Karen Ledsham details her football career to date, interrupted by lack of opportunities, injury and teams folding but rescued by Warwick Ladies FC.
I’m now 25 but since a young age I have always loved kicking a ball about. It didn’t go a miss that I had two older brothers who were always encouraging me and willing to have a small game with me.
What was difficult at the time was not being able to find a team to play for. Being a female it was extremely difficult. I trained with many boys teams only to be told “I would not be able to play matches”. It was frustrating to know that after all my hard work the training it felt like it was worth nothing.
Looking back, I wish I was as courageous as Rachel Yankey, shaved my head and pretended to be a boy. I would have probably been treated more equally.
Eventually a women’s team emerged called Ajax and at the age of 11 I was playing with women that were twice my age. We only had one match and lost this 11-1 but I was hooked! I had found my place at left back.
It wasn’t long before the team was struggling and the loss of the manager and the coach meant the team was no more.
The next time I played wasn’t until I was 16, for Warwick Racing Club. It was nice as some of the same women who I played with also were there from Ajax. Once again, it was the same story, it disbanded.
After this, came Leamington Hibernian Ladies, I trained with the team once or twice before I left for University, but again it was the same bunch of women I had met from Ajax and Warwick Racing Club.
The next time I really was able to play 11 a side women’s football was at Chester University. From the age of 19 I was put in mixed positions, until my second year when I pulled my hamstring and was unable to play for the rest of the season. I was really nervous to play after that. I had never injured myself playing football before and the pain was unbearable. I had to see the funny side of not being able to sit down as my right bottom cheek had swelled and planning my seating very carefully in lectures was quite amusing.
I found it hard to find the confidence to let myself go in full sprint, in the fear of pulling my hamstring again. It was a battle with my mind more than with my body.
Now 25, and despite a few breaks inbetween, I am once again playing the game I love with a bunch of women who have became more of a family than a team. I know that no matter how much time is between us, we can always just play the sport we love together.
Now older and with a wiser head on me, I want to be able to play football and not have to worry about whether I will have a team next season. I want to be a part of a team that young girls can progress up to and provide a system which we were not so privileged have ourselves as young girls.
Being a part of a club which already have successful girls and U-16 teams, I feel as though we have a future. I feel as though I have a future with football.
Warwick Ladies FC were only formed in June 2013 but entered the Birmingham League Division 2 this season and are currently in a mid-table posiiton.
SHE KICKS – the online community for women’s football
