have such people in my life. God made my family absolutely perfect in my eyes. I have everything I want in this family. My parents disciplined us very well and because of that my siblings and I are all doing so well. We are all so different but my parents accept all our various personalities with open arms. I know if I ever needed anything, those two people will always have my back.
Getting into basketball
I started around six or seven at the Catholic high school called Holy Child Jesus in Queens, New York. It was just for fun. I think there was some type of function at our school and my older brother and I attended. We were on the same team and the game just came naturally to me. I mean, I knew of the game because I watched it on television …but that’s my first memory of me playing basketball. I just followed my older brother. When my family and I moved to Long Island, New York, there were so many activities to get involved in. In school, we had gym class and sometimes we would play basketball. I was obviously naturally good at it because I was tall for my age. I think my first team was when I was in fourth grade. It was an all-year-round thing for me. Again, soccer started fading more and more. I didn’t like it as much but I kept at it because it kept me in good shape for the next season, which was basketball season. By the time I was in ninth grade, I was pretty well known throughout my county for my raw basketball skills. Schools were afraid to play us because of me, and I swear I wasn’t even that skilled. I was just talented. I was solely right handed, I was super athletic. I could run my butt off, and I actually made my free throws then. I just kept getting better and better.
Scholarship and basketball
The summer going into my 10th grade year, I was travelling a lot for basketball. Like every summer, there were a lot of tournaments nationwide with college coaches looking to update their rosters. After that summer, I had received hundreds of letters from schools. I was super overwhelmed.
I had a whole box filled with college letters and questionnaires. My house phone and my cell phone would go off a couple of times a night with college phone calls. That was when my parents realised that this could be my next big thing; a whole full ride scholarship for academics and basketball. We started going on visits and started receiving offers left and right for the next two years. I cried a lot, especially in the beginning of my senior year. It was too overwhelming and I had made a lot of connections with a lot of the college coaches. I didn’t want anyone to be mad at me or not like me anymore for not choosing their programme. Nonetheless, my dad would prefer one school and my mom would prefer another. To add to that, even my teachers and coaches started to get involved offering which school they thought was best for me. I don’t think I can even describe to you how overwhelmed I felt but I ended up making a decision. It was between the ivy league school, Dartmouth University, and a mid-major school, Wagner College. They were both D1 programmes — Dartmouth was way more successful than Wagner but Wagner had a promising future. Because Dartmouth was an ivy league it basically would set me for life, whereas, Wagner could do
the same thing but its scope isn’t as wide as Dartmouth’s. My dad was for Dartmouth and my mom was for Wagner. At the end of the day, I chose Wagner and my dad constantly reminds me that my choosing Wagner over Darmouth hurt him in ways that I will never imagine and he can never forgive me for that.
Mixed fortunes at Wagner
Whatever! Anyway, I loved Wagner when the coaching staff that recruited me was there. I loved my class. I actually met my best friend there and we are still best friends till this day. The summer going into my sophomore year, there was a change in coaching staff and they hired a whole new staff. The new staff seemed promising but I was not feeling the head coach. We never butted heads but we didn’t have a relationship. It wasn’t until the beginning of my senior year that I was really at odds with everything she was doing. I don’t think she was a nice person at all and I think a lot of people can attest to that. After playing St John’s, I quit. I was five games into my senior year and I walked away from the game. I was so over the game. She killed it for me. I didn’t want to play again. Few days after I had quit, news regarding me leaving the team started surfacing and I began to receive college phone calls again. I wasn’t really feeling it because I was just so distraught from disconnecting myself from basketball. It was all I had known for so long and I didn’t know who I was without it. Anyway, I would listen to what the coaches had to say but as I said, I wasn’t really interested. I just wanted to finish school.
Back to my roots
Nonetheless, I went to Nigeria for that college winter break with my mom. While in Nigeria, I had an awakening. I was playing with all my little cousins and the village kids, having a blast. I brought my basketball with me and would arrange my arms in a circular motion to make a hoop that they can shoot through. I loved it and it made me miss the game. When I returned back to the States, I decided to give basketball another try. Again, schools just kept calling but the only one that I loved was Temple University. Long story short, transferring to Temple helped me fall back in love with the game again. It was hard to get back into it because I was kind of scarred from what I went through at Wagner, but my coaches were super understanding. They were always there for me even though I was super quiet. I graduated last year and I am still so in love with that coaching staff and my teammates. When I was looking for a new school, my priority was finding a staff, more importantly a
coach that I can form a relationship with. A year later, I can text Coach Cardoza whenever and know she’ll be happy to see my name pop up on her phone. So, basically after that, I decided I wanted to play overseas. I was at my peak basketball-wise. I didn’t see a need to just stop. So that’s where I am at now…living my ultimate dream of being a professional basketball player.
Roadmap to D’Tigress
One day, I had tweeted that I would love to play for the Nigerian national team one day and Sandra Udobi, former player from St John’s, tweeted me back and basically told me it was possible. I don’t know if that’s verbatim but it is definitely something along those lines. So she gave me a contact and I contacted the guy and we kept in contact. I know I was seriously annoying him because I was eager at this opportunity. He gave me Coach Scott’s email and then I got an email from him saying that I’ve been invited for the Olympic Qualifying Training Camp. Olumide Oyedeji would call me occasionally to check in on me and to answer any questions I had. I got this email on 1/1/16, so I was like this is going to be a great year. It was. I got to camp nervous as ever. I didn’t know anyone and the girls seemed to know each other. I was super shy (surprise surprise). I had worked so hard prior to the training camp. I wanted to go there and shock them but the minute I got there and saw everyone’s credentials; what schools they had gone to and where they have played overseas, I froze. I psyched myself out and I wasn’t performing to the best of my ability because I already counted myself out. I was going up against Didi, Sanni, Uju, Elem, Aunty Chioma, etc. I was skinnier then, so they would blow on me and I would literally fly away. On top of that, the coach always talked about experience, which I lacked since I hadn’t played overseas. The last 10 days of camp I picked it up and I know had I
trained like that the entire time I was there I would have made the team for the Olympic qualifiers. When I got cut, I promised myself that would not happen again for the next summer.
Going professional
Although I was focused for my first international professional basketball job in Gran Canaria, Spain, I was working towards making the team for Afrobasket. It’s basically all I talked about all year. So now that I have my gold medal, I can let my mind ease a little. My determination and dedication to make that team was out of this world. Practices were intense at times. Aisha and Didi made me tougher. Didi is skilled and Aisha is just strong. I know after every practice I had new scratches on my body from Aisha. As mad and annoyed as I was, I had to keep reminding myself that this is all making me a better basketball player and it did. I was tough before but I am even a tougher basketball player
because of that.
AfroBasket experience
I knew we were going to win. We were the most talented, skilled, and athletic team in that tournament. The experience was definitely overwhelming. It was exciting to be able to be on the global stage representing Nigeria, but there were a lot of distractions — the food, the flies, the hotels, etc. Nonetheless, being the youngest on the team and with the least international experience, I didn’t get to play as much as I liked. That was tough for me because I was coming from a three-month contract in Argentina where I was starting and playing a lot. So, I had to take a backseat and stay ready for whenever my name was called and whenever Coach gave me the opportunity to play, I made sure I showed out. I tried to do the littlest things and I think I did it well. It was nice to see how happy my teammates got when I did something well on the floor. I literally felt like a baby…haha. But AfroBasket was amazing. The support we got from our families, friends, and fans was unbelievable. AfroBasket is only going to get better because every team is only going to get better for the next tournament. There are top teams that everyone wants to beat and to beat them you have to improve the structure of your own programme. What I noticed about AfroBasket is that all teams have the talent, it’s the skill they are lacking. If basketball can be big in other continents, it can be just as big in Africa. We are the most athletic people in the world. Just teach us the game and invest in the development of the game and imagine how magical it will all be.
Future plans
I am off to Turkey (Yakin Dogu BGD) for my second year overseas. I am super excited. I plan on being a beast. I’ve been working so hard all year round. I haven’t rested that much but I’ll rest when I am dead. I figure if I am going to do this basketball thing, I might as well go all the way. I think about the way Lebron James or Candace Parker trains and they are whole heartedly invested in the game. That’s me. I eat, sleep, drink, etc. basketball. For the next few years, it’s my life and no one can change that but me. I am going into Turkey with the mind-set of me being unstoppable. I am not working this hard for nothing. This is my job. This isn’t just for fun. As for the FIBA World Cup, it’s a big deal. Everyone’s like we can’t go there and embarrass ourselves. We won’t. Trust in us. Know that we are all preparing in some way for it. We need even more support for this tournament. I trust in our staff, Coach Sam, Coach Pee, Coach Ochu, Fon, and Mac. We got it. I am super confident that we will make Nigeria happy again.
