How defying her father gave Uganda's Peace Proscovia a path to international stardom

Peace Proscovia may be the Sunshine Coast Lightning’s star recruit and a dominant force on the world netball stage, but had she obeyed her father her life would be very different.

Proscovia was born to a family with seven siblings and grew up in Arua, one of the poorer parts of Uganda in a three-bedroom house.

As a young girl, Proscovia saw her parents attempt to make a living to put food on the table for the family in the farming industry.

Following on from her parents, Proscovia was forced to farm for herself in order to fund her school tuition.

“I paid most of my school fees through agriculture,” she told Wide World of Sports.

“I would dig, harvest and go and sell them. When I sold the stuff, I would take the little money to school to pay my school fees.”

While she was at school, a coach noticed the youngster’s keen interest in sport and she was selected to travel to the Ugandan capital city of Kampala to pursue a career.

However, while Proscovia received support from her mother, the same could not be said for her father.

“When the opportunity to go to Kampala came, my mother was very supportive because she saw my struggle and she knew that I would be a better person,” she said.

“When I reached my father, he said, 'To hell, you are not going to the city. You are not going anywhere. Netball is not going to develop you.’

According to Proscovia, her father’s belief regarding her future was simply due to cultural customs in Uganda.

“Girls are supposed to grow up to get married,” she said.

“We are supposed to grow up to become mothers. So going to play netball became like a stumbling block.

“I had this strong belief that where I was going is where my future would be. It's where I would develop myself, so the only thinking was (whether) I should disobey my father and go.”

Faced with a life-altering decision, Proscovia went against everything she knew and disobeyed her father’s orders.

“I stood up to my father and told my father that I understand that the love you have for me, but I want to give you one assurance that as I leave your home today, I am going for the good and not for the bad and I will make you a proud father. Give me the opportunity,” she said.

“He refused so I had to go to my mother and told my mother: 'For the good, sometimes you have to fight for your destiny and I have to fight for my destiny. As long as I do not bring shame on the family, I am going.’

“So when my father saw the benefit of it, he became amazed what talent can do. If he knew what was ahead, he wouldn't have stopped me.”

According to Proscovia, what she encountered with her own father is commonplace in the Ugandan community, and it is a reason she is trying to give back to her community now.

“Many young girls are being stopped like that,” she said.

“The strongest barrier to them is that cultural belief, and by our culture you're not supposed to disobey your father.

“Netball developed me, it made me study and it made me turn back and help my family.

“Having been this kind of person that has seen life at its worst and at its best, it's always been part of me to advocate for the girl child and try to help them when they cannot help themselves.”

Now, as an established sporting star in her country where she was named the athlete of the year in 2014, Proscovia is appreciative of the opportunities afforded to her through netball.

“Netball helped me and groomed me from a nobody to a somebody. Nobody's background defines who they are because my background did not define who I am,” she said.

“Talent has done amazing things for people. It has lifted people from nowhere to somewhere. A practical example is me.

“I have studied through netball, I have moved to countries I would not have gone even just getting to the capital city of Uganda, I would not have known where the capital city of Uganda is without talent, but I got to know it because of netball.”