- Position: Wing-back
- Appearances: 31
- Goals: 6
- Joined Wolves: 2020
- Profession: PhD student
ON THE PITCH
Journey to Wolves
I properly started playing football when I went to the University of York for my undergraduate. I played there for a few years before I moved up to Middlesbrough for a year and played for Durham Cestria who are the Durham Women’s reserves. I then moved on to Birmingham to start my PhD and played for the university team.
Joining the club
I got contacted by Wolves who asked me to come down and join. Jenna Burke-Martin is closely linked to the university football clubs, so she and the Wolves staff had seen me play a few times and I was asked to come down and look at the facilities, which convinced me to join.
Biggest influence
I played a little bit of football as a kid mainly because my sister did. I always wanted to do what she wanted to do. Football’s never really been in my family, we’re not big football fans, so it was just something that my sister did that I wanted to do. It was a bit of a sibling rivalry!
Being a Wolves player
It’s awesome. It’s the atmosphere and the tight ethos of the club. We’re like a family and we’re all there for each other. Obviously, we’ve gone through a tough year with Covid and lockdowns, but everyone’s always been there for each other. Even when we haven’t physically seen each other, we’ve always been in contact and pushing each other to be the best we can be.
OFF THE PITCH
Making a living
I’m currently studying a PhD in chemistry at Birmingham University. My day-to-day life is pretty much working nine to five and doing research, which is pretty fun to be honest.
Balancing job and football
It’s definitely a balancing act. It’s a case of being very open with both sides of it. The staff at the club know that if life’s getting busy with my PhD then sometimes football needs to take a back seat and then vice-versa for football. If we’ve got a three-game week, I can ask to work from home for a day if I need to rest up. It’s all about communicating and being aware that there’s got to be flexibility at times. I get a great amount of support from everyone at the university and at the club.
Football conversations at work
Everyone knows I play football and everyone’s quite supportive. I get a couple of people who are a bit more interested who come to speak to me on a Monday to ask how the game went and they always keep track of results. I think they’re currently planning a group social to come and watch one of our matches, maybe the next Black Country derby.
Hobbies and downtime
I’m a pretty active person, so I like to do a lot of outdoor activities. Anything on the water, like surfing and paraboarding, especially when the weather is really good. It’s quite tricky to fit everything in with how busy my job is as well as the football. Most of the time when I get a free day is resting up and making sure I can get all the health work done, but when I get out it’s good to go on the water and just be outdoors.
What does being a female footballer mean to you?
Seeing so many young girls come down to our games who want autographs and photos, it’s really nice to be that inspiration for them. When I was younger, you’d hear about a few England players and you might occasionally spot when some teams were playing, but the coverage of it now is insane, and it’s great the amount of exposure that women’s football is getting. It’s booming and it’s great that there’s so many opportunities now for female players to get involved from such a young age.
