This winger found that she didn’t so much grow out of being a goalkeeper as a girl, just that the goals kept getting bigger and she failed to keep up the pace in that respect.
1. Name: Charlotte Costello
2. Age / DOB: 21 / 2nd September 1994
3. Team: Chester FC Women
4. Position (and have you always played there?): I play right wing, however I think I played in every position when I was younger. My first position I played was in goal, but as the goals got bigger, I didn’t!
5. Team support/fave player? Stoke City and my favourite player at the moment is Bojan Krkic, he can change a game with one bit of magic, he has so much talent and skill that defenders cannot handle him. He certainly can do it on a cold, wet and windy tuesday night at stoke!
6. Occupation/ what you studying? I study health and social care at university
7. Any there any other footballers in the family? No, it’s just me, I’ve heard my grandad loved playing football though. I do have a twin who is an amazing dancer, we always joke about how our hobbies have been mixed up, he should be the footballer and I should have been the dancer.
8. Favourite game played in by you? I’ve luckily been involved in so many great games, the one most recent was playing for Chester FC against Chester City, our local rivals and was the first time the two teams have played competitively against each other! There’s nothing better than a derby match, and we beat them 3-2 and I scored the winner, which made the occasion special.
9. Your best attribute as a player? As much as I’d love to say my heading, I know my teammates and managers would know I was lying. I’d like to think my pace and my crossing, my speed gets me out of a lot of tricky situations!
10. What are your ambitions in football? My ambition in football is to play at the highest league I possibly can and enjoy my football. Also, to play for as long as I can before my legs can’t run anymore, (and even then i’d still attempt to play)
11. Who has been the biggest influence in your footballing career? 100% my dad, from when I first started at 8 years old he would watch every game and training session, he would have to drive me from one county to another just to play. My dad has been the one person that I have always wanted to impress and make proud. In the car journeys back we would analyse the game, and he would always cheer me up if I had a bad game. He wasn’t a big fan of football until I started playing and going to watch Stoke but I know he would thank me for getting him out of the housework which my mom would have made him do.
12. What is the best thing about playing for your team? I get to play with some of my closest friends, which is always a big factor in myself enjoying football. Also, one of the best things about playing for Chester FC is that the management is at such a good level, Rich [Smith] knows what he is talking about and as the team has started to gel, he knows how to get the best out of players and shows so much commitment and professionalism, as well as being able to have a laugh. We are becoming a tight-knit team and with each week we are having more and more people watching us. The Chester FC family is growing and it is amazing to be a small part of the start of something great for the club.
13. If you got to design your team’s kit, what would it look like? Firstly, it would be long-sleeved, short sleeved tops when football is played in the coldest months of the year baffles me! I would turn the blue into blue and white stripes, Chester have a history of playing in blue and white, so it would be cool to go back to that tradition.
14.Do you listen to music to get you motivated, or while you train – if so, what tracks? Foo fighters – The Pretender always gets me buzzing and motivated, we make sure we always have upbeat music in the changing room while we are getting changed to try to pump ourselves up, although the other week we were all singing Adele’s Hello before a game, but that can be excused because it is such a tune.
15.Who, in your team, should we know more about and why? Without making her ego bigger, Charlie Waring is such a character, she is forever ranting about life and always has something to say (most of the time inappropriate), We have the same sense of humour so we buzz off each other and are always joking and ripping into each other. Last year, Charlie went to america to coach football, which from what I’ve heard was an amazing experience.
Images by Alison Greenwood
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