By CHIEDU UCHE OKOYE

This is an era of amoral behaviour as our teenage girls are wont to do drugs, and dress, scantily, baring their erogenous zones. And it is the era when teenage girls, who pride themselves on their voluptuousness, trade their sexual endowments for money. Amidst this situation of sexual immorality, which obtains in Nigeria, Michelle Chinwendu Alozie, a Super Falcons’ player, has become a breath of fresh air, inspiration, and role model for our female up-and-coming sports talents.

Michelle Alozie has imprinted her name in the collective psyche of Nigerians with her dazzling performance at the 2024 Women’s African Cup of Nations (WAFCON), which took place in Morocco. In the 2024 WAFCON semi-final match, which pitted the Super Falcons of Nigeria against the Banyana Banyana of South Africa, Alozie lobbed a ball from the centre half, which sailed past the players, and nestled itself inside the net. It was a classic beauty of a goal, which will remain evergreen in our minds for a long while.

And it cannot be gainsaid that Alozie, who chose Nigeria over USA, has endeared herself to millions of football lovers, world-wide, with her sublime football skills and artistry. And there is no doubt that she would enter the global pantheon of great female footballers, considering her exploits in the round leather game, so far.

A patriot, Alozie, who was born of Nigerian parents in America, chose the Nigeria’s female national football team over America’s female national football team. Her choice underlines her possession of fealty and love for her home country, which is Nigeria. And it is a proof that she is not unmoored or disconnected from her ancestral roots.

Again, before her participation in the 2024 WAFCON competition as a member of the Nigeria’s Super Falcons, Alozie had represented Nigeria at the 2023 female football world cup. And she played for Nigeria at the 2024 Olympics.

And, whenever Alozie donned the Super Falcons’ jersey, she would give standout performances. That she contributed greatly to the Super Falcons’ conquest at the 2024 WAFCON competition cannot be controverted. At the 2024 WAFCON competition, she stood solid in the Super Falcons’ defence line like the rock of Gibraltar, warding off the onslaught of their opponents and launching offensives from the back. That was why she was included in the 2024 WAFCON best XI.

For winning the 2024 WAFCON cup in Morocco, President Tinubu had rewarded the Super Falcons’ players and coaches, handsomely. So Michelle Chinwendu Alozie is a recipient of the national award, OON, in addition to being a beneficiary of the humunguous sums of money given to the Super Falcons by the federal government of Nigeria and corporate organizations.

Born on April 28, 1997, in La Jolla, California, USA to Nigerian parents, Alozie, who is of the Igbo stock, hails from Imo state in Nigeria. She honed her football skills by playing for the University of Yale’s female football team. As a footballer, she plays for the National Women’s Soccer League Club, Houston Dash, in the United States of America.

Besides being a female footballer of note, Alozie works part time as a cancer research technician at Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston, America. She graduated from Yale University, where she studied molecular biology. And her insatiable quest for knowledge took her to the University of Tennessee for further studies. A bluestocking, she combines playing professional football with working as a health officer, seamlessly.

So, now, it is evident to us that Michelle Chinwendu Alozie, who is a prepossessing footballer and cancer research technician, has packed so much in her very young life. She balances her work as a cancer research technician with her football career, and achieved football stardom despite all the challenges she had encountered. So she is well-liked by Nigerians, who nicknamed her “National Girlfriend”.

Based on her achievements in the game of football and outside it, Michelle Chinwendu Alozie has become a role model for the up-and-coming female sports talents in Nigeria, who are at the crossroads of indecision regarding their lives’ trajectories. Her achievements as a scholar and a star female footballer should serve as a lodestar to teenage girls in Nigeria.

Alozie’s bouquet of achievements is a reflection and manifestation of her possession of moral probity, vision, resilience, hard work, and disciplined lifestyle. Her life mirrors the immense possibilities of what a determined, focused, and disciplined soul can achieve.

So I am advising and urging Nigerian teenage girls to discover their talents and hone them in the same way Michelle Alozie did in order for them to bring honours to themselves and Nigeria.

•Chiedu Uche Okoye writes from Awka, Anamra State.

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