NORFOLK, Va. – Ayhon Turkoglu was a very enlightened and progressive man.
His oldest daughter, Ece, was a gifted athlete who as a child wanted to join the local football club, or soccer team as we know it in America. This was nearly two decades ago, when many in Turkey considered it un-lady like for young girls to play soccer.
Things have changed in the years since. More and more young girls are playing sports now.
But during the time it was frowned upon, Ayhon not only encouraged her to play, he went to all of her games. When she she made the Turkish National Team, and began to travel all over Europe, he followed her as much as he could.
And for those who thought it wasn’t proper for a young lady to play on the pitch, he always had her back.
“I was playing soccer with the boys,” said Ece Turkoglu. “And I was fighting at times with the boys.
“But he always supported me. He was always proud of me.”
Which is one of so many reasons why it was so difficult for Ece in the summer of 2021 when Ayhon, then just 56, died of a heart attack.
Ece Turkoglu and her father, Ayhon, hold a championship trophy.
At the time, Ece was preparing to leave for her third season with the Old Dominion women’s soccer team. She was so devastated that a few days after her father’s death, she told her mother, Selda, she wasn’t going back to Virginia.
“I sat down in front of her and was crying,” Ece said. “I told her I don’t want to go back.
“She listened but then said, ‘no, there’s no way you’re staying here. That’s not what your father would want you to do.
” ‘He would want you to go back and finish your school. If he was here, he wouldn’t let you stay.’ “
It took several days of quiet contemplation, but Ece eventually realized her mother was correct. So she took a flight back to Norfolk, and the rest is ODU…
Read the full article here
