Ella Williams, 15, is a current England U-17 international and next week will join up with her team mates at St George’s Park for a training camp.
Her first steps into football occurred here in Surrey, and below is her story which took her from the playground all the way to captaining her country against Holland…
“When I was 4 years-old, I played for a mixed football team at my local ground which I really enjoyed and so that was really the start of my football journey.
I moved to New Jersey in America for one year when I was 7 years-old and played for a team that was a few minutes from where I lived which enabled me to develop my football, or soccer, further.
I then came back and moved to Cobham. In year 4 and I decided to join my girl’s school football team because I saw that there were a few girls playing. I played there for a few years and I was spotted by two grassroots football team coaches, Molesey Juniors and Wimbledon. I ended up joining Molesey Juniors and although I wasn’t able to make many training sessions, I played in the matches on Sunday which we would win quite often.
Then when I was 11 years-old, we played Fulham’s Girls Centre of Excellence and I was spotted to go on trial. I was close to not making the Centre as I was put into a match with all the other girls’ trialling that would not make the team but I was then spotted as someone who may be able to contend for a proper place.
In the end I was selected for their Under-12s. I played with Fulham for 3 seasons moving up to Under-14s but when I heard that Fulham would not get a licence (needed to be able to be a Centre of Excellence), I organised a trial with Chelsea. I was selected for their Under-15s. During that season I was selected for the South Elite Performance Camps and from there I was selected for the England Under 15s camps.
Their were two games against Norway and Holland, and I was lucky enough to captain England for the second game. At the end of the season I had to move up to the Under-17s for both Chelsea and England, and I represented my country in Northern Ireland for Phase 1 of the Euro qualification round.
I am now one of 50 Jaguar Rising Stars (50 athletes are selected each year in the country in all sports) and received a bursary of £2,000 to support my football.
I get to talk to the patrons and ambassadors of the scheme which include David Beckham, Jessica Ennis, Dame Kelly Holmes and Sir Steve Redgrave. It is an invaluable experience that I get to learn from these sporting legends about tips and past experiences. I now am going to St.Georges Park for a training camp for a week where we play Wales and my aim is to continue to play football to a high standard and maybe to the Women’s Senior team.”
She Kicks – the online community for women’s football
