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By: Godwin Aikigbe
Like every aspiring footballer in sub-Saharan Africa, Janefrance Ajana started playing football on the streets of Anambra State with her two younger brothers, Obinna,15, and Gabriel,13, whom she inspired to play the game instead of the other way around, as prevalent in Africa.
The 2020 graduate of Justice Chinwuba Memorial Girls Secondary School, Aguleri already has a couple of laurels to fuel her endeavour, having won the 2020 Anambra State Women’s FA Cup, bagging a silver in the 2021 edition and the 2024 Chief of Naval Staff competition in Enugu.
Ajana recalls how it all started for her with a grin on her face. She says former Super Falcons star Maureen Mmadu played a major role in her young career.
She said, “We are six children of my parents. I am the third child and the third daughter. I graduated from secondary school in 2020. I started playing football on the streets with my younger brother until I heard that Maureen Mmadu was camping in Onitsha, so I went there and met her. We had a first and a second camping exercise before coming together as a team, and that is where I am now.”
Ajana, now a proven goal scorer, recounted how she metamorphosed to that stage from the outset when she could neither trap nor pass the ball.
She added, “I am from Aguleri in Anambra State. I am a top striker. When I started at Maureen Mmadu Football Academy, I didn’t know how to trap or pass the ball, but now if I face a post five times, I will make sure I score four times. I always have an eye for goals. If I don’t score at particular training sessions, I will punish myself, by not eating and squeezing my face, and I will make sure I score the goals I didn’t score at the previous training. When I score, my teammates normally call me Espinlogua or SP Lolo.”
Mmadu attested to this during a chat with our correspondent, saying, “Ajana is a very good player. She has scored 10 goals in all, both friendly matches. Her eyes are always on goal, and she loves scoring goals. She is a very good player. She scores a lot of goals during training; she can jump to compete with my boys in training, and she wins a lot of aerial battles.”
Aside from her football prowess, Ajana also takes control of the team whenever Mmadu is not around, a task she has consistently and admirably accomplished over time.
She said, “I normally organise the sessions whenever my coach isn’t around. I always take over the training sessions as the assistant captain of the academy. I make sure everywhere is clean and that they cook on time.”
Mmadu corroborated this assertion.
“She behaves like a mother to the team. She is the assistant captain, but whenever I am not around, she organises the players very well; she makes sure the camp is clean; and the players respect her a lot. The players nicknamed her SP; they call her SP Lolo.”
Ajana has tall ambitions and is a focused and talented footballer who should dream big. She would like to play for Manchester United’s women’s team, represent Nigeria and surpass the achievements of her idol, Rasheedat Ajibade.
She said, “I would like to play for the national team and the Manchester United women’s team. Whenever we play a match, our coach will call us together to watch the video and correct our mistakes. Whenever the Super Falcons are playing a match, I normally watch my idol, Rasheedat Ajibade. She is scoring, and that is what I am doing now; I am scoring too. I want to match her feats and even surpass them. I would like to meet her someday. My coach has promised me that if I play very well, she will call her so I can take photographs with her.”
Mmadu not only underscored this but also seized the opportunity to extol her virtues.
“She is very good, strong, fights so hard, is very intelligent on the pitch, likes to be very early in training, and always wants to learn new things every day. Her parents gave her full support to play football. She fights so hard on the pitch and plays like former Super Eagles striker, Daniel “De Bull” Amokachi. She told me her dream is to meet Rasheedat Ajibade, and she has been using her as her WhatsApp profile picture and following her on Facebook and Instagram.”