Eboni Usoro-Brown: ‘We go into the World Cup as underdog favourites’

Here’s how hard Eboni Usoro-Brown likes to work. “Last year, obviously, I had the Commonwealth Games,” she says. “But at the same time I was also playing for Team Bath in the Superleague, I was completing my training contract and I was planning my wedding in October. I think most people would say do one or two of those things in a year, but not necessarily four …”

Fortunately for Usoro-Brown, 2018 went off pretty well. England won netball gold against Australia at the Commonwealth Games in scenes that both delighted the nation and put the sport on the map. Team Bath finished a respectable fourth in the Vitality Superleague and, outside sport, Usoro-Brown completed her training as a solicitor. She is also now happily married after what, judging by Instagram, was a highly tasteful affair. For further proof of Usoro-Brown’s dedication, watch the video of her inspecting her coasters being laser‑etched at the printers.

“It is always one of those struggles you battle mentally, like: ‘Can I do it, am I going to make it?’” Usoro-Brown says. “And sometimes that happens on a daily basis. But there are three things I stick to. One is you have to believe in yourself; you’ve got to tell yourself how you can do it rather than why you can’t. The second is to have the right support network around you. The third is that you have to have a goal.”

That next goal is now looming in Liverpool. The England Roses go into the Vitality World Cup – which starts on Friday – as “underdog favourites” in Usoro‑Brown’s words, hoping to continue the form that led them to not only win on the Gold Coast but beat Australia – the world champions – again during January’s Quad Series. With increased success and exposure comes higher expectations but Usoro-Brown – as made clear above – does not shy away from a challenge.

“When we got off the plane from the Gold Coast last April and got the reception we had just walking out in the airport, we were just so overwhelmed,” she says. “The fact that people will come up to you saying: ‘We were up at four o’clock and we were crying, we were screaming, we were jumping with you,’ it’s just been so special and so momentous for netball.

“The expectations for the World Cup, as always, are to win. But I think if you look at the results of the past year we’ve beaten Australia but lost to Jamaica and South Africa, teams ranked below us. Any team could win the tournament on a given day. The Roses will go in as underdog favourites. We’ve got eight games in 10 days, which is a gruelling schedule. But for us it’s very much about focusing on the process, winning each quarter to progress.

“That’s the mentality we adopted in the Commonwealth Games. Hopefully it will find us in another final and with another gold medal around our necks.”

England celebrate winning gold in the Women’s Netball at the Commonwealth Games.



England celebrate winning gold at the 2018 Commonwealth Games. Photograph: Martin Rickett/PA

Usoro-Brown’s smile is currently beaming from the windows of Oasis stores across the country as part of a World Cup marketing campaign. The legend alongside her photo reads: “Qualified solicitor, Goal Keeper, Netball Champion.” The 31-year-old defender knows she is in an exceptional position, a role model for young black and minority ethnic women on two fronts. But her desire to take the road less travelled goes back a long way. At the age of 12 Usoro-Brown asked her mother – herself a trailblazer in her career as a headteacher – to send her to boarding school. “It broke my mum’s heart but we found a school that suited my needs and off I went,” she says. “I think the level of discipline instilled in me from such an early age has really allowed me to achieve success.”

By the age of 15 she was playing netball at county level and put herself forward for England trials. “It was two days long, the first day was fitness, the second playing in different combinations with different people,” she recalls. “At the end of the trial you used to get an envelope. You would open it and it would either say: ‘Congratulations’ or ‘Commiserations’. I opened my envelope and it said: ‘Commiserations, you haven’t made the team.’”

The response to her first serious setback was to come back for more. “I remember asking the coach: ‘What is it that I need to do?’” Usoro-Brown says. “They gave me a training programme, a diet plan and some things I needed to work on on court. I went away and committed to it. That level of discipline we talked about from school; when you want something you need a little bit of luck. My talent will also get me so far but you have to work at it in order to earn the privilege.

“So I remember going to the trials the second year. I completed exactly the same test on exactly the same trial day. I wasn’t one of the best, there were girls who were scoring much higher than me, who were jumping much higher than me. But I remember getting my envelope at the end of the day and it said: ‘Congratulations.’”

Now Usoro-Brown hopes to claim her 100th cap this summer. “There’s going to be a lot of pressure, because of the results of last year, and we’ve always said that no matter what happens this group needs to have fun,” she says. “We play our best when we’re doing that. The friendships that you see are real.”

It is in this fashion that the Roses hope to contribute to what has the promise of being a breakthrough summer for women’s sport. “It could be huge! Huge!” she says, laughing. “We were all gathered round the other day wishing the Lionesses good luck. We couldn’t be more proud of them, the way they represent the nation, themselves and women’s sport in general. Hopefully we can follow in their lead … and if possible get the gold medal.”

Preliminaries Stage 1

Fri England v Uganda 7pm Court 1 

Sat England v Scotland 3pm Court 1

Sun England v Samoa 11am Court 1

Preliminaries Stage 2

15 Jul tbc Session 8 3pm-9pm 

17 Jul tbc Session 12 3pm-10pm

19-20 Jul Play-offs

21 Jul World Cup final

All at the M&S Bank Arena, Liverpool 

source: theguardian.com