Nearly 25 University of Wisconsin Oshkosh women’s soccer players gathered around the conference table at the Student Recreation and Wellness Center Monday, eagerly awaiting the arrival of guest speaker Majidah Nantanda.

Rightfully so to be eager. Nantanda, after all, is head coach of the Ugandan Senior Women’s National Football (Soccer) Team, was on the first women’s national football team in Uganda and is the first female coach.

It’s not very often you get to bond over the “beautiful game” with such an empowering and inspiring woman.

Alicia Johnson, director of the UW Oshkosh Women’s Center, invited the football coach to campus to meet the Titans soccer team and to speak to several classes, including geography, kinesiology, and women’s and gender studies. Nantanda spoke about her journey to becoming the Uganda national coach and Growing the Game, a nonprofit outreach program she co-founded to challenge gender norms around soccer and to increase girls’ access to soccer in all parts of Uganda.

“As a female coach, being able to spend time with and listen to Majidah talk today was cool,” said Titan head women’s soccer coach Erin Coppernoll. “There are not a lot of women’s coaches and in her world there are even less.”

In her 30-minute meeting with the women’s soccer team, Nantanda recounted tales of playing football with her brothers while growing up, despite knowing she would be disciplined by her mother when she returned home because “no girl was supposed to play football.”

The room grew quiet when Nantanda talked about getting hit by sticks or slapped for playing soccer as a kid–it is not something any of those in the room ever had to deal with when wanting to play a sport in America. With a wide smile, Nantanda put the room at ease saying “I was grateful my mother never told me to stop playing.”

She went on to describe how she didn’t make the Uganda national team the first time she tried out because she wasn’t used to playing the game with boots [cleats] or a real football. For eight years prior, she was playing barefoot and with handmade balls.

As a retired athlete whose life has been enriched because of football, Nantanda said she is now focused on using football to empower the women of Uganda.

“I now reach out to the communities in Uganda and train the coaches, both male and females. I want to get girls involved in football. I want to empower them and help them achieve an education because of football,” Nantanda said.

She hopes, with the help of Growing the Game, girls and women will not only play football but use their athletic talents to achieve an education.

“Today was very eye-opening,” said junior defender Felicia Retrum. “It really showed what else soccer can mean to someone in Uganda, it can open so many opportunities for them. It makes me want our team to get involved in something, to help other girls be able to play. We take it for granted, we get to play whenever we want.”

After the meeting, Coppernoll and the Titans decided to get involved, donating two sets of old UWO game uniforms to Nantanda for her to bring back to Uganda and give to girls and women in the community who enjoy “the beautiful game” as much as they do.