Funmi Fadoju

Biography

When Funmi Fadoju was growing up, she was given a netball poster of her role model: Geva Mentor.

Fast forward to 2022 and Fadoju wasn’t just on the same team as and playing next to Mentor, who made her England debut before Fadoju was even born, but also sharing a room with her on tour.

Admitting to trying to soak everything in like a sponge, Mentor is just one of many individuals who have supported Fadoju on her journey to date and continue to help her shape her game.

Fadoju’s own journey began in Year 4 at Monteagle Primary School, Dagenham under the guidance of Mr Thomson who she remains in touch with.

She credits her former teacher with inspiring her to pursue netball and still carries his advice with her: ‘Just keep pushing hard, keep training, keep working to get higher up and never look back, just forward.’

“I'm kind of a live-in-the-moment person – I don’t really want to stress myself out too much about what's going to happen. I just focus on what's happening now and it will be okay.”

After coming through the England age groups, including being selected for a Europe Netball squad before her 16th birthday in 2019, Fadoju made her much anticipated and awaited senior debut in October 2022.

She’s continued her meteoric rise – literally! – on court, finishing equal sixth with Australia’s Jo Weston in Netball Scoop’s annual World’s Best Netballer poll in 2022 after scooping the Netball Super League Young Player of the Season Award for the second consecutive campaign.

Want to start or take your netball journey to the next level? From our range of England Netball programmes to clubs across the country, there’s a way for you to get involved and play. Find out how here.