Namibia Women’s National team captain shares journey to stardom

Now at Turkish women’s league club Fenerbahçe SK, Coleman has enjoyed a stunning career, having played for the likes of Zaragoza CFF, Valencia and Sevilla in Spain.

It all started when her grandfather gave her a soccer ball, with which to learn ball mastery before she began playing alongside boys in primary school. 

"My grandfather taught me how to juggle the ball while I was like six years old. He taught me how to juggle the ball because, first I would bounce it and then kick it, so I got used to it,” she detailed.

“Afterwards, he told me I shouldn't let the ball bounce, so then I was trying harder to keep it up and I got comfortable doing that – now I can juggle the ball up to 300 times without dropping it because this is how I started knowing the ball. 

“Then he would take me to the boys and say 'She wants to play football but don't kick her.' So I was playing with the boys from when I was six or seven years old, and they played hard. 

“I remember I would come back home and my knees were full of blood, and my toes, and I was crying, but the next day I still wanted to play because I fell in love with the ball, I fell in love with the passion.”

Coleman got her first call-up for the U17 Women’s team in Namibia, and recalled how she didn’t have soccer boots while still playing school football.

“When I went to primary school, I used to take a ball to school every day and the boys would ask, 'Why does this girl have a ball?' During break times, I would try to kick the ball against the wall, and most of the boys would come and play with me,” she added.

“The school created an under-11 team for the boys and they chose me to play for them, and I was playing barefooted, my toes would get hurt. 

“I would cry to my grandfather that he must buy me soccer boots, but it was really tough and my family couldn't afford to buy me soccer boots. 

“So, I then got promoted to the U13 boys team and still didn't have soccer boots, and one teacher was worried that I would have bad injuries because I was playing barefoot.

“I was so skillful, but I ended up playing as a centre-back. Then I became the player of the tournament, and I eventually made it to the U17 girls' national team. 

“I first got a national team call-up when I was 11, so I'm really grateful to God for giving me this grandfather because, without him, I probably wouldn't have made it this far."

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