Early Life
Mercy started playing football at the age of five with her oldest brother Seleipiri and younger brother Ipali in the sandy field of Bundu Waterside, near Port Harcourt Prisons in Port Harcourt. Her speed was recognized from a young age, and when she was 12 years old, at Holy Rosary Secondary School in Port Harcourt, she took part in long-distance races, running the 400m, 800m and 1500m races against older competitors. She was also a regional table tennis champion, but soccer was the sport where she really stood out.
Mercy earned the nickname "Ske", which in local parlance meant "skinny", while playing against boys at Mile 1 in Port Harcourt. Among her many admirers then was a young kid called Chidi Odiah, who is now a full Nigeria international, playing club football with CSKA Moscow.
In consideration of her skills in particular, a group of youth soccer organisers put together a girls' tournament to select the girls who would become "the Garden City Queens".
After two years of playing for the Queens, and turning down the overtures of the rival Port Harcourt-based Larry's Angels, Akide left Port Harcourt for Lagos to continue both education and soccer with Jegede Babes under the influence of Princess Bola Jegede.
Read more about this topic: Mercy Akide
Famous quotes containing the words early and/or life:
“Some men have a necessity to be mean, as if they were exercising a faculty which they had to partially neglect since early childhood.”
—F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940)
“Tomorrow in the offices the year on the stamps will be altered;
Tomorrow new diaries consulted, new calendars stand;
With such small adjustments life will again move forward
Implicating us all; and the voice of the living be heard:
“It is to us that you should turn your straying attention;
Us who need you, and are affected by your fortune;
Us you should love and to whom you should give your word.””
—Philip Larkin (1922–1986)