STONY BROOK, N.Y. — Elizabeth Pam's introduction to competing in tennis tournaments throughout Africa happened innocently enough.

"My parents just brought it up one day," said Pam, who was raised by her Nigerian-born parents in England. "I think we were going on a trip to Nigeria. They were like, 'Hey, do you want to do this?' I was thinking, 'Fair enough. Why not?' I just started competing there."

Pam, who is entering her senior year with the Stony Brook women's tennis team, has since traversed the African continent. She has competed in Morocco, Egypt and South Africa. She even won a bronze medal in doubles at the African Games in 2015 in Congo-Brazzaville while representing Nigeria with Russian-born partner Melissa Ifidzhen.
 
"I feel like I've gotten a little different experience meeting new people and playing people with a different style from me — styles I now see in college tennis," Pam said. "In England, a lot of people have the same style of play. When I got to travel, I got to play on different surfaces, like clay, which I wasn't used to. I feel like it helped develop my game a little bit more. It's helped me with independence, even, because sometimes I would travel by myself or be away from family for a long time. It helped me mature a little bit, but also gave me more experience."

Pam holds dual citizenship between the United Kingdom and Nigeria.

Her grandparents and a host of her extended family live in Africa, so her parents regularly brought her to their native country throughout her childhood.

Her father Ishaku and mother Janet both graduated from medical school. They then moved to England, where Pam's father began practicing with the elderly. Ishaku currently works on the Isle of Man, located in the Irish Sea, away from the family home in Peterborough, U.K.

Pam's mother stopped practicing medicine in order to raise Pam and her three siblings.

Pam's older sister Simi also has entered the medical profession, but Pam has other ambitions after completing her senior season with Stony Brook. She is majoring in business management with a specialization in marketing. She hopes to work in the sports marketing field.

"I really want to stay involved in sport," Pam said. "I think the opportunities for that may be better in the U.S. So I might look to stay here. But you never know."

Pam was named an ITA Scholar-Athlete during the COVID-shortened 2019-20 college tennis campaign. She swept three doubles matches at the fall-opening Brown Invitational and placed third at No. 3 doubles at the Missouri Valley Individual Championships in the fall.

A back issue slowed her last academic year, and Stony Brook coach Gary Glassman predicts he has not yet seen the best of Pam.

"I'm really looking forward to getting back. Hopefully this year I can stay injury-free," Pam said. "We have basically the same team we did last year, and there's going to be two new freshmen coming in the spring. So hopefully we can build on what we started last year. Obviously it's my senior year, so I really want to do well this year and hopefully win a conference championship."