Ex-footballer Stacey Naris: Heart of a lion, feet of steel

Former national footballer Stacey Naris reflects on her trailblazing career, from playing street football in Katutura to captaining Namibia’s women’s teams across all age groups.

The Lüderitz-born former Okahandja Beauties star defender Stacey Naris is the only woman Namibian player who was a member of all the national women’s football teams during her fairytale football career.

Apart from captaining the under-17 team at the Cosassa Youth Games at Walvis Bay, she also turned out for the under-20 side at the Southern African Development Community Youth Games at Potchefstroom, South Africa.

She also featured for the senior women’s team during the Cosafa Cup competition in Luanda, Angola, during which they finished fourth out of eight nations.

Naris did not hesitate to fill the vacant left-back position after it became vacant, even though she was the smallest player on the team.

‘THE DONKEY’

“I was called the donkey on the pitch. I didn’t take any prisoners on the field of play and I ran my socks off for my team, no matter who I played for,” she says.

“I was naturally right-footed but slotted in well in the left-back position – to the extent that I started crossing the ball with my left foot.”

Despite not being a left-footer, Naris cemented the left-back position and made it her own, pointing out that it all came with training and natural instinct.

Like many, she started playing football in the streets during her primary school years.

“Ironically, no other family member of mine played football. I was a Grade 3 pupil at Auas Primary School when I started playing football with the boys from my neighbourhood in the Nama location.

“Funny enough, I started playing netball at AI Steenkamp,” she says.

“Girls’ football has not taken root at either of my primary schools at the time and, although football was my first love, I had to play netball for AI Steenkamp until my final year at primary school. I would go play football with the boys after school.”

She says her life completely turned around when she joined Eldorado Secondary School in Khomasdal, which intially did not have a girls’ football team when she joined.

“But as fate would have it, the school appointed a young vibrant teacher by the name of Jacqueline Shipanga. Her passion for football is second to none. Coach Jacqui, as we called her, introduced football to the girls of Eldorado,” she says.

“There was no girl’s team during my Grade 8 year, but that changed in Grade 9. In 2005 our coach asked me to join Okahandja Beauties FC, who were playing in the Namibia Women’s Super League (NWSL). It wasn’t easy getting onto the first team though.”

Naris says she used to idolise the club’s former centre-back, Kleintjie Fredericks, who also starred for the Brave Gladiators.

“Joining the Beauties was one of the best sporting decisions I’ve ever made. The team consisted of a galaxy of stars who were not only great players on the pitch, but great leaders off it as well. It didn’t surprise me that I transformed into a little beast on the pitch,” she says.

“We were a well-oiled machine and we were literally firing from all cylinders. We absolutely annihilated our opponents and handed them scores like 20-0 and 10-0, which were the result of hard work.”

Naris says she has never experienced the team spirit that reigned among the players anywhere else.

Okahandja Beauties also did a lot of road running and the team was super fit. Naris says they ate bread and drank sugar water for lunch, but still gave their best for their team on match day.

It came as no surprise that her exploits on the football pitch caught the eye of the junior national team selectors, especially with such top-notch displays that won her players’ player and player of the season awards.

Naris was first called up for the under-20 Ball Games in Botswana, but this only happened after one player could not travel with the team because of a family bereavement.

Although she spent the entire tournament on the bench, Naris says she gained invaluable experience that came very handy when she got selected for the Cosafa Championships in Zambia, where they finished as runners-up to South Africa in 2006.

“That will also be my stand-out moment with the national team,” she says.

“My second-most memorable football moment was when we hosted the Women’s African Football Cup of Nations in 2014. It was such a proud moment when we walked onto the pitch for our opening match to be greeted by a packed stadium.”

The 2008 junior sportswoman of the year nominee says she has played at big stadiums on the continent, but none of the crowds matched those at Sam Nujoma Stadium.

She says football fans in other African countries sometimes still ask for her autograph or take a picture with her, unlike in her own country, which is sad.

WORK, FAMILY

Armed with a bachelor’s degree in communication, the single mother of one is a consultant for a global case immigration company.

“Our clients are people who want to migrate to Namibia. They just sit at home while I do all the planning for them to come and live in our country. Ours is actually the best immigration route to follow.

“I do all the paperwork, including the drafting of a motivational letter through home affairs,” she says.

Naris says she would be forever grateful to ‘coach Jacqui’, who saw something in her the other coaches didn’t see.

“She transformed me into a breadwinner for my family at the age of 17 with the traits of discipline and hard working she instilled in us.”

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