Winners sleep while losers weep’ is not an uncommon expression; and Super Falcons’ star defender, Onome Ebi, has yet again reiterated the benefits of sleeping to her fledging career.
‘Sleep? I can sleep forever,” Onome who has won the Africa Women’s Cup of Nations titles thrice between 2012 and 2016 told The Nation Sport & Style. “I love sleeping and I don’t toy with it.”
In fact, an online platform, fatiguescience had long canvassed that athletes needed more sleeping hours in their daily training to excel and Vincent Thomas Lombardi – the late American football player and coach – had long given a fillip to the assertion saying: ‘modern elite athlete knows that physical conditioning and good nutrition are critical in reaching peak athletic performance. However, sleep, while often overlooked, plays an equally important role. In recent years, it’s become clear that the quality and quantity of sleep obtained by elite athletes can be the edge between winning and losing on game-day.’
In its report, fatiguescience noted that there are five areas that an athlete stands to benefit by rocking the body to sleep more often namely: Improved reaction times; Reduced injury rates, improved overall health; Longer playing careers; Better accuracy, faster sprint times and Fewer mental errors; with star athletes like Usain Bolt (Track& Field); Roger Federer (Tennis) and Lebron James(Basketball) reportedly saying they get as much as 12 hours sleep per night in order to be at their best.
Speaking in the same vein, the 34-year-old Nigerian defender, who has featured in five FIFA Women’s World Cup and the 2008 Beijing Olympics, affirmed that sleeping had long been her best keep-fit secret as well as tenacity on the pitch, saying her day is not complete without a quality sleeping routine.
“I don’t toy with my sleep,” she stated. “I give it eight to nine hours daily; and to make the ride smooth, I like to listen to music before going to bed. Of course, I do not go to bed with makeup.”
Away from the sleeping turf though, Onome has done well for herself on the pitch too, and currently playing for FC Minsk in the Belarusian Premier League. She actually started her career with Bayelsa Queens FC before moving to Piteå IF and Djurgårdens IF in Sweden’s Damallsvenskan.
She later moved to Tukey where she played for Ataşehir Belediyespor FC and Düvenciler Lisesispor in the First League and made her UEFA Champions League debut in August 2012 while playing for Ataşehir Belediyespor. Thereafter, she returned to the Swedish Damallsvenskan in 2013 to play for Sunnanå SK; before going to Belarus to play for FC Minsk where she has won Belarusian Premier League, the Belarusian Women’s Cup and the Belarusian Women’s Super-Cup twice. Famed for wearing jersey Number 5 at both the club and country levels, she opted for 55 as her favourite number was no longer available at the time she arrived at FC Minsk.
Very passionate about the beautiful game that has given her fame, Onome opined that women stand to gain by engaging in sport-related
activities.
“Women derive a lot of health benefits from a healthy lifestyle, and participation in sport and physical activity can prevent countless of non-communicable diseases which account for a high rate of global deaths. For girls, it can have a positive impact on childhood health, as well as reduce the risk of chronic diseases in later life,” she stated even as she shares her flip side with MORAKINYO ABODUNRIN. Excerpts…
Playing different roles before settling to defence
I actually started off as a striker and really enjoyed that position. But somewhere down the line, I was getting closer to the goalkeeper. When you start off young, coaches will often play you in different positions which are good as you learn the offensive and defensive parts of the game. It was when I got to camp for the national team, that I suddenly got put into defence as the coach noticed I had attributes of a defender and I took the position without any difficulty. The experience of playing in different positions, for me, was good as I love the game. So, wherever I get an opportunity to play, I will accept it. Now that I am a defender, I feel that my style of play is about not letting anyone get past me.
Experiences playing abroad
Playing abroad has allowed me to really develop as a player. The experience is so much better as you don’t have to think about facilities being poor or matches not being played for one reason or the other. The structure abroad allows you to really focus on playing to the highest level you can. It was the best decision I could make to go and play abroad when I got the opportunity and would encourage other girls to do the same as we still have a long way to go in Nigeria to get female football to a level where the players can feel appreciated. I think I enjoyed Turkey more as it was also a nice place to live as well. Belarus and Sweden have their challenges in the form of language and the weather.
Experiences with Super Falcons at the World cup, All Africa Games and AFCON?
The experiences as a player and being part of a team is always nice. When we get together as a team, we just want to do the best for the country and make our supporters proud. The planning and post experiences of the tournament are not always the best as we often feel let down by the administrators not giving us the same privileges as the men teams. Despite that, we have achieved so much and for me personally, three Women’s AFCON medals and four World Cup appearances tell you that I really enjoy playing on the biggest stage possible.
Things that make you happy and sad
Football makes me happy as it is what I live for. But I think over the last few months I have become so much
happier with a team behind me. The Temple Management Company has given me so much belief that outside football there is a lot I can achieve and at the same time, I can inspire people through football. In terms of things that make me sad……well that will be when I get injured like at the final last year against Cameroon. I thought I may not be able to play again and I was extremely sad for a while.
Type of man to marry.
I never thought about marriage when playing as I knew having a boyfriend would be a distraction. I may not have been able to play this long. But that said, I would like to get married and have a family. The type of man I’d like to marry is one that will appreciate what I do and will support me every step of the way.
Birthday blues
I only travelled to Turkey recently. It was surprise birthday present from two of my favourite people and they know who they are. I really want to thank them from the bottom of my heart.
Friendship with Asisat Oshoala
Asisat is like a sports daughter to me. We struck friendship during camp and since then we haven’t looked back. She is so focused on always being the best, which is a great quality in a person.
Favourite dress and what would you not be caught wearing
