It is not a myth – women really are better than men at multitasking, at least in certain cases, a 2013 study says.
Mary Wilombe is one such example, a wife, mother and a footballer, a fine one at that.
The 24-year-old weaves her magic in the middle of the pack in the Copper Queens’ international matches with great ease.
In an interview with the Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) explained that she separates her two worlds and focuses on one at a time.
Wilombe gets enough support from her husband who understands what she has set for herself in line with her career.
“I manage, when I am on the pitch, I am just a player and not a mother and wife. When I get home, I resume my wifely duties. I also become a mother. It is not easy, but I manage to divide my time,” she said.
“I met him (her husband) elsewhere. He is not even a soccer fan. I explained to him from the beginning that I play football and he understood. I asked him if he was going to make me stop playing football, he said no,” she says.
“He explained that he understood that it was my chosen career and my talent. He said that whenever you feel like stopping, you will stop on your own.”
She adds: “My husband supports me a lot, if he did not support me, I would not be playing football. He encourages me a lot and pushes me a lot. He comes to watch some games especially the home matches.”
Wilombe started her career with a Boys team before joining Breakthrough and later moving to her current club Red Arrows.
“My mum supported me and my career. She was in fact the one who told me about Breakthrough first and told me to join but my grandfather who I was living with at the time did not want me to play football. I however had to persist and sneak around to play, ” Wilombe told the ZamFoot Crew.
Wilombe was part of the Zambia U-17 Women’s national team that made history by qualifying to the 2014 under-17 FIFA World Cup in Costa Rica.
She is originally an attacking midfielder but due to her versatility she is able to play as a defender and a defensive midfielder. At the 2014 U-17 World Cup she played as a defender.
After a maternity leave she returned to the senior national team and played the qualifiers for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics despite not playing all the games.
She was part of the Copper Queens squad that went to Chile for the international friendly (November 28, 2020) and played the full game.
Since then she has became a consistent part of the team and played the South Africa friendly in 2021.
She also played two games at the Olympics against Netherlands and China and also played all the games at the 2021 COSAFA Women’s Championship. She was also voted as the best midfielder at the inaugural Zambia Women’s football awards in November, 2021.
She was also key in the two qualifying rounds for the 12th edition of the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations.
Wilombe has a dream of playing abroad and the 2022 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations provides a huge platform for her to sale herself to would be suitors.
The midfielder packs a powerful shot, works hard for the team and is very versatile.
The Copper Queens start their campaign against Cameroon at the Mohammed V stadium on July 3 before facing North Africans Tunisia three days later. They will wrap up their Group B engagement with a tie against debutants Togo on 9 July.
The top four finishers in Morocco will qualify directly for the World Cup to be jointly hosted by Australia and New Zealand in 2023, while two additional teams will progress to the intercontinental play-offs.
