Obi Tobenna Uchendu Starboyy
To you he is working hard and securing his future at a young age, to him it is play. One can argue that he has reached the sweet spot of productivity— feel-good productivity as coined by the popular Productivity expert Ali Abdaal.
Tobenna is signed to All-in-FC under 4 Academy, already a football sensation as a toddler, one will look at his story ( so far) and be mesmerized by it but there is an underlying cultural shift that makes future youngsters like Obi Uchendu possible.
The Nigerian Backstory
Jide could not breathe, nine sweaty bodies covered him but it felt like a thousand, perhaps it was because the spectators were also shouting, he was the local star, he just scored a dazzling goal: weaving his way past 4 players and nutmegging the fifth before placing the ball at the top corner, Suarez-esque. The crowd is shouting “Dinho, Dinho”, he loves it: the softness he feels after each shout of his footballing idol— sponge-like and sweet. Then a thought crossed his mind that made him sad— he lied to his Mum that he was going to a church service and not a football match.
The story above might be fictional but it is the reality of the average Nigerian “ football talent”. The parents want him to focus on school because education is a predictable way to ‘ success’. Nigeria’s football environment is almost non-existent football clubs are mostly owned by the government with unpaid salaries etc, and no worthwhile investments in football. The few footballers that have reached the top level from Nigeria are outliers.
Most top-flight footballers of Nigerian descent are children of first-generation immigrants, with more emigration happening in Nigeria there will be more Project Mbappe of Nigerian descent.
Training and Workout.
While most kids his age are given soft balloon-like balls, Tobenna Uchendu can comfortably hit a round leather ball, this is not some innate talent as Starboyy has been training when he was just 6 months, his father Obi Unchendu disclosed in a Twitter post. If in the future Starboyy goes on to become a world-class football player, it is not due to lack as he has demonstrated good coordination and ambidexterity— his father intentionally trained him on his left foot.
Relationship with Wizkid and Davido:
Tobenna Uchendu isn’t only meeting football stars, he also has links with two Afrobeat greats. He shares the same birthday as Wizkid, a coincidence which his father believes to be kismet— in an interview with Soccernet, he said “He came on the 16th of July, 2021, the same date Wizkid was born, and I said it couldn’t be a coincidence, he’s a double star, so I call him Starboyy.”
His link with Davido is somewhat superficial, he needs the music star songs for motivation to train.
Meeting With Football Stars
Starboyy was captured playing Peek-A-Boo with World Cup winner Enzo Fernandez, he also had a training session with Victor Oshimen and his Instagram training videos have been viewed by millions of people.
Tobenna Uchendu is one for the future and he is also signalling a new dawn: the world should expect more Project Mbappe of Nigerian descent.
Source: footygazette.com
