CAROLINE - WORSLEY WANDERERS FOOTBALLER.
“I think a female footballer can look like anyone else, you’ve got your professional athletes and you know, we all know what they look like and it’s fantastic. But then going back to the older generation, of you know, women who may be not as fit and flexible as the rest but they can still get out there and play football”.
HANNAH BAPTISTE - GUYANA INTERNATIONAL.
"I also think being a woman of colour and playing football is a barrier for me. When ladies teams and girls teams started to kind of establish themselves, I found that I was always the only women of colour on my team. And so that made me feel hyper visible and I just felt like I didn’t have anyone I could relate to or anyone could support me in the way that other girls on my team could be supported. And so, that was always a barrier for me.”
Freya - Miss Kick Ambassador.
"I think just by playing football and continuing to play football and spreading the message about
females playing football is how we'll break this bias. And things like Miss Kick helps us to do this."
Zara Musker - Deaf England Football.
“Throughout my life, I never saw my hearing loss as a barrier due to the attitudes of my family and friends around me. I was always included however, I do believe that due to my hearing loss I always feel double the pressure and internal thoughts of having more to prove than others. I always thought I needed to work harder than others to prove that I can be be in these environments and thrive. I always had the mindset of letting the ball do the talking on the football pitch rather than my hearing loss.”
Rebecca Sellar - Para-Footballer.
"I was not taken seriously as a competitor in some instances, with the suggestion that the league would not be taken seriously if a woman was allowed to play in it. There was an occasion where I was expected to change in a storage cupboard - with a door that wouldn’t lock, and a window looking out, as no changing room had been made available for me, even though plenty of notice had been provided of my presence on the team. No person should ever be made to feel unwelcome in football."
Olivia Weedall - Football Freestyler.
"It's daily occurrence of people saying you can’t play because you’re a girl, girls aren't skilful, you can’t do this you can’t do that etc. This negativity of opinions from people who think girls can’t do skills and can’t be technical in a predominantly male sport just fuels the fire in me to want to achieve and be successful in what I do."
Grace Vella - Founder & CEO of Miss Kick
"Miss Kick as a brand looks to break down stereotypes but I think even for myself, coming into the business world, it reminds me so much of football. There are so many similarities in the fact that we are under represented as women in business and as a CEO of a brand."