Ever since she hit the awkward age of 12 and realized that most girls’ clothing didn’t appreciate her height, Duck women’s basketball forward Yadili Okwumabua has loved the hobby of sewing.
“I’ve always been kind of tall,” the 6-feet-2-inch freshman said. “So when I found good patterns, I would make clothes that fit me.”
More recently, she has put her skills toward making a quilt — an activity she has enjoyed for years, but is a challenge nonetheless.
“Piecing things together is the hardest part,” the Canadian native said.
Born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Okwumabua comes from a family of love, discipline and Nigerian culture. As a middle child between one younger and two older brothers, Okwumabua said being picked on as a child was frustrating, but when she looks back, she wouldn’t change a thing.
“It made me a lot tougher,” the 19-year-old said.
Before graduating from Glenlawn Collegiate High School, Okwumabua studied hard, played soccer and basketball, ran track and volunteered for several causes, including mentoring elementary kids and visiting with senior citizens.
“Basically, anything I could get my hands on in the community,” she added.
When she first arrived in Eugene, Okwumabua said it took a little time to get used to the surroundings and the people.
“It’s a little quieter than the city I came from,” she said. “We didn’t have too many trees, either.”
To keep her sanity between practice and class, she said she likes to listen to rap, rhythm and blues, soul, gospel and reggae music. And although she likes to spend time on the phone, she said she hasn’t kept in touch with her high school friends as much as she would like. She says her family is a different story, however.
“I miss them a lot and we talk during the holidays,” she said. “But I especially miss the food.”
Her mother, Christina, always made traditional Nigerian cuisine for her family, including jellos rice — a seasoned dish made with onions and tomatoes — and anything with the banana-like fruit, plantain. Okwumabua’s parents, Christina, a math teacher, and Nat, a financial analyst, have lived in Canada for almost three decades after moving from Nigeria and marrying a few years later. Though she has never taken to sewing herself, Christina contributed authentic Nigerian fabrics to the hand-made quilt that now sits on the bed in her daughter’s residence hall room.
One of the things Christina said she misses most about their time together is the hours her daughter would spend doing her hair.
“She was my hair dresser,” Christina said. “And she always had to do hers herself. I found her to be very independent”
When she makes time for it, Okwumabua said she enjoys braiding and adding extensions to her hair, partly because it saves her a lot of money. But before music, braiding and even basketball, she said her classes are number one on her list of priorities, adding that her parents always made sure she finished her studies before going out and having fun. Even when it came time to celebrate her birthday last month, the undeclared major said it wasn’t anything special because she had to study for a midterm the next day.
Besides getting a happy birthday phone call from her family, Okwumabua also received her daily call from boyfriend Mychal Smith. The couple met in Canada last summer while Smith was visiting from Alabama to see family. After being together for about eight months, Okwumabua said she talks to Smith twice a day on average.
“He’s my wake-up call in the morning,” she added.
Okwumabua’s roommate and teammate, freshman Carolyn Ganes, said the lovebirds talk on the phone all the time.
“She talks to her boyfriend a lot,” she said. “Like, a lot.”
After getting over her initial shyness and settling into the groove of the team and college life, Okwumabua said she considers Eugene to be a second home and her friends a second family. One other thing she has gotten used to is her teammates’ nickname for her — “Chuke” — taken from the second part of her full first name, Yadilichukwu. Her studies, her team, her hobbies and her nickname have all contributed to Okwumabua’s sense of comfort in what seemed foreign and unfamiliar just two terms ago.
“This is more or less my home now, and I am looking forward to moving out of the dorms, getting my own place and making the best of the next few years,” she said.
Things are piecing together nicely.