Nwoye grateful for opportunity

Justin Seward
Times Reporter

 

Transitioning from one sport to another can prove difficult for many athletes, but for 2013 Holy Cross Collegiate graduate Charles Nwoye, having made such a change led him to great success, now playing in his first year football at the University of British Columbia (UBC).
After moving from Nigeria to Edmonton prior to Grade 6, Nwoye settled in Strathmore with his family a year later and took interest in basketball. With the help of his coach, he developed into a skilled player that eventually received attention from various universities.
He had hoped to be heavily scouted, but after Grade 12 his passion was not there anymore.
“Grade 7, 8 and 9 I’d say wasn’t my best years in basketball,” recalls Nwoye. “My coach Mr. Annicchiarico in Grade 9, he just took my game, really brought the best out of me as a basketball player. By the time I was in Grade 12, I was the probably the best I’d ever imagine I would ever be. Through that I thought I was going to play at a university and one university recruited me. I just thought ‘you know what, it wasn’t really worth it anymore.'”
Then his sports aspirations took a turn for the best last summer. He was home from the University of Lethbridge and attending his brother’s track meet where he ran into a friend of his.
“I was just home for the summer, just finishing second year,” he said. “I went there to support him at his zones, which he came first in high jump in, and a CIS player, who’s going into the CFL draft this year, he knew my coach, coach Nill at UBC and he told me ‘you’ve got the size and very athletic, you should give football a try.'”
With encouragement from his friends, Nwoye met with Nill and accepted the offer to play for the UBC Thunderbirds.
“We kind of figured that going to UBC would be my best interest because it’s one of the best school in Canada academically,” said Nwoye. “I was really ready to learn the sport. It’s something I wished I played but I never got the chance to in high school.”
He added the biggest difference he had to get used to was the pace of the game and learning the ropes in training camp.
“The game is a lot faster,” he said. “Especially for someone coming in who has never played football before. The first couple weeks of training camp were pretty rough. I didn’t have an idea of what I was doing. But now I know a lot better of what to do. It’s still a work in progress.”
His best memory in his brief career so far has been registering his first tackle a couple of weeks ago against the University of Alberta.
Nill was impressed with Nwoye’s maturity level which solidified his decision on giving the 19-year-old the opportunity.
“He’s an above average athlete,” said Nill. “And after sitting down and talking with him, I realized he has above average maturity. He’s a good decision maker. So he’s definitely someone who if he desires could make a difference in learning this game.”
While he knew it’d require a lot of work to get Nwoye up to speed in physicality, cognitive development and the techniques of the game, the Strathmore local has already has made an impression on the team.
“I didn’t think he’d play for a couple of years,” said Nill. “And he had to play this year. But that’s more of an indication of our lack of depth here in this young program than it is on Charles’s ability. What it does give him is an unbelievable opportunity that’s he’s actually getting more reps than he normally would in a normal situation.”