"Have your way, Chi!" Life As a Professional Female Footballer

(This story originally appeared on VICE Sports UK)

Arsenal Ladies forward Chioma Ubogagu has been blogging for us throughout her debut season in the Women's Super League. With the campaign reaching its climax, she shares some insight into her side's preparations and training regime. You can read her other blogs here.

When I was playing club football in America, my teammate's dad always used to encourage me from the sideline as if I were his daughter, too. He'd sit in his folding lawn chair wearing our team-colored polo, and then right before the whistle blew he'd holler, "Have your way, Chi!"

I was on the same team from age 10 until I graduated secondary school, and there wasn't one game I didn't hear his trademark phrase. Four simple words, but strung together they provided immense motivation for me. Now every training session, every match day, I try to do just that.

There are only three league games left in my first professional season. There are just three more opportunities to have my way and help my team be successful. It's crazy to think that in a mere 270 minutes my rookie year will be concluded, but it is incredibly exciting at the same time. For half a year now, my teammates and I have been working towards our goal of becoming league champions and the end is fast approaching. We control our fate in accomplishing our goal and as unit we are maintaining our focus in the process, in the preparation.

The talent on this team is undeniable. We have 10 senior international players and around eight youth internationals. The skill amongst the squad is seen in various drills, but sometimes the effort was nonexistent in training. I mean, there was an obvious lack of competitive fight in sessions.

It was no surprise when this directly translated to how we began games. We often conceded a goal in the early stages of matches before we decided to truly show up for work. As a group we all took notice and began to hold ourselves more accountable. If we wanted the privilege of deeming ourselves as professional footballers, the level of intensity and attentiveness needed to be corrected immediately. And we most definitely did.

We focused less on tactics and details of the game and more on awakening the hunger in each and every one of us. We started playing more small-sided games – 4-vs-4 and 5-vs-5. With smaller pitch sizes but the same amount of numbers, it forced us to play quicker. You had to be alert and make swift decisions on the ball or you were getting stuck in on a tackle. You had to finish your opportunity or the opposing goalkeeper was catching it then releasing it to her fullback for a counter. You had to track your mark at all times or the team was yelling at you, letting you know you just cost your group a goal.

The energy was fantastic. Countless times fights broke out because of aggressive tackles or varying opinions on who the ball last went out on. Our manager Pedro even received some of the wrath as people felt his watch ended the games at very inconvenient moments (i.e the losing team at the time).

But all in all training sessions were back to that Arsenal standard. It was demanding, it was tiring, but it was exactly what we needed.

@ChiAlreadyKnow