YOUR DREAMS CAN COME TRUE
Udoka praises Velocity backing
STAR graduate Udoka Godwin-Malife is living the dream – and is encouraging Oxford City’s latest batch of academy products to dream big and follow in his footsteps.
Godwin-Malife is a regular in League Two Forest Green Rovers’ promotion chasing first team having joined the club from City’s education programme – now known as Velocity Football – at the age of 16, two years after he had fallen out of love with the game and stopped playing.
By combining classroom work with the programme’s full-time training schedule, he rekindled his passion for the game. It transformed his career path and he graduated into Oxford City’s first team before earning a move into the Football League with The Lawn outfit.
Now the defender is using his journey to encourage Velocity Football youngsters to work hard and pursue their ambitions.
Godwin-Malife said: “I was open to any career in sport when I started the course – I wasn’t really sure what I wanted from my future. Oxford City’s programme provided me with the platform to chase my ultimate dream of turning professional, though, and I soon progressed into the first team after working my way up through the reserves.
“I still didn’t quite understand the opportunity I had even when training with the first-team. To me, I was still the boy studying for my qualifications – the whole first team opportunity was incredible really and that’s thanks to the quality of the course which helped me to reach my full potential through expert coaching and tutoring.”
Godwin-Malife played for Oxford City in National League South for two seasons while completing his BTEC programme before joining Forest Green at the age of 18. He said the encouragement and mentoring he received at City made the difference.
Example
“The facilities, coaching staff, management and player pathway opportunities that Velocity Football provides to its students are some of the best in the UK,” he said.
“I’ve kept in close touch with the Velocity Football team and current students have an amazing opportunity to develop with coaches like Mickey Lewis, Lauren Haynes and Josh Ashby.
“It’s a great environment for anyone to learn, you meet new people with good contacts and develop friends for life. Hopefully, we see more professionals graduate from the programme in the coming years.”
Justin Merritt, director at Velocity Football, said: “It is fantastic to see Udoka continuing to progress and doing so well in the professional game. He is a great example of what is achievable and how strong our development pathway is. I hope his journey inspires our current students to aim as high as they can.”