Ashante “Ziggy” Odogun describes herself as “innovative,” “spunky,” and “a massive light.” Now, through her coaching business Zinovae and the Zinovae Foundation, she hopes to use that energy to support youth in Dane County and beyond.
“I am Zinovae. Zinovae is me,” she said in a recent interview. “The words ‘innovate’ and ‘nova,’ which is almost like a volcanic explosion, right? And that’s what I am. I’m innovative. I’m somebody who’s spunky, I’m somebody who’s bright, and I’m somebody who’s a massive light.”
Born in England to Nigerian and Jamaican parents, Odogun grew up in South London, just blocks from the home field of the Millwall Football Club. “That was my home club for where I was raised, 10 minutes away from my house,” she said. “On game days, it was loud. It was obnoxious. You would hear the trains, you would hear the roaring, the chants, the belligerent hooligans drinking down the street. That’s the environment I grew up in.”
She started her playing career at 11 at Long Lane Junior Football Club. Coach Mick Northwood thought Ashante was too long a name to use on the field, where quick communication is important. She had zig-zag braids at the time, so … she became Ziggy. After three years at Long Lane, she rose through the ranks at the academies, reserve teams and first teams at Crystal Palace, Chelsea, and Millwall. The sport was more than just a game.
“I used soccer as an avenue to kind of escape, if that makes sense. It was a job. It was like a full-time job. For me, it was something that created opportunity,” she said.
“I was always somewhat of the underdog. I was underestimated. Everywhere I went, I was underestimated. And you know what? It didn’t bother me.”
In 2013, Odogun came to the United States to play college soccer, first at Ohio Valley University and then at Delta State University in Mississippi. It was there, she said, that a lack of proper care and attention led to a serious injury — and a pivotal moment in her life.
“I was having a hard year in general — like 2015 was probably the worst year of my life,” she said. “I wasn’t getting the proper care.” After weeks of pain in her heel, she said, “I looked at [the athletic trainer] and I said, ‘I’m in pain. I’ve come to you guys three weeks in a row about my leg and you won’t believe me.’”
Eventually, an MRI revealed the truth: a partially torn Achilles tendon. “That was my first surgery … it was a catalyst to the down and out and the reinvention of who Ziggy is right now. Without being able to play professional football, I’m damaged goods. I will never be able to keep up, and I’m okay with it.”
After graduating with a degree in exercise science, Odogun began coaching with Challenger Sports, traveling the country to run youth soccer camps.
“I didn’t know I’d be a good coach,” she said. “Sometimes good players aren’t good coaches. And sometimes good coaches aren’t good players.”
That work eventually led her to settle in Wisconsin, where she now coaches youth soccer at Monona Grove Football Club and runs Zinovae, a business offering fitness training, motivational coaching, and diversity seminars.
“I am the coach that you come to when you are ready to take action in the most vulnerable parts of your life, when you’re actually ready to admit that you want to change but you don’t know how to do it,” she said.
“Everybody knows Ziggy is intense,” she said. “I used to actually have a negative connotation with ‘aggressive,’ ‘intense,’ ‘a lot.’ And I am a lot. I am intense. I am aggressive. I do have high standards, because that’s what got me through life and that’s how I thrive.”
She also founded the Zinovae Foundation to help kids play soccer regardless of financial barriers.
“What [Coach] Mick did for me, I want to do for millions of children,” she said, referring to her longtime youth coach in England, Mick Northwood, who passed away in June. “He didn’t entirely know everything that I was going through, but all I know is that regardless of whatever turmoil I was in, he was kind to me and he did what he needed for me to stay a little more distracted than dwelling in this situation.”
The foundation helps cover costs for families with children ages 7 to 18, including registration fees, travel stipends, and equipment.
She’s currently coaching with Monona Grove Football Club, where she also recently helped secure a four-year sponsorship with One Community Bank. “Through the Zinovae Foundation, we’ve been able to cultivate that relationship, and I’m hoping again — not just individuals and their families — but teams as well. Putting teams on the map, especially developmental teams,” she said.
At Monona Grove, Odogun has built a bond with her players. “I fell in love with my boys,” she said. “The first two weeks, I was like, oh, I’m stuck here now. I was like, god dang it. They pulled me back in.”
She said she asks each player to articulate their goals and then holds them to those goals. “If you tell me you want to play professionally… I’m training you not as a child. I’m training you as a player that way, when you leave me in two, three, four, five years, I fully well know I prepared you for that moment. Now it’s up to you.”
