CHISHIMBA BWALYA, Lusaka
SHEPOLOPOLO striker Memory Phiri is not your average footballer. Apart from football, she is also a medical student at the Southwestern Oklahoma State University (SWOSU) in the United States of America.
Memory, who is in her final year of study and will be graduating this December, describes pursuing both a football career and medical studies as being an “emotional roller coaster”.
“Being a Biological Sciences major and playing soccer at the same time can be hard to balance, but I try to make sure I am successful both in the field and the classroom,” she says.
“I have had injuries twice and sat almost half in both seasons. I wanted to give up but as soon as I remembered the goals I want to achieve, I kept going.”
But to understand how her intertwined career pursuit story started, one has to go back to 2012 when she was offered a chance at Green Buffaloes women’s team after some good performance in her high school team.
That opened new doors as she was later invited for trials at the under-17 national team in 2013.
In the same year, she was selected as part of the Chiparamba youth team that participated in the Gothia Youth Cup tournament in CLICK TO READ MORE