Up 'Til Now #1

Let me take you back to September, 2010. I had just started college, Sports Studies BTEC National Extended Diploma. A new start, a new chance to experience a different level of football, or at least I thought.. 2 weeks in and football was over. Doctors told me to stop playing to reduce the pressure being applied to my knees. The pain was excruciating and clearly this was the best option, physio had already been advised. Please understand, I'm 6 foot tall, a problem was already on the cards.

Well this is where my story begins, I thought that I would be back playing after a short rest period, wrong, 1 month turned into 3, 3 months turned into the year, over 2 years on I'm still not playing.  

However, I didn't give up football like my knees gave up on me. I kept attending training sessions, matches, social events. Through the harshest of weathers, I was always on time, watching. I got more involved with football from watching and giving my opinions, looking to help indivuals. All these hours soon added up, before I knew it, 50-60 hours had been clocked into my brain, soon to be a Football Futures log book. All of these hours counted, and could result in rewards. At the time clocking hours wasn't important, I wanted to be on the pitch. But the longer time went on, the more I recognised how not playing would be a long term idea.

Within college, I soon became a member of the Football Focus Team (FFT), our aim was to increase opportunities for young people to have the chance to get involved within football. Everything seemed to roll into each other at the time, one opportunity lead to the next, my logged hours were increasing drastically every week. This passion and drive to see past my injury has ultimately led me to where I am now.

I continued to be a part of the college women's team and AFC Telford United Ladies as much as I could, looking for new ideas and routes into football. The 2010/11 season was over and I have clocked up just over 200 voluntary hour, a year and a half on I'm above and beyond 650 voluntary hours. The season 2010/11 I missed 1 training session all year, covering 2 teams, I stopped playing 1 week into October.

This season finished on a high, I was managing AFC Telford United Ladies in the Women's Summer League, clearly a mark of where I had progressed onto, an injured spectator, to a coach/manager. Little did I know how my voluntary career would propel over my second college year, and into the future.