At 24 years outdated, Grace Adeyemi, a subject hockey participant from Ibadan, Oyo State, is proving that keenness and persistence can preserve a dream alive — even when the percentages appear stacked towards you.
Representing Ibadan Blades Hockey Membership, Grace has grow to be one among Nigeria’s most decided younger athletes, incomes respect in regional tournaments for her fierce defending and tireless work ethic.
Her journey started at simply 15, throughout an inter-school sports activities competitors. Whereas classmates gravitated towards soccer and athletics, Grace was captivated by hockey’s velocity and precision.
With no entry to correct tools, she skilled with borrowed sticks and outdated tennis balls. “We made do with no matter we might discover,” she remembers. “What mattered was getting higher day-after-day.”
Since 2018, Grace has represented Oyo State in native and regional competitions, together with the Oyo State Sports activities Competition and the Southwest Hockey Invitational.
Her performances earned her a call-up to the state senior staff, however like many athletes in less-publicised sports activities, her progress has been slowed by lack of funding, sponsorship, and publicity.
“Hockey doesn’t get the eye it deserves in Nigeria,” she says. “Many people practice exhausting, however with out sponsorship or media protection, we stay unseen.”
For Grace, the dream extends past private success — she desires to assist put Nigerian hockey on the map and encourage extra ladies to take up the game.
Balancing sport with a part-time educating job, she trains each morning and makes use of her personal financial savings to purchase tools and journey to tournaments. Coaches reward her dedication, describing her as “a participant with coronary heart and self-discipline.”
Now, Grace’s subsequent goal is the Nationwide Sports activities Competition, the place she hopes a robust efficiency will appeal to sponsors and scouts.
Her story is one among quiet resilience — a reminder that even within the shadows of Nigeria’s main sports activities, athletes like Grace Adeyemi proceed to push ahead, pushed by perception, exhausting work, and a dream to make their nation proud.
