Like an obedient child, Comfort Ani (nee Chime) was fond of running errands for her parents in the 1950s and this she did with a lot of pace. This running around fanned her passion for sports as she grew into a fleet-footed athlete during her primary education at Central School at Ngwo Town in Enugu. That interest in sports eventually saw her participate in most of the sporting events in schools and turned her to a toast of the houses. She had settle for Ejindo House.As a junior athlete, she captained the team to win many laurels, dominating the sprints. In class, she was also exceptional and among the top three students. All these attributes endeared her to her teachers, who took special interest in her. Though her mother never liked her involvement in sports, such apathy did not deter her from doing what she loved. Ani gained admission to Missionary Secondary School, Ikot-Ekpene, Akwa Ibom State, where she burnished her talent in athletics and basketball.She was made captain of the basketball team but the injury she sustained during an inter-school match forced her mother to transfer her back to Enugu - to Basden Memorial Grammar School at Isulo, Awka, in the 1960s. Her exploits at Basden influenced some students' interest to join the school. Now 63, Ani, who is the first black woman vice-president of Young Women Christian Association (YWCA) Worldwide, told OLALEKAN OKUSAN that her involvement in sports brought lots of positives across her way and most importantly, healthy lifestyle.WHEN a tender Comfort Ani was excitedly serving her parents running errands, little did she know that her feeble legs were getting strengthened into a great asset for tomorrow. The current president of African YWCA's Network (AYNET) described how she picked up an athletics career: 'I got into sports as a child during my elementary school. In those days, there was not much of nursery or crche. So you just have to wait until you were six, when your parents would enroll you in school.'In those days, any time my parents sent me on errand, especially my mother, I hardly waited to hear the full message before I took off. Most instances happened with my aunt, C.C. Onoh's mother. Anytime I ran to her house, the first thing she would ask me was, 'did you get the full story'' and I would start stammering. She would tell me to go back and get the full message. This tells how much my body was on the move because I was so feather-weighted that I used to run fast.'I found myself very enthusiastic about sports because in schools in those days, most students don't like sports period because every morning there used to be physical exercise and during sports season, it was sports galore unlike now.'Sports then was school events, which started from elementary school. So the school found me as a very willing person, especially during inter-house competitions. I was always representing my house and was doing events like 100, 200 metres and hurdles.'Despite being neck-deep into sports, Ani was also excelling in her academics, as she never went beyond third position in her class. She noted: 'At Central School, I excelled in sports and education. For sports, I was always eager to go to school everyday and especially enjoyed taking part in the early morning exercise, which most students run away from.'I used to do my house chores early, go to stream to fetch water and ensure I do all other domestic works in order to arrive early in school. Most times, I was either the first or second person on the assembly ground everyday for our sporting event.'One other interesting thing was that it drew the love of teachers to me because they were always looking forward to seeing me. Everybody who had errands would always love to send me because I was very sincere in running my errands. Apart from being enthusiastic about sports at that age, I was very brilliant. I was always among the top three students in my class.'But the unfortunate thing was that it drew the anger of my mother. My father loved my involvement in sports but my mother could not understand why a girl-child should be doing sports. To her, sports would prevent me from having babies. It would also make me to grow a masculine body and this most times made her angry whenever she learnt I was doing sports. Most of the gifts I used to win were rejected by my mother and this made me to be taking them to my aunt's house.'Ani's dexterity on track earned her the captaincy of her house ' Ejindo; and in the history of the school, the youngest athlete to head a team. She narrated: 'At Central School, I belonged to Ejindo House, which was named after Rev. Ejindo, who brought the missionaries to my village. My grandfather received the gospel and sustained it while his house was the first church and it was under the tree that the first school also started.'I was in Ejindo and we dominated the 100, 200 metres and hurdles events most often. The school, at a time, decided to take me out of Ejindo House because the authorities felt I was dominating and helping my team most often. For me, it was a joyful turbulence as it was resolved later that I stayed with Ejindo for two years and later move to another house, when a new headmaster came to our school. I captained Ejindo as the youngest to lead a house in the school. Even after that, I went ahead to captain the school team.'At the national level, Ani was chosen from the Eastern Zone as one of the athletes to represent Nigeria at an international schools meet in Canada, but her mother, who picked holes in her love for sports, prevented her joining the team. She said: 'At a point in my elementary school, Nigeria had to take part in a sporting event in Canada and I happened to be one of the pupils selected to represent the country.'But my mother did not see any reason I should join the team because she felt I would run away. I was denied because it was a time children obeyed their parents. I cried about it and my father loved my mother so much that he did not want me to disobey her. So I gave up and did not go with the team. Also, my mother thought that if I continued to run, nobody would want to marry me because of my physique as an athlete.'Though her sporting prowess was not the major yardstick for her admission into secondary school, Ani admitted that to a certain extent, her talent in sports influenced the school management to hand her the captaincy of the basketball team. She added: 'I will say my sporting prowess aided my admission into secondary school but it did not influence any decision because being within the Eastern Region in Enugu, I started my secondary education in Ikot-Ekpene in Akwa Ibom State.'While I was in Enugu, I wrote Common Entrance at Queen's College and Ogidi Girls School, which I passed. Unfortunately, my cousin with whom I sat the examination and whose father paid for the examination, failed and her mother was against me going to school when her daughter was not. So, she did everything possible to prevent me by seizing my result. My mother, in her humility, pleaded with me not to worry but to write another examination. This made me stay at home for one year.'She continued: 'I wrote the next examination and passed to get admission to Missionary Secondary School in Ikot-Ekpene. When I got to the school, it was really good for me because my mother was not around to watch my sporting events. I started doing sports and the school discovered me. I was throwing javelin alongside my sprint events. I also added relay event and was also a good basketball player.'In one of the basketball matches, I sustained injury when an opponent jumped on my hip. This led my mother to change my school from Missionary Secondary School, as she felt that being away from her would make me to continue taking part in sports. She could not see why I should remain in the school. I had to take the examination on sick bed and still made the sixth position in my class. But this did not go down well with her and she had to change my school to Basden Memorial Grammar School, Isulo in Awka.'At Basden, Ani's raised her exploits in basketball and became the captain of the school team and a role model to most of the juniors. Of course, she enjoyed preferential treatment, which she admitted was exciting: 'My sporting prowess also aided my quick admission to Brasden. My going to the school also helped some of the students from Enugu to get easy admission to the school.'Aside running, I was named captain of the school basketball team and as athletes, we had privilege of eating free food with regular diet. In addition to my sporting exploits, I became popular in the school because I was also a singer singing for the school and everything good was happening around me.'Nevertheless, Ani would not forget in a hurry what happened to her during one of the school's inter-house sports competition: 'A day I will not forget in sports was when I felt I could win my three sports, at which I was good during the inter-house competition. But I missed winning the hurdles because I had dragging feet and hit the hurdles bar. That was the event I felt I should have done better but I missed out.'However, something happened that day. I was not initially selected to do pole volt; as one of the athletes did not turn up for the event, I was told to take her place in the event and fortunately for me, I won the event and also set a record. So it was painful losing the event people expected me to win but winning the one they never expected me to with 5.8 metres jump was indeed a mixed feeling.'Apart from doing well in sports, Ani was an exceptional student in literary and debate competitions. She explained further: 'Another memorable thing was that I was equally the best student in literary and debate competitions. So I was winning awards in sports and other events I was taking part in outside sports.'Being a great athlete in school came with a lot of pressure as well, as Ani was always attracted to the male students. Nevertheless, her upbringing came to her rescue: 'For me, it was easy to keep men at bay because I had a religious upbringing, as my grandfather brought the gospel to my village. My house became a rallying point to every child. So I was able to shield men away because of my background.'So many men were coming around to seek my hand in marriage, but my upbringing helped me to ward off most of them. One thing people should know is that once you are doing any sport, if you are not careful, you would never make it because your exploits will make you very attractive.'Listing the gains of active participation in sports, she said: 'My sporting involvement did not stop at Brasden because it brought me to limelight. After my secondary school, I assisted other students in my village to take to sports and encouraged a lot of girls to embrace it. Also, sports helped me to be agile by assisting my mother with all chores. People also discovered that I could train pupils in basketball and various schools began to invite me to train their students in the school.'After getting married, Ani still continued with sports, as she was in charge of boxing at Post and Telecommunication (P & T) now Nigeria Postal Service (NIPOST). At present, she mentors young people on the importance of sports and education all over the globe. She said: 'I started mentoring young people in sports as vice-president of Young Women Christian Association (YWCA) worldwide.'I will say my sporting prowess, to some extent, attracted my husband because I was so elegant as an athlete that at 63, I am still active. I was singing and acting with James Iroha (Dirigonri) at Hilltop Arts Theatre then in Enugu. But what fascinated my husband most was my sporting and singing life.
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