Despite the array of great female footballers in and outside the country, 13-year-old Sarima Joy Moses says no player, whether male or female, tickles her admiration than former Nigerian International, Austin ‘Jay Jay’ Okocha.
Joy, as she is popularly called said she has watched great players display dribbling skills on the television, but none had impressed her like Jay-Jay Okocha.
In an interview with Sports Network at the training pitch of Dominion Sports Club at the UBE Model Primary School, Elioparanwo on Saturday, Joy said she had sworn to herself to be the female model of JayJay, when she comes of age.
The starlet, who will be 14 in July, and the only female member of the all-male club, vowed to work very hard, ‘even harder than the boys’, to realize her dream.
The Rumuepirikom-born JSS 3 student of Brendan High School, Port Harcourt, said she began kicking football at age seven, even as she revealed that she loves to watch the English Premier League (EPL) with Arsenal FC as her favourite club.
“I can’t tell how it began, but I know I was about seven years of age when I found myself playing and liking footballvery much.
“My friends and even siblings often laugh at me because I join the boys to play what we call “choosing ball” in our street.
“Now I am one of the regular players in my street and also at Dominion Sports Club. I play in the under-15 category and I play in the forward position”, she told our reporter, adding that she scores many goals both at training and matches.
Coach Egwurugwu Dominion Loveday, when contacted, described Joy as a very ambitious, talented, dedicated and hardworking player in the club.
According to him, “I have over ninety players scattered at various training centers in Port Harcourt. But here at Elioparanwo, she is the only female player and she’s doing very well. But I’m also working very hard to make her a better player”.
He said the Dominion Sports Club is a vision God gave to him, to catch them young and explore their God-given talents in sports.
The coach added that so far, he has churned out over twenty football players that are dutifully serving the nation at both under 15 and 17 categories, even as he commended the Rivers State government for its initiative in establishment of the Real Madrid Academy in Port Harcourt.
