My time before America
I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do after my GCSE, let alone for a career! All I knew was that I enjoyed the sports I played and wanted to play for as long as I could. At the time I was playing football, cricket and a part of a judo club, with football being my main focus and the one I wanted to continue playing for a long time.
At a similar time my high school had coaches from Fulham FC and Chelsea FC coming in trying to get more girls involved. I then got talking to one of the coaches about playing and playing in America. The coach then gave me a list of places to contact about going to study and play football in America. After looking around at some of these places and then deciding that’s what I want to do after college, the rest was history!
My experiences during America
After speaking to a few different coaches in various locations I decided to go the a Junior College (JUCO) in Goodland, Kansas. A JUCO is a 2 year university where you then transfer to another school for the final 2 years. It was a small town making the men’s and women’s team close with each other, we had a very successful season breaking a lot of the schools records and visiting Denver, Colorado in our spare time. At the end of that year my coach moved to a different school in Waterloo, Iowa. This isn’t something that happens often, and left me once again deciding what school to study and play in; Kansas or move with that coach to Iowa.
After making the decision to follow my coach and spending my second year in Waterloo, Iowa. This school had very good sports facilities and a soccer program which needed turning around, which we did! I graduation from here with an Associate’s degree and gaining a host family which are now apart of my life forever. As this school was also a JUCO it meant I had to now transfer to another school to complete my last 2 years of study.
I moved to a 4 year NAIA school in Forest City, Iowa. This was now a bigger school with more students, however again it was in another small town. This allowed me to focus on my training and football, where we travelled to surrounding states playing a range of other schools. Unfortunately something about this place just wasn’t for me and I didn’t really fully feel like me there, so I decide to be me and find a new place to play.
This is where I ended up in Moore, Oklahoma where I knew a few of the players from my freshman year in Kansas. We had a great first season even though it was during COVID, that restricted us playing a lot of games, but we still managed to make a good season from it. We won regionals which sent us to Kissimmee, Florida for Nationals where we came second. As it was a COVID year the eligibly didn’t count as we didn’t play many games, making me come back for one final semester so I can play again and hopefully improve on from last season.
My story isn’t a normal one at all, I went to 4 schools in 4 ½ years. Most people go to one or two depending on the route they take. However I think its important to share my journey so others know it ok to transfer or to stay where they are.
Few personal awards
- All region 1st team x2
- All-tournament team
- All American 1st team x2
- Defensive player of the week
Football-2-Soccer 