Welcome to Ryan’s Corner! This is my first instalment of my new weekly column. I am Ryan Nyambe, just a young normal Namibian living his football dream in the United Kingdom (UK) playing professionally for English Championship club Blackburn Rovers. 

As a start, I want to talk about motivation but before I do, allow me to further introduce myself. I am 22 years of age, born in the northeastern town of Katima Mulilo in Namibia. I spent the first 10 years of my life in Namibia before my mother decided to move us over here to the UK. 

I guess I owe it all to my mother, including my flourishing football career. I am where I am today because of her, and if it wasn’t for her bringing me to the UK, I don’t think the many doors that have opened for me would have opened. 

But life has also taught me that no matter where you from or where you live, at the end of the day it all comes down to how focused you are and also having the right mentality to pursue your dreams. That has over the years been my mantra and I think it has worked for me.

My favourite motivational quote is “Take time and things will come together”, for everything happens in God’s timing. It’s all about patience and God’s timing. I feel like there are a lot of young people out in the world that try to rush success instead of taking things step by step. 

I think a lot of people compare their lives too much to what other people post on social media and in the process lose focus of what is working for them, because they want to look good instead of actually focusing and doing what’s good and beneficial to them. And that’s where we go wrong many a time.
My humble advice to fellow young footballers coming through the ranks, and to any youth out there, is that

stick to your plan and keep chasing your dreams because with self belief, everything will work out just fine.
Also, never be afraid to ask for help in life because there is absolutely nothing embarrassing about asking for help in a situation or area that is beyond your scope. All the world’s great minds succeeded in life just because of the little help they got from those around them.

I hope my words have given you a little bit of motivation and as a start, I will end it here for now as we will dig much further in the next instalment of my new column. Stay focused and see you on the other side of the corner!

* Ryan Nyambe is an England-based Namibian young talented footballer, currently plying his trade for English Championship giants Blackburn Rovers.